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I told her, not everything but enough. By the time I finished, her shoulders had relaxed. “You're not leaving tonight.”

“No.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Not for Ceasar.”

She studied me. “Promise?”

I put my hand over our children. “I promise.” That was enough. She leaned into me, I tightened my arms around her. Outside, the war continued. Somewhere, Ceasar was still breathing, Xion wore his dead brother's legend like a crown, Demons would gather and Vampires would prepare, but not tonight.

Tonight my daughter kicked against my palm, my son followed seconds later. Bryn laughed, I felt it against my chest, and I realized something that would have been impossible for me to understand a year ago. Winning wasn't about killing Ceasar, not really. Winning was this, It was about Bryn being alive, about our children being safe. My brothers breathing and our family laughing inside walls our enemies couldn't break.

Ceasar had spent months trying to turn love into weakness because he still didn't understand that love had made us patient, it had made us smarter, it had given us something rage never could. A reason to survive long enough to win.

I lowered my head and kissed Bryn's hair. “Oriah.” A kick against my palm and Bryn smiled. “Svern.” Another kick.

I laughed. “Already listening.”

“They're babies.”

“They know my voice.”

“They probably know your voice because you never stop talking to them.”

“Good.”

She rolled her eyes, then she took my hand and placed it higher against her stomach.

“Stay.” It was only one word but it was everything I needed.

“I am.” Not I will or I'll try but I am here with her, with them. The war could wait outside our door for one more night. Ceasar could run, Xion could hide behind a dead man's name because soon, we'd strip them of both. Soon, every demon still loyal to them would learn exactly what happened when they came for the Dragic family, but that belonged to another fight, another night. For now, I held my mate while our children moved beneath my hands, and the future no longer looked like blood.

The future had names. Oriah and Svern. And for the first time in my long fucking life, that was enough.

Chapter 20

I was peeling an apple when Bryn went into labour. That was the ridiculous part because after everything. My children decided to arrive while I stood in the kitchen with a knife in one hand and a half-peeled apple in the other. Bryn was standing at the counter arguing with Draugr about something.

I wasn't listening, mostly because Bryn arguing had become background music in my life, comforting, in a strange way. She had one hand resting beneath her enormous stomach while the other pointed accusingly at my brother. “You absolutely cheated.”

Draugr leaned against the opposite counter. “Why, because I won?”

“You changed the rules.”

“There were no rules.”

“There are always rules.”

“Then perhaps you should have established them before losing.”

Bryn narrowed her eyes. “You're insufferable.”

“So I've been told.”

I smiled down at the apple, but Bryn saw it. “Don't encourage him.”

“I didn't say anything.”