Divine Charity

Epilogue

Khamuel watched in wonder as his black-eyed Lena screeched in fury right before her face convulsed and she bore down once more. With one arm tucked around his newborn daughter, he let Lena squeeze his other hand with crushing force. The second bantam came into existence, squalling with indignance, and Lena fell back against the pillows.

He held his crying daughters close while the minister cleaned and tended to Lena, who cursed the man through her tears. Khamuel chuckled to himself. He was outnumbered by wailing females, yet never had he been so at peace.

When Lena was ready, he brought her the bantams and together they marveled over their creations. Lena looked at Khamuel's face as he stared down at their girls and realized for at least 18 years she would play second fiddle in his life, and she was fine with that. They were Daddy's little girls already, and that was exactly how it should be.

"You can let the others in now," Lena said.

Gala, Pnina, Lindsay, and the twins rushed forward, oohing and aahing, arguing playfully over who would get to hold the babies first. Fiadn and Khamuel embraced, pounding each other proudly on the back, as if they were the ones who had labored and survived.

Lena looked around at her family, amazed that this was her life now. To be surrounded by people who loved and cared for her even when she did the work that they all shied away from. She loved them all, and they loved her despite her darkened path.

Fiadn held little Kiara in his arms, smiling down and cooing like a proud uncle. "Thank the All she takes after her modir."

Everyone laughed.

"Would you like to hold Angelica too?" Lena asked.

Fiadn nodded, passing Kiara over to Gala, tucking away the tiny foot that escaped its swaddling. Then he turned and his eyes lit on Angelica for the first time. His entire body seized up. With a shout of pain, he stumbled and fell to his knees.

"Whoa!" said Lindsay with wide eyes and gaping jaw.

"Oh, my gosh! Is he okay?" asked Lena, wincing with the effort of trying to sit up.

Gala and Pnina stared with equal shock at Fiadn as his body twisted and convulsed. Joints popped out of place as his bones grew and muscles expanded.

"Son of a bitch!" Khamuel exclaimed, losing his staid demeanor.

"Why are you idiots just standing there?" Lena yelled. "Somebody get him a doctor!"

Khamuel's stormy eyes met Lena's briefly before returning to the big man on the floor, who continued to grow larger as he grunted and heaved. "He needs no minister. Damn him!"

"He's in pain!" Lena cried.

"Aye! And well he should be, the asshole."

Lena's eyes widened. She'd never heard Khamuel curse so much in the entire time she'd known him. "He's turning into the Hulk! What's happening to him?"

"An'thee," Gala said quietly.

"For who?" Lena asked, totally lost.

"Angelica," Pnina said, shaking her head.

"Oh, hell no!" Lena shouted. "He's a man-whore!"

With a final groan of sufferance, Fiadn righted himself, gasping for breath. He was barely steady when Khamuel grabbed him by his shirt, pushed him up against the wall and punched his friend square in the jaw.

"Damn you!" spluttered Fiadn. "This is not my doing!"

"Nay, yet let this be your warning," Khamuel ground out.

"She is naught but a bantam!" Fiadn shouted and shoved Khamuel off of him. "You think this my choice?"

Gala was amazed.

Lindsay gaped in disgust.

And Pnina? Pnina was amused by the whole situation.

"She's just a baby!" Lena reminded them all.

Khamuel went to Lena's side and tucked a lock of curly hair behind her ear. "Do not fret. She will not go to him unless she wishes to do so." A fierce frown creased his brow. "Perhaps when she has seen more than a hundred years."

"Make it two hundred," Fiadn groused. "I have no need for a consort. Nor the want of one."

Khamuel straightened to his full height, ready to attack his friend again.

Gala would have none of that. "Hold! The bantams have not even seen a complete daga. Enough with the violence."

Fiadn straightened his uniform and wiped the blood from his lip. Everyone was silent until Fiadn said with regret, "Under the circumstances, I deem it wise to resign my service to Charity."

"It is best," said Khamuel.

"No. I mean ... This is just all thrown at me so fast," Lena said. "Why?"

Khamuel and Fiadn looked at each other.

It was Khamuel who answered, emotion making his voice raw. "Ka'al have the same flaw in our genetic make as humans, and sexual maturity is reached long before mental maturity. When she becomes old enough, it will be difficult for him to maintain his distance. The pull of the an'thee will nag at him, and he will want to claim her the moment her body changes. By leaving, he gives her the gift of time and choice."

"A gift for her or himself?" asked Lena. Rioting thoughts made it difficult for her to fully grasp what was happening. She didn't want Fiadn to go. He'd been her best friend. Then again, she also didn't want Angelica saddled to a husband before she even reached adulthood.

"Both," Fiadn answered honestly as he approached the bed to peer curiously at Angelica. "The Ka'al only suffer an'thee once. When next I see her, I pray she will be as any other to me."

"Oh, hell no! You'd better stay," Lena said. "No way in hell are you going to treat her like one of your flings!"

"May I?" Fiadn held his arms out to the baby Lena clung to.

Lena looked at Khamuel, who nodded stiffly. She handed Fiadn Angelica.

Fiadn looked down into Angelica's sleeping face, rocking her gently. "Ka'al through and through this one." He smiled when Angelica opened cloudy green eyes. "Perhaps some of her modir as well. Grow strong, little one. Mind your modir. She is a devil, after all." Fiadn's smiled widened with mischief as he glanced at Khamuel, then back to Angelica. "And for my sake, be the bane of your father's existence. Believe me, he deserves it." Then, with a kiss to her tiny brow, he handed the baby back to her mother. "I'll be gone come morning."

"Where will you go?" Khamuel asked, voice thick with loss.

Fiadn tore his gaze from the baby. "The All will be my guide. Yet never so far you cannot find me."