“Nice to meet you,” she whispers politely, and he beams at her manners.
“Nice to meet you, too,” he says, holding out his huge hand for her to shake. He looks back at me in confusion and I know it is because we were all expecting a baby. I can only imagine that it was living in the Dragon Realms that accelerated her growth. I hope that it slows down again now as I want to savor every minute of my precious little girl.
I feel CK take my hand and he slips my rings back on my finger. I turn to him and the hole inside me that I have been fighting with since Remiel removed them disappears. “Hi,” I s
ay softly.
He responds with a kiss to my mouth and a hand at my back. I wince again and he sees me. He looks at me with concern, but I shrug it off. It is healing, that is all that matters. My leg on the other hand gives way slightly as I shift my weight. Damn original Vampire claws. That will probably take days to heal. Drake catches me under my elbow and Maurelle rushes to take Delinda from me. I gape in surprise as she is quite round with child and I raise an eyebrow at Drake. He kept that quiet.
“How long?” I ask CK.
“A couple of weeks,” he says.
“That’s not too bad then,” I say.
“Are you okay?” he asks quietly.
“Just fine,” I say with a longing look at my daughter. I want her back in my arms. Instead, I get Devon flinging himself at me, along with every other one of my men. After much reassurance, they are happy that I am in one piece and I turn back to Maurelle. She is throwing Faerie lights up into the air, the little black-and-silver orbs are dancing around Delinda’s head and she is clapping her hands and smiling. Drake is watching this with interest as she suddenly holds her hand out and little sparks of white and gold fly out of her hand and joins the black ones floating around.
“Yay!” she shouts and does it again.
I smile at her and step forward to take her back, but Drake puts a hand on my arm. The look on his face scares me and I pause.
“What?” I ask.
He turns his head towards me and adjusts his features. “How?” he mutters in confusion.
“How what?” I ask in dread. What has his knickers in a twist?
When I look around for someone to tell me what the Hell is going on, there is complete silence and all eyes are on my daughter. “What?” I snap, getting angry. “What is the problem?”
“No problem,” Drake chokes out. “No problem at all,” he says again, now with a broad smile.
“She’s the one,” Maurelle says with a look back at Drake.
“She’s the one,” Drake breathes.
“The one what?” I yell. “Someone start talking now!”
Sebastian, who up to this point has been staring at her in shock, reaches out for her and, to my annoyance, Maurelle lets him take her. “She’s Light,” he says in awe.
“Come again?” I ask. “That’s not possible. I’m Dark.”
CK has gone as still as stone next to me and I look to Drake for answers.
“She is the blessed Fae child,” Drake says to me.
“No, she is the true heir,” I correct him, exasperated with all this terminology.
“No, Aeval. She is half Dark, half Light,” he says to me.
“No, she isn’t,” I insist. “She is all Dragon. I saw her Shift with my very eyes. She is a Golden Dragon. The only one.”
Drake shakes his head. “She’s yours so that makes sense she has some Dragon in her, but she is Faerie. She must be a chameleon,” he adds to himself.
“A what?” I ask with a stamp of my foot, my temper now getting the better of me.
“She adapts to her environment. In the Dragon Realms, her Dragon side was at the surface, she was completely Dragon. It was how your mother was fooled. There was no sign of her Faerie heritage, not even the side she got from you. But here she is all Faerie,” he explains.