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When the answer came, it was Feather who spoke it, her voice filled with pain. “She was trying to remake herself. Change her name. And it’s my fault.”
CHAPTER4
Mikhail
“Sweet soul, no,” I murmured, gathering my small mate into my arms, the searing pain where her mating feather lay throbbing like a sudden wound. She wept for a few moments, and I silently alerted the others.Gav, let the others know the naming ceremony for the hall will be delayed. No need to tell them why just yet. Righteous, go tell Sunny and Hope what we found. Seraphiel? Find our child. Keep her safe.
They all nodded. In a flurry of wings that had loose glitter swirling around the room, they were gone in seconds.
Feather’s soft cries cut into my heart like invisible soul knives. “Hush, my beloved. Quiet now. You did nothing wrong when you named our daughter. And nothing wrong when you renamed her.”
Feather hiccupped against my chest and mumbled, “Don’t lie, Growly. You’ll get smutty.”
“I’m not lying.” I carried her to the bed, setting her down gently. “Were you lying to me when you said you forgave me for renaming you Useless? No, it was worse than that. Useless Scrap. Did I deserve to suffer for my mistake?”
“No.” She squeezed me in a fierce hug.
“You renamed yourself in the void, with Seraphiel. You did a very good job of it. And when you added onto Precious’s name when we came here, you did well again. You gave her strength, connection, and love with that name.”
“You really think so?”
“I know so. Let us hope that Precious is just going through what parents on Earth would call a phase. That horrible time in adolescence when you dislike everything about yourself.” I wasn’t certain I believed this myself, but I needed to soothe my little mate.
“You’re not mad at her for breaking your chime?”
“I’m disappointed that she felt the need to steal it from my workshop. Devastated that she’s been suffering, with none of us aware of how low her self-esteem has become. But she is my daughter. I would sacrifice every tool I’ve ever touched, and everything I’ve created, to secure her happiness. She is precious to me beyond all comprehension.”
Feather hiccupped as she stared at the remnant of the naming chime. “The name of my daughter is Precious,” she stated clearly.
The chime remained silent.
“We’re both Namers,” she whispered. “Maybe if we try together.”
I wrapped her small hand in mine, and we both repeated the words.
The chime stayed quiet.
Then she squeezed her hand around mine and said, “The name of our daughterwasPrecious.”
My fingers vibrated as the chime resonated with a faint, sour tone.
“I think it does still work,” Feather gasped.
I held my breath. Had Precious succeeded in renaming herself?
And if she had, what had she chosen?
“Remember when you were trying to find my whole name? And the chime would ring a little, until you got all of the parts? What if she just added to it? What if most of it is the same?”
“She’s not here,” I said, stroking my chin. “It works best when the person is present.”
“But we’re both Namers, right?”
I nodded slowly. “It should answer us, even without her here. In Sanctuary, when I needed to uncover facets of a true name for one of the new Protectors, it would hum lightly when I found the next part of a true name.”
“Then this might work.” She leaned over her cupped hands, taking a deep breath.
I wanted to ask Feather not to say our daughter’s full name aloud, not to discover if she had done something irreversible, but my little mate was braver than any soul I’d ever known. She stuck out that pointed stubborn chin and said clearly, directing her words at the chime, “Our child is… Precious, Perfect Devil, Little Glitter, shiny, and lovely, and stubborn. First and Only of her Kind; Beloved by All Realms; Guarded by the Great Gate; Protected by Sunny, the Light of Truth; my daughter, and that of Mikhail the Great-Souled, Maker of Sanctuary.”
