Ice and Lightning Ch. 09

When we walked into the dining room, Gabriel was already raising his voice, shaking his head and saying "absolutely not." "But Darling, you said you did not want to raise a child before we bought the human for you. You were only doing it for the family," their mother said. Gabriel tensed up and looked at me, apologetically. I didn't care; that was not the same Gabriel who was my mate. "First of all, Mother, you will refer to our mate using her name and you will never bring up how she came to us. Second, as you can see, we have all been blessed and changed by Lyra. Our daughter will not be raised by nannies. She will be in the home of her mother and fathers." I could see neither the king or queen had any comprehension of what he was saying. I had made our home so human that I had forgotten everything about Gabriel and Caed's childhoods. This female knew no love. The king most certainly knew nothing of it. Caed and Gabriel didn't even know what it was when it first hit them.

"Son, neither your mate nor your brother know what it takes to make a strong Yelarian, a royal Yelarian. You know, but you have turned your back on us. If you are unable to raise an heir, then the baby will have to be with us." I looked at Gabriel with shock and horror on my face. He chuckled ominously. "Nice try, Mother." he said, then continued, "you know what will happen if you touch one godsdamned hair on any of their heads." No subtilty there.

Caed gave the baby to Gabriel and we sat. Dinner was served and, after her sons had updated them on the armies and businesses, she tried to take a different approach. "Caed, Darling. Gabriel tells us you are no longer interested in being a part of this court and want to raise the child in your home, apparently a very human home." She glanced at me. He leveled a look at her and said "That's the way it is going to be, Mother. You know you have no influence with me, and now that your Angel of Death has been reinvented into a loving father, by a human, no less" he emphasized that part and I could see the smirk he was holding back "this battle is already lost to you. You might as well give up."

Dessert was being served and Gabriel handed the baby off to Caed. They had told me they would be passing her back and forth so their parents could see that they were equally invested in raising their daughter. The queen redirected her focus to me this time. She was trying to appear friendly, but I was pleased to find that Yelarians, with their lack of emotions and empathy, were terrible at this game. Now we had entered my court.

"Mate of my sons, mother of my grandchild," she started, playing at reverance. "Will you please tell me your thoughts on this subject?" Fierce. Be fierce. I knew I was going to be walking a fine line between disrespect and honesty and power plays. My mates had told me Yelarians only responded to fierce strength. Fuck. I looked at them. Gabriel's face was no help, but I could feel Caed urging me on. Be fierce. Be fierce. Be fierce.

"I believe you have no appreciation for humans but there is much you do not see, and I can guarantee there are strengths within my race, you cannot possibly understand. You will continue to underestimate me, but may I remind you that I am the one who took your sons from you. I am the one they bow to. I am the one who introduced them to human emotions and now they have that in their arsenal and believe me, emotions are a much stronger weapon than you will ever know. Lastly, I will be the one raising your grandchildren, in our home, with my mates."

Both of my mates looked at me with surprised delight. The queen looked at me with an expression of shock. The king though, finally broke his stare into nothingness and his eyes slid to me. He held my stare for several moments, then made a hand gesture to one of his guards and said, "the child stays with us."