A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(111)

“No. Of course not. Here. Hold him and he will stop.”

She handed him the child before he could protest and he awkwardly tried to settle the infant without hurting him. Ariana chuckled at him then rested calming hands on him. She settled her son in his arms and, as she had said, he stopped crying.

Sin was tense from head to toe, afraid he would somehow hurt his son or drop him accidentally. But as time passed and he grew used to holding him, he relaxed. He turned up a beaming smile to his wife.

“Is he as perfect as he seems?” he asked.

“Yes. All ten fingers and all eleven toes.”

He drew in a breath for a second, and then realized she was teasing him. He grinned at her in answer to her amused smile.

“So now all that is left is that we have his naming ceremony, then he will be recognized as my heir. The future raja.”

“That is not all that is left,” she admonished him. There will be many years of raising him between now and the day he becomes raja. But let’s not speak of it. For…for one to happen then my heart must be devastated by something else. I do not like to speak of your death.

“Then we will not speak of it,” he said softly before leaning forward and kissing her lips softly. “As you said, there will be many years between now and then. We will raise our son and his siblings happily and safely.”

“Siblings! You are already planning your next? I cannot think of it after what I’ve just gone through!”

He frowned. “This business of childbirth is highly unfair,” he said.

“In what way?” she asked curiously.

“Well, first that you get to hold the child beneath your heart for months before I even get to feel or see my son…and then that you must suffer so much pain alone and I have no way of taking it from you.”

“Oh, well I suppose being able to hold my child under my heart for all those months is my reward for the pain I must endure.”

He thought on that a moment. “I had not thought of it like that. Was it worth it?”

“Every moment of it,” she breathed. “The pain is nothing compared to how it feels to feel my child moving inside of me.”

“I envy you,” he said softly.

“Don’t. Now you can hold our child close to your heart too.”

He turned Alexsander in his arms and held him up against his heart, drifting a kiss over his downy soft head of black hair.

“You have given me everything I could ever dream or hope for,” he said to his wife. Then he leaned forward and kissed her lips with lingering soft sweetness. “I knew it the moment I first laid eyes on you that you would make me the happiest of men.”

“Well, it took a little longer than that for me to realize you would make me the happiest of women. But you have,” she said lovingly. “I love you more than my life, Sin.”

“Can I stay with you? With you and our child?” he asked, concern edging over him as he scanned her for signs of discomfort.

“Of course you can.” She drew back the corner of the covers and patted the bed. He handed her their child and worked off his boots. He climbed into the bed and put his arm around his wife. She snuggled against him and together they looked down on their son.

“I will never take for granted how lucky I am,” he said softly as he pressed a kiss to her temple.

“I know that you won’t. You have always been very methodical in your appreciation for the fortunes in your life…and you have fought for them at every turn. That makes me very lucky as well…because I know you will always fight to take care of our son and me. Even that night of the fire, when Vich had me in his power, even then I believe with all my heart that you would never fail me.”

“Do not speak of it. I almost did fail you. You fought for yourself that night. I had little to do with it.”

“Perhaps. Or perhaps I wouldn’t have fought so hard had I not had you to live for. Had I not been terrified he would hurt you through me.”

“Let’s not speak of it again. It is over with. My brother is in the afterlife where he will never bother us again.”

“No. We will not speak of it again. And if our son has a brother we will raise both to appreciate what they have and to always put the love of a brother before everything else.”

“Yes. We will. And our second-born child will become heir to your fortunes in Saren, so they will have that.”

“Again we are speaking of heirs and more children. Let us enjoy what we have right now. Let us revel in our son. Let us spoil him as though he were the only one we will ever have…for he may very well be.”

“Do you think he is too young for a pony?” Sin asked, a teasing gleam in his eye.

“A tad bit too young,” she said on a laugh.

“Very well then…a hound. A loyal one to look after him.”

“That is a fine idea.”

Sin looked down on his wife and son and a feeling of pure contentment stole over him. Who would have thought that less than a year ago they had been nigh unto strangers to one another. Now he could never live without her. He couldn’t remember what life was like before her; only that it felt very lonely when he looked back on it.

Now his future was filled with love from many places. His son. His wife. Loyal men like Lindo. His mother.

He couldn’t have asked for anything more.