Page 85 of The Arcane God

“It’s the placenta. It’s almost ready to come out,” Kaya said. “She’ll keep experiencing aftershocks for a little bit, but they will lessen now.”

After another contraction, Ena felt something else slide from her, and afterwards, an immense wave of relief.

She felt her body relax for what felt like the first time in years, and as Kaya’s hands continued to move over her body, she felt a revival of her energy, and her eyes fluttered open.

“There she is.”

Ena was met with Kaya’s kind, smiling face and familiar green eyes. “You did so amazing, Ena.”

“Where—” she began to say, but her mouth was dry and her voice was hoarse from all the strain and screaming.

“Right here,” Ty said from beside her. She turned to look at him, and saw in his arms a small bundle of blankets. “Turner, help her up. She can lean back against me and hold him.”

Ena felt Turner lift her gently as Ty slid behind her back, and she leaned up against his sturdy warmth, her entire body relaxing into him.

“Here he is, Ena,” he said, passing her the small bundle.

And then Ena was staring down into a face—a tiny face, a new face. Her son.

Her mind boggled at it. How could this be? Was this even real? How was he here, now, when he had just been…nowhere?

He was small, and red, and so squishy—like he’d been birthed from the water itself—and as he turned to nuzzle into her, seeking her warmth and her scent, Ena felt her heart nearly burst with a joy and elation she had never experienced before. A mixture of relief, awe, disbelief, and a profound sense of love.

“What are you going to name him?” Turner asked, his voice choked, and Ena looked up to see tears in his eyes as he watched them.

“I don’t know,” Ena said. She and Ty hadn’t discussed names yet. As silly as it seemed, it had felt like asking for tragedy to plan on something so unknown at the time. But now…he truly was here, and she was at a loss.

“Ladon,” Ty said from behind her. She turned to look back at him, meeting his beautiful green eyes. He looked exhausted and content, just like her, his strong features aglow in the firelight. “I hadn’t had a chance to tell you yet, but I was thinking about names and that one just…came to me. Do you like it?”

Ladon. Yes. Yes, she did like it.

“It’s perfect,” she said, smiling up at him.

He leaned down to kiss her, the feel of his lips against hers so immensely pleasurable after all the pain she had endured, and she relished it as she breathed him in.

Then she turned down to look once more into the face of their child, holding him snug in her arms, and just for a moment, everything they had been through—everything—was worth it, because it had brought them here.

She was safe. Ty was safe. And now, so was Ladon. She just hoped it could stay that way—forever.

Chapter Thirty

Steig

Steig guided his weary horse into the jagged entrance of the Underworld, its open maw both welcoming and unnerving. After tying his horse up on the metal bar installed there for Myka to retrieve later, he began his descent down the long, dimly lit staircase.

He was utterly exhausted—he felt like he hadn’t slept in weeks, maybe even months. This was his third—or fourth?—mission in as many months, all of them with the same goal—to find Ty.

Cole was insatiable. After Steig had returned from the Auster Coven without Gunnar and Chans, the man had become even more unhinged—if that was even possible. Steig had had to come up with a clever cover story—skirting the truth without outright lying in front of Zak—about what had happened.

He’d explained about Gunnar’s dumbass plan, of course, as well as the failed attack and his subsequent capture, but all he’d told him was that he’d been able to get away when the witches left the door to his room open. Which was all true, except he left out the part where the Auster matriarch had done it on purpose to let him go after he’d agreed to be her spy.

Still, none of that artful lying had done him any favors. Cole blamed him for not knowing where Ty was, and for Gunnar and Chans’s deaths, so as punishment, he’d been sent out on a near-constant string of missions, each to a different village, searching for any sign of Ty. Which, of course, didn’t exist, because Ty was apparently on the other side of the Chasm Mountains, and very possibly lost or dead, though Steig refused to believe that.

He’d heard what Ena had said when she and Greya had spoken using their witchy spell, but he knew Ty better than that. If anyone could survive, it was Ty. He would not give up hope, not until the man’s body was right in front of him—and even then, he would half expect the man to rise from the dead, he was that stubborn.

But in the meantime, he’d had no choice but to go along with Cole’s demands. It had been tough, but truthfully, he’d endure anything to take the heat off of Lara, his family, and the other innocents in the Underworld.

After his descent, Steig made his way through the passageways to the Great Antre, knowing Cole would want a debrief immediately. He walked into the cavernous space, his footsteps echoing off the elaborately decorated cave walls as he made his way towards the giant Convening table.