Eternal Rider - Larissa Ione [106]
“You called everyone?”
Tay grinned. “Well, duh. Making people wait in agony while someone is in labor is a hell of a lot more fun than a surprise. I’m so going to make you guys pace.” She winced and grabbed her belly. “Probably for hours. I can already tell this kid has Eidolon’s stubborn genes.”
“Yes,” Eidolon said flatly, “I’m the stubborn one of the two of us.”
Tayla blinked innocently. “I’m sweet and malleable.”
Shade coughed into his hand. “Bullshit.”
The gaggle of demons argued as they shuffled out the door, leaving Kynan alone with Gem. “Well,” she said, “what kind of name would fit her?”
Kynan brushed the back of his knuckle over the infant’s cheek. She had his dark hair, his eyes, and Gem’s perky nose and full lips.
“And remember, no demon names.” Gem didn’t want to honor the demon half of her at all, and Kynan didn’t blame her. Time would tell what being a quarter Soulshredder would mean for their daughter.
His little girl smiled… at least, he was going to take that grimace as a smile, and man, the entire room lit up. He lit up. Warmth filled him, which seemed impossible, because he’d been whole and happy for so long and had no idea how his life could get any better. But it just had.
“You’re my little angel,” he murmured. “Your mom is my sunset, and you’re my dawn.”
Gem propped her head on his shoulder. “You always surprise me with how wonderful you are. You know, when you aren’t being a jerk.” At his chuckle, she smiled, and then her eyes flew open. “Dawn. That’s it! It’s perfect.”
“Dawn.” He looked down at the little bundle of calm, of sunshine, and yes, that was perfect. “Dawn it is.”
His phone chirped, and as much as he didn’t want to answer it right now… shit. He wasn’t going to get it. Wasn’t.
“Answer,” Gem said.
“I can’t.”
“Ky, you’re dealing with the potential end of the world. If you have to answer the phone to keep our daughter safe, do it.”
“Man, I love you,” he murmured.
“I know.”
He grinned. They had gone through a lot to be together, and sometimes it still floored him to remember their journey.
An almost physical ache throbbed through him when he left Gem to step out into the hall. He’d make this quick. Regan’s number popped up on the Caller ID, and he dialed. She answered on the first ring.
“Ky. We found it.”
His breath caught in his throat. “The dagger?”
“Yep. The weird thing is that it wasn’t in our chambers.”
“We knew that. Every item at HQ has been numbered and catalogued, and there was no mystical Horseman killer.”
She sighed. “I still figured we had to have it somewhere, maybe mislabeled or intentionally vague in its description.”
Regan was an obsessive-compulsive control freak in an almost clinical sense, and he had a feeling she’d gone through every single item in their inventory. A couple of times. “Okay, so where is it?”
“A monastery in Spain. We need you to pick it up.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Why me?”
“Because our sneaky past colleagues hid it in a box that can only be opened by someone with angel blood.”
And Kynan had an angel perched in his family tree. “This doesn’t make sense, Regan. Why would The Aegis make the dagger inaccessible to most of its own people?”
“No idea. I’m lucky enough to have found it, let alone get an explanation for it.”
Fuck. “Okay, but it’s going to have to wait. Gem just had our baby.”
“Boy or girl?”
“Girl. Her name is Dawn.”
“Very pretty. The sooner you pick up the dagger, the sooner you can get back to her.” Yeah, Regan was all heart.
“I’ll get to it. Anything else going on?”
“We’ve intercepted more chatter that Arik has translated. It’s not good. They’re talking about how the human is dying, but then in the same breath, they’re talking about Satan’s bride.”
“Do you think they’re talking about Cara?”
“Maybe. I know if she dies, War’s Seal will break, but I wonder if being handed over to Satan will do the same thing?”
“Dammit. I don’t know. Just give me some time to be with my family, and I’ll get on it.”
“Okay. But Kynan, don’t take too much. We’re not looking at weeks or