"Push!"

Celindria squeezed Nox's hand, while Xelan delivered her baby. He wanted her to return to his lab for anesthetics, but she refused. She wanted her child born on Cinder after carrying it for five months.

Korac waited outside. More so on my brother than on the baby. The male Progeny, Andrius and Devis, opted to wait with him. Merit assisted Xelan as a nurse.

The afflicted Progeny hovered nearby with her eyes frozen in violet Atramentous. At one point, she popped into the ether and returned with wild flowers for the nightstand.

I patted Celindria's furrowed brow with a cool cloth. "Breathe."

Xelan glanced from the gesture to my eyes. He looked surprised, and I almost resented it. Shaking his head, he commanded her to push again.

"Come on, love, you can do this." Merit held out a blanket.

Celindria groaned and strained extensively before falling back on the bed, exhausted.

A tiny cry shot through the room. Xelan held an infant in his arms with that famous grin spread across his face. "A girl."

Again, I asked myself, how did she know the gender? But at the sight of that tiny face, I forgot my concerns and beamed.

Merit grinned, her teeth bright against her skin.

As Xelan approached, Celindria shook her head and pointed to me. Confounded, I glanced between her and my brother. A cloud passed over him as he left her side. He gave me an unfriendly look as I held my arms out for the child, prepared for the cost. She looked as exhausted as her mother. And just as beautiful.

"Leave us." Celindria demanded more than requested.

Xelan stared at her, disappointed. "But I thought we discussed--"

"I was never interested in raising it. Only in carrying it. I wanted to know what that would do to my body. The baby goes to a loving human family in Egypt unable to conceive. Surely, that outcome satisfies everyone in this room?"

I'm painfully aware in reflecting on these moments that her behavior and candor raised plenty of red flags. But in my search for authentic people to trust such as Korac and Bin, I mistook her brusqueness for genuineness. I was a fool.

The afflicted Progeny disappeared, presumably to the hallway. Merit pulled Xelan away, and he left after a forlorn glance at the baby. "I await you outside, should you need me."

Celindria relaxed against the bedding, her body sighing with relief. She swallowed hard and confessed, "That was more tiring than the labor."

Unsure what to say regarding her relationship with her maker, I cooed at the infant that tested her might by squeezing my finger. One hour gone. "So strong, little warrior."

Celindria turned to me. Sweat plastered her black hair to her face. "You are not at all what I expected."

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I frowned, slightly. "What did you expect?"

Her blue eyes searched mine. "A war mongering tyrant."

Xelan. Poisoning people against me. Why? Did he hate me so much? Toxic familial relations weren't new to me. Obviously. But surely not my little brother?

"Father told me all the Icari cared for was war and sex."

I shook my head. "If that was your assumption of me, then why did you ask to live here?"

"I was interested in the latter."

The thought occurred to me in passing. More instinct than intentional interest. Yes, I was attracted to her. And Elden help me, I was tired of my loneliness. But--

"You know it can never be that way between us." I glanced at the infant who ate at my stability. "Besides, I am not completely certain if you vest your interests in me or in other potentials between us."

Celindria threw the blankets off, revealing her nudity. She stood, steady and sure, despite giving birth only moments ago. The nacre receded any of the usual evidence of childbearing and birth. Glowing with perspiration all over her honed body, she enraptured me. "I believe I can find a way. And, yes. The Probabilities are there. I vow that if we were to conceive, I would keep and rear your child. With you. Here."

She took the infant from my arms and laid it on the birthing bed. When she turned back, she snatched both my hands and placed them on her hips.

Thirty minutes less.

"Tell me if my forwardness upsets you. But..." She glanced down my body. "I suspect you like it just fine."

The afflicted woman popped into the room. "Celindria, Xelan grows concerned--Oh! This again." She disappeared once more.

Finally at my limit, I stepped back. "I want you, if only to learn your mind and its peculiarities. If you discover a way, then I would very much like your company. But..." I glanced at the babe, alone and cold. I couldn't stand it any longer.

I picked her up, costing me another thirty minutes. "Your mind abandons those who love you so easily. Are you this callous? Or are you so enraptured with compensating for the experiences denied to you because of your creation? I want you to think on that, Celindria, before you come to me again offering a child while the one you bore not ten minutes ago lay cold without ever knowing your embrace."

I left the room to find Xelan comforting the afflicted Progeny as she rambled in her madness. He glared at me over her head. He wanted to know about the exchange with Celindria. I wasn't about to betray her trust, and I didn't feel completely comfortable bringing up her interest in me to him.

Merit held out her arms. "Her family awaits." The Progeny woman looked sad as I transferred the infant to her. Quietly, she added, "It takes some adjustment, but Celindria's friendship is worth enduring her manner."

I nodded to her, taking that into consideration.

Xelan took to her side. "Let me escort you, Merit. I dislike the idea of you traveling through the conduit and across the desert alone."

Nonchalantly leaning against a wall, Korac stood to attention at my brother's offer.

The woman beamed at him. "Thank you. Maybe we can name her along the way."

"She has a name." Celindria exited the room, dressed.

Devis perked up and smiled at her. Andrius woke up. The afflicted Progeny listened to something we couldn't see or hear. We all waited.

Celindria glanced at the baby. "The family knows. No need for everyone to get attached with a name. I leave her to a suitable home. We should all be so lucky."

The purple-eyed woman disappeared.

Andrius spoke on her behalf, "She finds certain errands urgent. She means no discord, your majesty."

I nodded to him. "I am familiar with wayward siblings." Before Xelan could acknowledge my quip, I turned to my General, "Korac, with me."

He and my brother shared a quiet moment amid the crowd. I still can't imagine why they kept their relationship secret. Icari are bisexual. Male couplings were commonplace. As the second King of Cinder, I couldn't imagine decorum holding them back.

I glanced at Celindria, who returned my gaze with a sensual intensity. Perhaps some relationships thrived on secrecy. The thrill of the wrong and the unapproved.

So many relationships mingled and strained in this one space. The upheaval caused by Celindria and the rest of the Progeny further tested already weakened bonds.

And in the middle of it all was the source of you. That baby Merit and Xelan carried to Egypt was the first descendant of the Progeny lines. Given your strength and abilities, I question Celindria's account of her daughter's parentage. Another mystery for you to solve.