Dark Nine ❈ Dark Nine Universe Bk1 ❈

Chapter Forty-Nine

Diana's POV

My stress and my threatened-position as Empress with the Kors may have done the trick – minutes later it broke my waters and I was officially in labour.

I'm taken to an indoor bedroom the size of a damn field, I'm laid out on a weirdly comfortable warm and moss covered rock while Orlai holds my hand.

Alpha Centauri and the others mix their venom together for the potion I'll need, and I get it in a vial.

The second time is much easier.

And I'm awake for it.

Orlai delivers the baby, and little E – Diasphora. He is laid out on me while his eyes peel open, and I just quietly look at my second son's soulful eyes.

It's not one colour but everything, and he stays on me for a half hour before finding the strength to crawl away, stealthing and disappearing.

Meanwhile, I wait for the venom to wear off, while Orlai stays at my side.

The Kors had actually given us women some privacy for once, although you could never really know if one of them was spying and invisible. I just choose to believe we are alone for this moment.

"You're a very calming presence, Orlai," I compliment Orlai as she leans against my side of the rock-bed, wrapped in a robe of her own.

"You're very strong going through that a second time," Orlai murmurs back, "I couldn't do that again."

"The venom made it easy. Do you feel safe now, Orlai?" I ask her, "And are you focused? Or Kor-sex drunk?"

"Very focused now, actually," Orlai sits up a bit more, her human eyes twinkling, "I'm starting to trust Arcturus."

"What about your Estori?" I ask.

"We're broken beyond repair," Orlai looks away, whispering with clear hurt, "It's over between us."

"But you'll always be mates."

"Maybe," Orlai looks back at me, whispering, "I don't know – anything must be possible if you and I are alive, Diana. I think there is something about us that makes them want to keep us around. Us mere mortals."

"I hope we get a happy ending," I whisper, "But I don't know if my instincts agree with such a simple answer."

"What do you feel?"

"Like Cinta is going to fuck up everything," I admit.

"Are you strong enough to fight her?"

"...I'm worried... more worried, about what she'll say..." I whisper, "If she is so evil, so manipulative – to have crushed the Kors for destinies... I'm sure our confrontation will be... something, that's for sure."

"Good luck, Diana," Orlai sighs as she looks behind her, and I follow her gaze.

Alpha Centauri and Mars have approached, along with the rest of the Kors.

Mercury comes forward and lays out armour for me.

I sit up and see the full suit, the colour of the moon, to cover every inch of skin from the chin down, and looking more electric than solid – it's spider web is so thin it's hard to figure out if it's a lump of cobwebs when lying on the covers.

I move over and pick it up, and it's sturdy in my hands.

I slip into it, and I pull it up. It wraps around my skin like a second layer.

My Fey altered body has brought my shape back to normal – I do feel like a vessel when I'm primed to breed again already, but I try not to think about how weird my new body is.