Page 46 of Postpartum Spells & Infant Hells

I wanted to go to her. I wanted to scoop my daughter off that floor and pour every healing potion I had into her. I couldn't move, because the cage chose that second to do its work. With the entity hooked, pinned, and packed in death magic and nowhere to run, the combined weight of everything we'd thrown at him finally cracked Kaltherax apart. His smooth, pale form shattered into a million smoking fragments. They writhed for a few seconds before collapsing onto my living room rug in a heap of silver and scorched fabric. The pile twitched like something with the head cut off that hadn't gotten the news.

"Is it—did we—" Selene's voice shook on every word, her hands still flat to the ward around my children.

"Tell me that's dead,” Nana interjected. “That smoking pile on our rug is not coming back."

"It's definitely broken." I didn't say more. Something was bothering me, and I couldn't pinpoint it.

Before another thought formed, pressure built inside every cell of my body. Every alarm bell I had started screaming at the same time, every hair on my neck stood on end. “What the...” My voice trailed off when Orenthiel reached for his servant's remains.

Hades's voice came back to me from the porch. His warning about the ones who linger and come back missing pieces. I dropped my gaze to the rug and fixed it on the three small bodies in the center of the protection ring. The voice came into the middle of my thoughts. “You have delayed. You have not won. I will complete my mission and be free. Your children are mine when it does.”

There was no malice in it. There was nothing I could have fought or argued with. There was only the flat certainty of something that had never once been wrong about how something would end. The connection held for two seconds. Long enough to promise me it would be coming back to collect.

My magic lashed out to stop Orenthiel right as his hand was around the smoking remains of Kaltherax. The opening sealed behind them with a loud pop. The light died after that. All of our magic stopped just as suddenly. We’d been continuing on sheer will alone.

For a moment, nobody made a sound. Then Melaina drew in a breath and started to scream. Nyssa and Thaniel joined her. Their three voices climbed together in the dark. It was the sound of overstimulated infants who had emptied themselves down to nothing and were starving. It was the best sound I had ever heard, because it meant they were breathing.

"They're okay. Hungry, but unharmed. I'm checking them now," Mom assured me as her hands moved over each one.

"I'll feed them." I crawled over to them. My legs refused to do anything as ambitious as standing. Mom and Nana helped me gather all three of them out of the ring and into my lap. I pressed my mouth to one downy head, then the next, then the third, as I looked everyone else over. "Stella. Stella, where⁠—"

"On the floor where you left me, drinking the imaginary margarita." Stella was flat on her back. Her chest was heaving, and she had one arm thrown over her eyes. "Don't make me get up. I held a cage around a primordial nightmare with my bare hands, and I would like a minute before anyone asks me to do anything heroic, including sitting."

“I’m right there with you,” I agreed,

“I’ll bring snacks,” Mythia offered as she flew toward the kitchen.

Across the room, Morrigan hadn't moved. I found her crumpled on the rug where she'd worked the compass. The bone-and-crystal relic was still loosely cradled against her. To my relief, her chest rose and fell. She was breathing. However, her eyes were vacant. I wasn’t sure she was here anymore.

"What's wrong with—" I couldn't finish.

Mythia set a tray next to Stella and darted to Morrigan's side. She pressed two small hands to her cheek. The look that crossed Mythia's face told me before she said a word.

"She's still alive, but she won't be coming back to us." Mythia's voice was the soft, careful thing she used for the worst news. "She gave the rest of herself to try and end this evil. Part of her is in the gap now. What's left here will wake. I don't know how much of her will be in it when it does."

"She knew." The words scraped out of me. "She told me she came for more than the warding. I thought she meant revenge. She meant this."

Aidon reached the babies and me, dropping beside us. Instead of touching me, he pressed his forehead to my temple. "She made her decision. We will support her however she needs now. I want to know what happened before Kaltherax’s remains disappeared." His voice was rough. "I felt you focus on something. What did Orenthiel say?"

"It said it will finish what it started and have our babies." I kept my eyes on the children in my lap. "It said they're his."

Through the bond, I felt his rage, his fear. Beneath both, I felt the exhaustion of a man who had given everything and failed to stop what was coming. Around us, the house was a mess. Nina cried quietly against Jean-Marc's shoulder. Nana held Thaniel against her chest. Stella still hadn't gotten off the floor.

The tears came then. I sat with my children in my arms while they cried and rooted for my breast. Aidon curled his burned body around us as best he could. We didn't pretend it was over. We'd bought time. But somewhere beyond the sealed tear, Orenthiel had already started counting down to the next phase.

CHAPTER 20

The fight had ended sometime before dawn, and the house still bore the scars of it. Half the windows were gone. The rug Murtagh and Tseki hauled out back had the shape of something dead burned into it. And no one had slept since Orenthiel tried to get the babies, missed, and snatched up what was left of Kaltherax instead.

Once he had his minion, he'd slammed the tear shut. He’d left behind a promise that they were already his and he would be back. Morrigan lay in one of the spare rooms. Clio had been tending to her and promised to keep an eye on the woman. I hadn’t asked for an update. At this moment, I didn’t care if she ever woke up. My only concern was keeping my children safe. All of them.

We'd spent the dark hours braced for Orenthiel to make good on his word. The longer the quiet lasted, the worse it became. The babies hadn’t been put down for a second all day. Thaniel was in my arms at the moment. Nana was holding Melaina, and Mom had Nyssa.

My head snapped up when I felt Hades’ power. “In coming,” I announced.

“Orenthiel?” Mom asked as her hold on Nyssa tightened.

Shaking my head, I remained as relaxed as I had been. “Hades,” Nana and Mom blurted before I did.