Underwater

Chapter 27: The Last

The first night was difficult. Reina forced herself to wake up when the baby started crying in the early hours of the morning. Her body felt like lead from the fatigue of labor, but she still dragged herself out of unconsciousness. As she tried to sit up, she found her husband groggily leaving the bed. She imagined that if he had swapped to his legs as he usually did, he would have tripped and fallen off the bed.

He crossed the room to the crib, then lifted the baby out of it, bouncing his son up and down in his arms.

"I think he's hungry," Delwyn murmured to her once he got back to the bed. Reina accepted their child, her top already unbuttoned. She held Cadeyrn to her breast and he sucked loudly as he drank her milk.

"He has your appetite," Reina remarked. Her husband smiled at her, even through the dark rings under his eyes and extra wrinkles on his face. He sat beside her as she fed the baby, one arm curled around her back, resting on her side.

"Are you okay? We can call for the maids to take him to the nursery if you need some undisturbed rest."

"No. I want to keep him with us." It suddenly occurred to Reina that he may be voicing that suggestion because he wanted to rest.

Reina opened her mouth to tell him he could sleep in a different room when her husband kissed her temple.

"Alright. Don't push yourself too hard. I'm here, so use me as you like."

"You don't have to-"

"Reina, I listened to you screaming for hours as you gave birth to our son. I'm not going anywhere."

Her lips curved upwards into a smile.

"It was worth it," she said and he clearly had no disagreements to her statement.

They shared a kiss as their son drained her dry. He started crying in protest and Reina hastily broke off her kiss with her husband so she could switch their son over to her other breast.

As she did, her hand brushed over the baby's tail. Unlike his father's sandpapery one, it was smooth.

"Will he be able to switch to having legs?" Reina asked quietly.

Delwyn nodded. "Once he starts learning magic. It isn't difficult magic for us of the royal family and he's half-human, so I imagine he'll take to it pretty fast. I wouldn't be surprised if he accidentally shifts to his legs before he even manages to do any other magic."

"That's good."

Delwyn nuzzled his cheek against his wife's, attracting her attention.

"Thank you," he said. "For giving birth to my child."

Reina leaned back against him. "Thank you for giving me a child." Reina looked down at the fragile life in her arms.

So this is love. Reina realized. She cradled the baby until Delwyn told her she had to get some sleep. Reina protested as he moved Cadeyrn back to the crib.

"Sleep," Delwyn told her firmly.

"...okay." Reina gave in as weariness once again seeped into her every pore.

Even though Reina had wanted to visit her father-in-law with the baby a day after it was born, Delwyn refused.

"You haven't been able to sleep for more than a few hours at a time and you look exhausted. Eat some food and rest," he told her when they finally woke up later the next morning, after checking on their son who was awake but quiet.