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"This is perfect."
Vinir felt something inside him stirring, and he realized that this was the moment he had been waiting for. He had known from the moment he met Aelwen that she was special, and now, standing here with her in a place of such astonishing beauty, his old walls were crumbling away faster than ever.
Vinir knew he was in love with Aelwen and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He looked deep into her eyes, and he felt a warmth spreading throughout his body like a wave. He took both of Aelwen's hands in his own and placed them over her stomach, which was huge now. Any day now, their new life as parents would begin.
"Aelwen, I love you," he said. "You have shown me so much beauty and joy these past few weeks, and I can't imagine my life without you."
Aelwen smiled back at him through tearful eyes. "Really?"
"Yes. More than anything." He patted her belly with a soft laugh. "Well, I suppose you might have competition now, but that is a different kind of love. You are the one I'm meant to cherish and hold for the rest of my life, the one who makes every day worthwhile, so long as I get to see your smile."
"I love you too," Aelwen blurted. "You mean more to me than you could possibly know. After feeling like I had no true home, nowhere I could be myself, I've found that here, with you. You're my home, Vinir."
They kissed deeply, their emotions too powerful and deep for words. As they embraced, a bright light shone down on them from the sky. Aelwen gasped, and the light was so intense that Vinir had to close his eyes.
Warmth radiated down his shoulders and concentrated in his hands. For a moment, it felt like his skin was burning off, and he had to clench his teeth against the pain. He had theurge to shake his hands, but he clenched them into fists instead, groaning.
"Vinir!" Aelwen cried out. "Look!"
He opened his eyes, finding that ... his skinhadburned off. Or at least, a layer had. The skin turned grey like ash when exposed to the moonlight, and it crumbled and fell away into the wind like dust.
At first, Vinir didn't think he felt any different, but when he thought about it, it came to him instantly: it was like a huge weight had been lifted from him, a lightness had added to his soul.
"The curse," he whispered, turning his hands over in his hands. "It's been lifted.Youlifted it!"
"Love," Aelwen murmured, seeming to be thinking out loud. "Love was the key. It always was. Now that we've admitted to loving each other, you—"
Aelwen's eyes widened, and she bucked forward with a sharp cry. Vinir captured her in his arms at once.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked urgently.
"I think the baby is coming," Aelwen said breathlessly.
Without another word, he lifted her into his arms, and away they went.
***
The next few hours were a blur of noise and chaos. Vinir kept close to Aelwen's side, holding her hand and offering words of encouragement as she pushed with all her might. In fact, he barely let go of her hand, and a couple of times, she had to tell him to loosen his grip or she would lose it. They joked about howhe seemed more nervous about the baby coming into the world than Aelwen did, and maybe that was true.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion—the midwife's cries of encouragement, the newborn baby's first cry, and even the sight of his child coming into this world seemed surreal.
And then suddenly, he was here. After months of waiting and anticipation, there he was: a tiny perfect boy whose fate rested in their hands. Half fae, half vampire, but you couldn't tell the difference.
As soon as he was born, the healer whisked him off to clean him up, and it was only a minute later that she was back, pressing the newborn into Aelwen's arms.
Watching her there, holding their baby ... it was like a dream come true.
"He's so beautiful," Aelwen said, sniffling even though she was smiling with joy. "He looks just like you."
"Like me? He looks like you!"
"Well, I suppose he's a little bit of both of us. Aren't you, my little treasure?" She kissed his nose and then looked up at Vinir. "Do you want to hold him?"
"If you're ready to give him up."
"For a little while. I just gave birth after all. I feel like I could go for a na—aahp ..." She yawned, and though she tried to watch Vinir, she seemed like she could barely keep her eyes open, so he held out his arms to take their baby.
When Vinir held him for the first time, there was the initial shock of worry he'd felt every other time he touched someone: the terror that he would hurt them.
