Archive of Our Own

He dislodged his pendant necklace from the baby's surprisingly strong grasp. Pop. Her small fingers spread out as the shiny object was snatched from her tiny lips. Cardan dashed his wife a mischievous grin. "Our babe is wild. Surely you cannot blame me alone for this outcome."

Jude crossed her arms. "As her mother, I can and I will."

Cardan furrowed his brows with their baby still in his arms, rocking her. "As her father, I refute and resent that."

Jude gasped. She couldn't sooner reign in the creeping blush of her neck as she could jamming her finger into the High King's chest. "When you push for seven hours, I will care!"

Cardan grabbed the finger on him, twisting it so the palm came to his lips. He kissed it. One, two, three times. "I loved you for those seven hours more than I ever did before." His eyes were pitch night while staring at her like only they could command life. "I love you more still with each day we spend together." His eyes flitted down to their baby girl. "The three of us. My family."

It wasn't only the words he said but the way he said them that left Jude speechless. Like a drowning man seeing land.

Bam— A door slam.

"Who's ready for her first trick or treating!"

Vivi could not have arrived at a more wrong and right time. Jude twirled in place to face her, blood rushing forth to her face despite her best efforts. Cardan, on the other hand, slipped into coolness with ease. He walked forth with grace, face calm. Vivi reached out her arms, making grabby hands, her face riddled with disgustingly sweet awe. "I compel you, do not teach my daughter tricks," Cardan declared. He placed the baby in Vivi's arms. "That honor is reserved solely to me, her father."

"I would not dare," Vivi grinned. "Aww, she's even got the little tail! Jude, truly." She looked to her youngest sister with wide loving eyes.

Jude did not return the sentiment. She straightened her back, hands in fists from anxiety. Already, she missed the warmth of her best little piece in her arms, tiny tail swinging around. She frowned at Vivi. "If I see a scratch on her when she comes back—"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll use my intestines to play rope. Let's go!" Vivi practically flew in a twirl to make for the door, leaving them for the mortal world to beg strangers for candy. With their baby.

And that... was that.

She was gone and now what remained was Jude. And her husband. The High King.

First things first. Jude strode over to their closet, which was a joke, really. The thing wasn't a closet as much as a second bedchamber without sleeping arrangements. It was as wide as half their bedroom, mirrors pillaging the long wall, with her clothes set up on the left crook and his on the right. In the middle was a divan, several pillows on the floor, and a small table for burning incense. The oaky scent didn't absorb to the clothes but rather left her feeling hazy while entering the room. She had a large unused window curtain in hand.

Cardan was no doubt midway to snarking off when Jude threw the cloth up, jumping a bit on her toes, and covering up as much of the mirrors as she could. It took a small effort to be done with the ordeal, what with her small baby weight and softened muscles lagging behind. Before the baby, it would've been easier. By the time Jude was done, she swiveled to find Cardan pinned in place. Staring at her.

His lip trembled between smiling and not, and it reminded Jude that he laughed when he was nervous. What he had to be nervous about, she had no clue. If anybody was justified of an anxious composition it was her.

"Well," she said.

"Well," he echoed.

Riveting. She knew they both had a one-track mind for the events of the night. From the moment Vivienne practically demanded their child for trick-or-treating, Jude and Cardan knew that entailed a babyless night where they could get up to whatever they wanted it. Including activities that had ceased shortly into her third trimester and hadn't resumed since. Like a dried up well, gathering dust in thin crevices.

But things were also different now. She was different.

"So you are," Cardan whispered.

Had she said that out loud? Jude scanned his face and scowled. She twirled on a single foot, facing her half of the closet and walking to it. "I'm tired. I want to sleep tonight." She pretended at picking a gown to change into.

Sly as he was, Cardan slunk up to her from behind to nestle his hands on her hips, like a backwards hug. The touch sent her head reeling. "If that is true," he said with a kiss to her ear, "let us retire. But Jude... What clouds your mind?"

He tugged on her hips, turning her. It embarrassed Jude how quickly his touch sent tingling up her sides. She wanted those hands on her everywhere. Harder. Leaving marks.

"Nothing," she lied.

"Liar," Cardan mocked, admitting what they both knew. he leaned down to kiss the naked curve of her shoulder.

She suppressed a shudder. Very often it was him trembling, trying to keep his weight aloft of her, lost in passion, and face overwrought with ecstasy. She missed it. How long had it been? As old as their tiny baby and some six weeks, give or take? It made enough of an impact that his slightest touch filled her with fire.

"Fill me," she wanted to whisper, desperate. But it took a short glance to see Cardan wasn't focused on her lips anymore. His eyes were on her breasts. Her tender, luscious breasts.

Cardan's eyes were pit-black with hunger. Jude suppressed a shiver and cleared her throat. "My eyes are up here." It came out raspier than she willed.

Her husband ignored that. "My wife is intent on keeping me chaste, I see," he murmured. Not once taking his eyes off her chest. Then, his hands stretched. Their abnormal length cupped her. "These," he jiggled them, "are bigger."

And sensitive.

The raw tenderness of breastfeeding couldn't be fixed by the softest suede chest wrappings, and Jude had been hypersensitive for weeks. Cardan's pale hand cupping an entire breast made her shriek. "Watch out!" She jumped back, colliding with the mirror. It didn't cross her mind to think how they'd been moving backward until her spine hit the solidness.

She trembled while looking at him eye to eye, breath misting in front of her. "Don't touch me there," she said meekly. Almost scared.

Cardan's pupils glazed over not with softness but with another unnamable trait. "Does it hurt?" It wasn't demanding or overly concerned. Just light.

Hurt? Jude could laugh. She closed her eyes, lids falling down. "No," she rasped out. "No, it doesn't hurt." It felt exquisite.

That was as much permission as Cardan Greenbriar needed. His hands resumed their position. Jude had to bite her lip to keep from making a noise. "Well, then. Does this hurt?" He traced lightly over her skin, leaning closer so Jude had nowhere to go but deeper into the mirror at her back. His lips grazed her ear. She wanted to melt. "And this?" he uttered, voice dropping to a whisper.

Cardan's palms coated Jude's heavy breasts and gripped. He squeezed and rolled until Jude became a mewling mess.

This. This is what she wanted. Jude yearned for him to yearn again—to lust. The silvery scars across her body diminished the already frail self-image she had of her physique. Her confidence was shattered. The flimsy skin on her belly, once taut and muscled, was now a proud staple of her motherhood. But skin is skin, and a body is a home to its inhabitant. Jude was unused to this new composition. The soft tissue hanging just above her pelvis was foreign, and it wasn't lost on her the amount of stares the little pouch garnered. She wished to crawl within herself most of the time. Added to the fact that Cardan and her hadn't been intimate...

...meant that his attack on her breasts was the sweetest pain.

"What," she grit through clenched teeth, "are you doing."

Cardan continued teasing her nipples to peaks, adding the skim of his plump lips across her clavicles. "Seeking the root of your concern."

Jude scoffed but it came out more like a whine. "I have no concern."

He reached her neck, whispering fake kisses across the muscle there that sent heat directly to Jude's center. She couldn't control her breathing. Cardan knew that. "You all but covered the mirror." He backed a small distance to gesture at the cloth she'd tossed over each reflective surface. "Have you grown superstitious?"

Enough years had passed for Jude to shed at least one scale in her armor. Cardan and her grew into each other exponentially with the passing of time. Hell, they shared a child now. Therefore what once had to be ripped out of Jude with hot tonsils and nail pliers wasn't so difficult for her to admit freely. "No," she started. Her eyes fell downward, settling on the bright white of his shirt. "But I've grown big, Cardan. I've had a child. My body is... I'd rather not talk about it."

Jude wanted to cry. Jude would also not cry.

When she looked at Cardan, however, it was more likely for her to laugh. His face was ridiculous. It was flabbergasted to the point of being offended. His eyes were wide as saucers.

"Surely you jest," he rasped.

That pretty much did her in. Jude Duarte who never cried covered her face with both hands, hiding the tears. "Just don't call me a fat whale!"

"Jude..." she heard.

Her face grew hot. Cardan wasn't about to see her wet-cheeked on the first night they didn't have their baby with them. It was unbecoming and completely absurd. "I know I wasn't slim to begin with. Not like the fae women. I'm worse off now, but please, don't..."

"Don't what?"

"Don't... say anything. I don't often tell you, or anyone, this, but I'm vulnerable about my image. So please... I'd rather not hear of my body. I already know."

She felt cold fingers prying at her own. She stiffened each joint so it became an impossible feat. In front of her, Cardan sighed. He gave up and dropped his palm from her hands down to her waist. "Jude. You must be mad. Completely mad." Years into their marriage let Jude know he was currently shaking his head, dark curls bouncing. Their daughter had that same hair. That same knack.

Her little girl. She missed her. Perhaps it was too soon for them to have sent her away.

Cardan tugged on her hips to urge her closer. "I do not want to humiliate your body." He pressed his lips to her ear, his breath tickling its round shell. "I want to worship it."

Jude gasped. "You're kidding."

The High King leaned back slightly with curled brows. "Kidding?"

She raised a fist to wipe away wetness under her nose. "Lying."

He granted her his signature smirk, complete with seductive eyes. "I am incapable." He lightly toyed with the straps of her gown... and completely ripped it off her.

Jude gasped again, her nipples pebbling to the cold closet air, bringing up her arms to cross them over her chest. "How dare you!" The rest of her was bare too, no undergarments or knife sheaths to be found.

Cardan blinked unamused. "Come now," he commanded. He pulled her forward so she no longer rested on the wall. "Let me show you the truth."

And in two strides and the maneuvering of his long arms, Cardan tore the curtains off the mirrors.

Blood filtered to her cheeks to redden them. She hugged herself tighter. "I want those covered."

"I don't."

A fair counter. And yet Jude Duarte had learned that neither the human world not Faerieland operated on fairness. "Well then," she said with a raised eyebrow. "I want you naked too."

Cardan granted her a predator-like look that made her realize just what stupid a trade that had been. Because if anything, she expedited her husband's true desire for their night. He lazily undid every button, every knot while checking to see that Jude was watching. She always was, not to mention close to drooling. The flat expanse of his body came to view, the trails of corded muscle and hair mimicking a map.

In slow steps, he stalked forward like a mountain cat on the prowl. His tail swished wildly at his back, betraying his feelings. But Jude could hear very little over the buzzing of blood rushing to her ears and wetness pooling between her thighs, the urge to rub them together becoming unbearable. Did he realize the effect he had on her? It seemed Cardan Greenbriar had already forgotten how terrifyingly malleable Jude became under his touch. How it made her feel vulnerable, out of place, and completely and utterly euphoric.

If he cared, he didn't show. Cardan drank her image in from crown to toe like a cold glass of water. Jude let one measly arm drop pathetically to her belly, to her patch of scars.

Cardan scowled at her. His tail swatted the arm away.

Jude sucked her teeth at him, pissed. She covered her arm again but didn't get much of a chance to cover a bit before Cardan stepped forward to circle her wrist in his grasp, his rage a palpable thing. "You must never be ashamed. It is inconceivable." He bowed down, all anger and unspent energy, to inhale at the curve of her neck. "Don't you see what I see?"

She could not resist moaning. The touch, the nearness threatened to light her into flame. She screwed her eyes shut, mad at everything. "Having a baby changed me," she grumbled.

Cardan fell to his knees.

On the floor, soiling the skin of his kneecaps by pressing them onto the shivering hardness of their closet floor, Cardan Greenbriar leaned his head forward until it pressed against her pelvis. It took everything in Jude not to plop her eyes right out of their sockets from staring. To stare at him, the highest ruler of all Faerie, kissing that damned patch of skin under her belly button and just above where she'd pushed their daughter out into the world.

"I have scars too. I understand it can be hard. But Jude," he whispered into her skin, "you could never be short of irresistible."

His nose dug into her belly, and when he moved his face from side to side, she realized he was snuggling her. Exactly like he did each night during the last stretch of her pregnancy. Only this time he wasn't whispering sweet nothings at their daughter. He was comforting Jude.

"You accommodated for our child," he murmured. "Our greatest blessing. And I did that." He tilted up so Jude could see exactly the amount of dark desire in his pupils. Like voids. "I made you swell and grow."

Her breath caught. Jude got dizzy and didn't tell up from down, but she did know Cardan was speaking nonsense. Utter nonsense. He couldn't mean a word of it. "You cannot be serious."

Cardan rose to his full prideful height. He hovered atop her for a heartbeat, raking her with his gaze again, before circling like a cat. "We created someone together. Us. You and me. Look." A gesture to the wall of mirrors.

He stopped behind her. Naked, like she. His obnoxious height slid perfectly into her own where so their figures melded into the other in symphony. She could rest her crown-heavy head on his chest if she leaned back. His pale and long side danced over the edge of her tan-brown curves.

"That's us," he said with a smile, looking at her through their reflection. "We made a life." He wrapped her in his arms to settle his palms on her abdomen. "I did this."

"Stop it, Cardan," Jude pleaded while pathetically smacking him touch away, when in truth all she wanted was for him to keep going, to grab her more sharply. How annoying it was to be so utterly human.

"Why?" Cardan asked her through the mirror. Confusion marred his face.

She brightened red like a poppy flower. Why, indeed? "It's indecent."

He laughed. "Dear Jude. I believed you smart. But it's crossed your mind that, somehow, you and I are decent people."

You know what? Screw it. She was no longer a fan of faking modesty.

"In that case..." Jude tried to keep her voice level, but the skimming of his fingertips across her sides sent her mind reeling. "...keep touching me."

"Where?" He planted a kiss on her hair.

"Wherever you like most."

He licked at her ear, sending lightning through her veins. "I think you'll quite enjoy hearing me recite which parts of your body I adore." He traced a wet line downwards across the valleys and divots of her skin. When he landed on her nipple, he gave it a single harsh suck, making her scream. "Your breasts," he murmured nonchalantly, as if she hadn't cried out loud enough to alert the guards. "Heavier." He smirked into her skin. "More for me to grab." He did just that: cupped them again in fingers that were long and sturdy.

"Or kiss," she suggested out of breath. He knew how she liked having them kissed.

Cardan obliged her. He swallowed the whole nipple into his wet mouth. A noise escaped both her and him, one shrill and the other low. He sucked, and because he's of infernal leniencies, he pulled while leaning his head back.

Her poor nipple was stretched. She howled, face pinched, feeling sparks. She smacked him on the shoulder. Cardan chuckled and moved to the other nipple.

He suckled for a long time before moving on. His hot tongue slithered out to trace the outline of her frame. The side of her breast, down her stomach and her thigh. His curly black hair tickled her in the sensual way, not the funny way, and it was all the more torment for Jude. It was a struggle to stay upright. Tumbling back, the uncovered mirror smacked against her spine where she reclined on it, hot and out of breath.

His head dipped between her legs, where he accommodated perfectly. At the first lick, she shrieked. He brought up her thigh so her left leg rested on his shoulder, opening her up, letting him devour her.

"Stop, stop," she begged. "I'm already wet. Let's just do it."

Cardan tilted his head up, chin gleaming. "Patience, I ask."

It was Jude's turn to scowl. "Right now, Cardan."

"A little more."

She smacked his shoulder.

With a small roll of his eyes, Cardan gingerly placed her leg down. He walked over to the sprawling divan in the room, where often times Jude sat while he modeled his outfits for her. Cardan moved behind it, putting both hands on its frame, and pushed it with his surprising strength. It sat a mere distance from the mirror then, where if he sat on it, he'd have a perfect view of himself.

Before doing that, Cardan walked to his wife, a kind smile upon him, and led her to the furniture. Then he sat with widened legs. His ridiculously long frame made it so he swallowed the cushion, and Jude could only see the finer details of his haunting beauty. His lean limbs and enveloping height. His cock, hard as stone.

Cardan gestured to it with a faint motion, smile curling at his lips. "Sit. Take your throne."

In the past, Jude might've gasped horrified at his gall. Now, she all but pounced on him, turning her front to the mirror like he did, wasting no time to wildly grab his cock. She fumbled a frustrating short time getting into position, but the moment she could, she plunged him inside her and sank down as much as she dared.

"Ah!" she moaned with incredulity. Its delicious pleasure was exactly what she needed. She needed him. Stars above, this was amazing.

Jude Duarte was done wasting time. She steadied herself by grabbing Cardan's muscle under her, since the divan had no siderests. She tensed the thighs that rested atop her husband's and lifted up. Bounce. Oh wow. This was so unfairly good, just like she remembered. She did it again, bouncing wildly, desperate.

"Slowly," Cardan interrupted. He gripped both her hips and forced her to stop. "Slowly, Jude."

"No."

"Yes."

She whimpered, but ultimately obliged him. With softer motions, Jude moved upon his member to slide him in and out, in and out of her. It wasn't the red hot fill she wanted, but it drove her crazy still. So thick, so long and hot inside her.

Cardan's hold of her sides deepened. He moved her in the way he wanted, guiding her. "Move your hips. That's it. Swirl like you've always liked it."

She did. In small circular motions, she drew slow torturous swirls that brought white sparks to her vision. The unhurried pace was maddening. It forced her to deal with the sense of him that much more, forcing them to take their time. And in front of her?

She could only see them, and the illicit nature of their actions, reflected back.

"Stars above," Cardan moaned behind her. "You little tease."

"Tease?" she demanded, her voice high. "I'm following your instructions."

Cardan tried to speak clearly, but she made a particularly good swirl of her hips and rendered him speechless. He gasped. "Ngh. Always that backtalk."

"You usually like it when I use my mouth."

"Not to vex me. Gently, Jude," he scolded her when she tried to quicken the pace.

She whined loudly and stopped. Cardan took the opportunity to send his hands exploring, going up to her breast for another squeeze, caressing her chin, trailing down past her sternum and her belly. She saw everything from the mirror. He pressed down on her loose skin. "Feel me. I want you to sense every inch of me inside you. Is it here?" His fingers tentatively pushed into her.

She swore she would go blind because of his touch, because of his words. "Nuh." Jude took his hand into hers and guided it to the right place. "Lower."

They stopped at the small bulge of him pressing from within. It didn't hurt, nor was it bothersome, but it was a phenomenon that obviously had stopped upon her pregnancy. The extra weight and tissue made it less pronounced than before, but it was still there. "Ah," Cardan drawled. "There it is. Can you feel how hard I am inside you?"

She wanted to come. She needed to come on him, with him. Her anguish became downright pathetic, and she moved her hips on him again, hasty and fierce. "Shhhh," she heard him go right into her ear. Cardan once more halted the frenzy of her body, bringing tears to her eyes by denying her that savage high. "Shhhh...." he soothed. "Go slow, dear Jude."

"I can't go slow," she wailed back. "I've waited too long, Cardan. I want it now."

"You don't know what you're asking for," he replied, and the tinge of his voice warned her to a primal degree.

Jude circled her hips, leisurely, like he asked. She steadied her tone the most she was capable of. "Too much for the king? Pity. I thought his giant serpent could handle it."

He sucked in a breath at her back. "You've just bore our child. I am trying to protect you."

"I don't want your protection. I want your worship."

Suddenly, she was no longer on the divan. She'd been lifted up without warning and in record speed walked forward two steps. She and Cardan were then directly in front of the mirror, its brightness inescapable. Jude stretched out a bent arm, putting it on the poor reflective surface, so she could lean on it. Where she touched, the mirror slightly smudged from her hot sweating skin.

Cardan didn't look at it. His focus was deadset on Jude's hair, the bottom of his face hiding in it. "My worship?" he whispered.

It was a trick question. His tone was very low, barely audible. Like one whispers to the morning mist when they only want the sun to hear. She didn't know what possessed her to act so self-destructively, but Jude wanted him without chains. So she pierced her eyes into him through their reflection and went, "Nothing less."

Without warning, Cardan gave a single sharp thrust.

She yelled. The savage movement sent his cock deep inside, and it hit the right spots with flying colors. But he halted afterwards. "Surely you've rethought that statement."

Jude heaved. She barely made out a word. "Hardly."

Another rough thrust, this one deeper.

"Did I hear you right?" Cardan teased. Another thrust. "Unless I'm mistaken." A fourth thrust.

She couldn't think. Jude gulped. "Do it harder."

Cardan brought his hand down to smack at her ass. She hollered. He ignored her by lowering his face next to hers, their cheeks side to side. "You must be sure, Jude." Deep thrust. "Beyond a shadow of a doubt."

"Stop torturing me!" Jude demanded. Her hateful words rang across the whole closet space. "Insufferable brat!"

Cardan straightened quick as a snake. His black irises nearly swallowed the white, but his eyes were notoriously wide and offended. "Brat?" The way he said it was loud and at odds with what he had just been doing. "Oh, no, Jude. Oh no, no, no." With each word, his tone darkened, becoming more lowly. "You've done it now." His feet inched back, adjusting his position. It made Jude stretch and smack her remaining palm on the mirror for balance. "For that you simply must pay."

Finally, finally, Cardan fucked her like he meant it. Like he was born to penetrate her within an inch of her life. When he thrust again, he didn't stop, and he certainly didn't go easy on her.

He plunged into her deeply, a liquid motion like a song that only worked between king and queen. His cock slid in her, out of her, at an unbearable depth and with a surprisingly controlled pace. Cardan breathed strongly through his nose, trying at restraint, keeping his sharp and delicious thrusts to an even rhythm.

By hearing Jude, you couldn't guess that. You'd guess that she was wrecked with madness, screaming thunderously enough to compete with war horns. She couldn't help it. The snapping of his hips into her were sweet, fierce, and unraveled her with each one. Her belly coiled in need.

A tug on her hair had her facing forward. "Watch me, Jude," Cardan ordered. His breathing was laborious too, becoming frail. "Watch me as I fuck you. Look at us." He gave an unchecked wild thrust at last. "Look at us."

Jude obeyed, and the sight crazed her. She witnessed the sharp jerks, the wide O of her mouth, and the shifting of Cardan's side as he speared her. "Please don't stop."

"Beg me."

"I'm begging you not to stop!"

"Louder."

For once, she couldn't. She tried to heed his demand, but Jude felt so lost in their lovemaking, so deeply overwrought with pleasure, the only noise she could make was a drawled whine. The mirror caught the very last detail. She saw the jiggling of her body, how she was affected by the rough workings of her husband. She tried speaking, but only a combination of vowels and gibberish came out.

Somehow, that made the primal desire in Cardan's eye deepen even more. "Perfect," he growled, approval lacing each letter. "Forget about everything else, Jude." His grasp left her hair. "Let my cock fuck you blind. Let it fuck you useless."

Cardan finally put his hand on her shoulder. One hand on her hip, the other there. That way he could jerk her body towards him, doing the work for her while she was limp and dumb from their fucking. Jude couldn't act even if she wanted to. His hard thrusting into her, pummeling so tremendously her ass smacked loudly each time with the brunt, felt glorious enough to empty her head of all thought. She was pliant to him, because this is what it meant to be worshipped. To have someone give themselves over to you, and, if you can reach into the depths of your red beating heart, to give yourself over as well.

In this case, worship took form of Cardan fucking into her so hard her eyes crossed. She tried to move, tried to think, but it proved impossible. She could only tear her vocal chords with growls of ecstasy and gaze slack-jawed into their reflection.

They were truly a beautiful thing. Cardan knew it, and he insisted on showing Jude too.

"Look at us when you come," he begged.

She didn't remember much of it later. It was one continuous long spike of explosive pleasure. Vivid and alive, filling her soul with magnificent magic. With lust. With love. She came with her sight set on her and Cardan, their bodies dancing, their scars a thing to be treasured rather than shamed. Although it blinded her a moment, the force of it came and receded and then came again. Jude became, as Cardan said, useless. She couldn't function. It had been fucked out of her.

It got to a point where the High King thrust into her so violently he wasn't moving her entire body but only her hips. His High Queen, blissed out and well-fucked into stupidity, leaned limp as a doll on the mirror wall. Only her lower half moved, rhythmically pounded by her husband. Her top half lolled, cock-drunk and taking more of it each second.

She could die like this, truly, and be happy.

When Cardan finally climaxed, Jude couldn't remember what her fucking name was. But she certainly remembered his. She noted the pinching of his eyes, the lids creased, and how his unguarded face was completely taken over with pleasure. His hands, still at her hips, bringing her back, one, two, three hard jutting times onto him before gasping. He kept her there, his length nestled deep inside, like he never wanted to leave. The world went hazy.

She only came to minutes later. Cardan had moved them to the divan, lying on their sides. He'd slid out of her, leaving her warmth, but snuggled her back and his front together to create their own heat. His body cupped hers, and he gently traced an outline from her hip to her thigh. They both took a while to reel back. They caught their breaths and relaxed, nesting into one another.

Later, much later, they still laid in the divan with brains less fogged by lust and more clarity. Their conversation had diverted many ways, but Cardan swerved into the most important one while Jude twirled a strand of his midnight hair between her fingers.

"I never placed too much value in family," he admitted. "Though that comes as no surprise to everyone that knew mine. But I know now I can't let that be her life as well."

Jude already knew who her meant.

Cardan kept quiet for a minute, and Jude welcomed it. They breathed into the air, hotter then than it had been an hour before. His pointer finger was tapping in rhythm against Jude's bicep, as if searching a symphony. "A sibling," he whispered at last. "A good one. That's what she deserves."

Jude felt her eyes welling with tears. "What we never had."

Cardan Greenbriar leaned over to kiss his wife's mouth, tender. He kept his face there, at practically no distance from Jude Duarte so their noses caressed each other. "Let's make this world a good one. With as many blessings as we can bring it."