“Shai?” Orion interrupted. He pulled on a shirt and started buttoning it. “I’m not sure about whimsy. There are the ancient Lilu wedding customs: the oils and perfumes, the consummation before the guests, the augury with the entrails of a slaughtered pigeon—”
I cleared my throat. “Let’s just go out for drinks, maybe?”
“Fine.” Orion slipped into his shoes. “If I’m going to hang out with mortals, I will be flying there.” He turned back to Shai. “What do you want for your birthday?”
“For you to have a whimsical themed wedding?” she said.
Orion turned away, heading out into the night. Sabazios followed after him—no doubt lured by the inexorable tug of an incubus to the skies.
I turned to Amon. “Come with us! When was the last time you went out in Osborne?”
He frowned, his scar deepening. “I’ve literally never gone out in Osborne. Mortals and demons don’t mix.”
I looped my arm through his as I walked to the door. “That changes tonight, Amon.”
The more time demons and mortals spent around each other, the more they’d realize that apart from lifespan, they had plenty in common.
Outside, I unhooked my arm from Amon’s. I glanced up at the starry sky, where Orion and Sabazios were already circling overhead, their outlines lit with silvery moonlight. Breathtaking.
I turned to see Shai and Legion stepping outside, hand in hand. “Meet you guys there in twenty.”
My wings burst from my back, and I raced into the sky, tasting the salty air. Exhilaration lit me from inside as I arced higher with the two incubi. It was so thrilling, all I could do was laugh wildly, and I could hear Sabazios and Orion doing the same. We’d all been missing this from our lives, and now that it was back, the thrill gave me life.
High up, I peered down at the City of Thorns, and it seemed to glow with gold in the night. The Lilu were free once more.
Maybe there’d come a time when we really did need to open the grimoire and free the demons completely. But for now, we had everything we needed here—and our little city was a light rising from the darkness again.
48
THIRTEEN YEARS LATER
I sensed him in the room, and when I opened my eyes, I saw him there—my little green-eyed boy, his eyes wide. I should be annoyed that he was waking me from the dead of sleep, but he was so ridiculously cute that it was hard to resent him here, even at this hour. Moonlight washed over him, and his auburn hair stuck up in all directions.
I glanced at Orion, who slept as still and immobile as a statue, not waking for any of this.
My little boy held one arm up. The other clutched his stuffed wolf, imaginatively named Wolfie. “I want snuggles,” he said in his small voice, waiting to be picked up.
He was wearing his pajamas with the cartoon octopus that said, “More arms for hugs.”
As I stared at him blearily, he reached out for the sheets and gripped them hard as he tried to pull himself up. Already, his bum was in the air, and he grunted with the effort.
I scooped under his bum to help him onto the bed. “Come on up here, sweet boy.”
He nestled in tightly, trying to get the covers over himself. He was getting as close as he possibly could, like he wanted to crawl back into the space in which he’d once lived.
I wrapped him in a hug and pulled him close against my enormous, round stomach. “Be careful, baby. Remember, Mommy has a baby in here.”
“Sorry, Mama,” Nico said as he nuzzled into me. “And sorry, baby,” he added as he reached down to pet my belly.
Nicodemus shoved the collar of his shirt in his mouth to chew on it, his favorite habit since we got rid of his pacifiers.
“The baby is fine,” I assured him, rubbing his head. “Just too big.”
“Hey, Nico.” Orion reached over me, touching Nico’s hair with sleepy fingers.
“Hi, Daddy,” Nico replied. “I need to be in the middle.” He climbed over me, carefully trying to avoid my stomach and stepping on my boobs instead. He settled in the gap, delighted to be between his two favorite people. “I’m the middle of the sandwich,” he declared in a voice too loud for the hour.
Given the size of my belly, rolling over wasn’t easy. But I flopped onto my back first until the lack of air from the baby made me shift again, and then I hoisted my large stomach over the other way. You’d think being a pregnant demon would be easier than being a pregnant mortal, but while I’d never experienced pregnancy as a mortal, I had a sneaking suspicion that this wasn’t really a better deal. When the gods had cursed women with this discomfort, it had applied to us all, demon and mortal alike.