Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

R asmus leaned in the doorway of Conn and Mulan's master bedroom. I didn't know if he'd put the puzzle together yet, but he didn't seem to mind tagging along with me for this confrontation. He was as anxious as I was to deal with the fairy contract on me. Keeping me alive strained his guardian ethics more than either of us was comfortable with.

"Tell him. Conn needs to know," I said to Mulan. "He's missed every hint that's been dropped. He's too distracted to figure it out on his own. Ya mess with his mind, so ya need to bite the proverbial bullet and speak it aloud."

"Figure out what? I'm not missing anything, " Conn said.

The demon king paced in front of us while I sat quietly next to Mulan. She had her hand wrapped in a panicked grip around her staff. I had wrapped my hand over hers for support. There would be no escape for any of us until the truth was spoken.

The shaman staff and I both knew the baby was merely the first big reveal. But it wasn't pushing on her, which was a good thing.

Conn stopped pacing and frowned. "Is it your nerves? Are you still stressed about your parents? Mulan, you need to find some way to calm yourself down when you get so angry. Powerful emotions are terrible for your digestion."

I rolled my eyes and heard Rasmus chuckle before I even spoke. "Good Goddess, Conn, ya're being dense. Shut up and listen to her. This is not about food."

Conn stared at me. "Did you just command me to stop talking?"

I sighed. "Yes, but no. It's not a command. Just please stop lecturing her and listen ."

The staff vibrated between us. It glowed with a multitude of symbols and grew more on its length as we sat there holding it. The new ones differed from the Wu Shaman ones and were easy to spot.

Mulan stared at the staff in wonder. I would ask Rasmus about the other symbols just to confirm what I was fairly sure they were.

The baby was affecting its mother. We'd simply have to deal with the results. The ability to freeze a fairy was a skill I envied.

I used my free hand to point to Conn. "We'll talk to the staff later. Right now, ya need to just tell Conn and get it over with. Then we need to find out for sure. There is a logical order to this sort of revelation. We should follow it."

Conn froze in place and stared at Mulan. "Are you dying? Because I refuse to let you die after I just found you. We haven't even had an entire year together yet. Mulan, you are not allowed to die . I refuse to listen if that is that is what you have to say ."

Mulan turned to me. "This is what I deal with—drama, drama, drama."

"Pot. Kettle. Black, Wu Shaman. Both of you are drama queens. Quit yer stalling and tell him ," I ordered. "I have other things to do today, and I need ya to not be distracted while ya help. Ben's life is at stake."

I'd already cleared the huddle of telling Ben my idea. Felicity hadn't made a third charm, but they had both already decided that a better control method was needed. Neither of them wanted Ben to feel that a talisman was critical.

What I hadn't told them yet was that the nephilim children had perfected the ability to hide from those seeking to kill them. Once the power was transferred into the talisman, it might hide the charm itself, or Ben, or both of them. Or maybe it would grant him invisibility.

Honestly, I had no idea. The outcome was unknown, but Ben was willing to let me use his charm anyway.

Felicity said a new one would take months to create, but Ben wasn't worried. My boss was planning to reveal his beast side at the next organization-wide meeting. That way, no one would be surprised if they found his beast occupying his office and working for a few days. If he needed to take sick leave because he couldn't speak in that form, someone would report that for him.

Once he'd made up his mind, Ben expected everyone to adjust. That was why he made a good boss.

Goddess, things were changing. But I guess this first big reveal was going to take some bestie bullying to shine any light on the truth.

The tiger cat yowled pitifully from one of the other bedrooms. Mulan looked worried but didn't jump to her feet to check on it. Bo had trained the dangerous feline to crave human affection and constant attention. She was trying to let it roam the house freely to get used to his new environment but didn't yet trust it not to attack visitors.

"Mulan is not dying from some horrible disease, Conn. Nor did she get sick from eating the sushi she made."

"Then what's wrong with her? Why all the mystery?"

Mulan blew out a breath. Then she drew in a big one. She repeated the exaggerated breathing twice more before finally looking him in the eye. "It is what I said before. My sickness is your fault."

"How many times do I have to defend myself, Mulan? I didn't poison your food. I would never do that to you, not even if you made me angry enough to destroy the whole house. I love you too much to ever hurt you."

Yes, we all knew that he loved her. She knew that too. But they both enjoyed yelling more than talking, especially about important things.

Now I understood that she would have brooded for years if I hadn't fussed at both Conn and her over their relationship cowardice. Hers ran even deeper than his after being raised by her shitty parents to doubt herself.

But I wasn't letting her be a coward today. I had to keep her alive—keep all of us alive.

I made a low, grumbling noise that echoed in the room. "Listen to her, Conn. She's finding it very difficult to tell ya something important. She knows ya love her. Wait her out and try to stay in the present."

Mulan used her free hand to cover my mouth. "Let me do this my way. Connlander of the Fir Bolg, carrying your demon child makes me sick. Visiting witch friend of Aran's made me baby sickness tea to help me fight constant urge to vomit. Sushi was fine. Do you understand now?"

The child was technically only half-demon, but we'd get to that detail later. The staff buzzed in support under our joined hands. Mulan's hand unwound beneath mine as she relaxed.

Surely, he got it now.

Conn's eyes went wider than I ever saw them go. "Are you saying... ? Are you saying... ? Are you actually saying... ?"

He never quite got the whole question out of his mouth. Normally, I would have laughed, but Mulan's hand was tight over my mouth, and it kept my lips from moving.

"I carry your child, Connlander. The baby is pushy like its father. Sickness will pass soon... or so I was told."

Conn morphed into his demon form right in their bedroom. He was too tall for the space, so his massive head bent when his enormous demon body didn't fit.

He grunted once and morphed back into a naked human. Then he looked at Mulan with wide eyes again and sank to the floor with eyes closed.

A grinning Rasmus walked over to Conn's now unconscious body and stared down. "Did the high demon king just faint?"

I laughed in surprise. "Good Goddess. I'm going to have to call Henry. He has some concoction that brings Conn around. I swear, Conn has not been the same since Hisser barf-slimed him. We may need to find a healer and rent them a room in one of our houses so we can all get worked on.."

Mulan turned to me with equally wide eyes. "Was Conn upset?"

I shook my head and chuckled. "No, sweetie. He's just in shock."

Henry and Gale ran in with twenty other demons crowding into the hallway behind them.

I blinked at their startled gazes and laughed. "Did ya feel a great disturbance in the force and rush over here to help?"

I asked my question in the most serious tone I could manage. Rasmus covered his mouth and looked away to laugh. We watched science fiction shows together and talked about the universe. Entertaining him that much made me giddy.

The two ancient demon caretakers stared down at their comatose son. Mulan's eyes leaked tears at their shock. She probably wondered if they would blame her for what happened to Conn. She constantly worried about their opinion of her.

"Connlander fainted when I told him," Mulan finally said.

"About the baby?" Gale asked.

Mulan nodded.

"What baby?" Henry asked from the floor, where he kneeled beside Conn.

Neither Mulan nor I were surprised that his mother already knew. Gale was highly observant. I figured she and Jessing must both possess a ‘seeing' gift.

A sniffling Mulan sighed as she looked at Conn's mother. Leaving her prone son to his father's care, Gale rushed to Mulan's side and put an arm around her shoulders. "To receive a thing you have longed for so much can be a shock to a demon's system. And remember, Wu Shaman, even a demon king is only a male."

Henry looked up from checking his son to glare at Gale. I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. When Gale grinned, his gaze returned to his son.

"Conn will be fine," Henry said. "May I take him to the main house? We have a lot going on, and I can watch over him better there."

Mulan glanced down at Henry. "Did you faint when Gale said she was carrying him?"

Henry sighed and looked away. Beside Mulan, Gale covered her mouth. That story must be good to throw Henry so off-balance.

I glanced at Rasmus, who was leaning against the wall and listening intently.

"When Gale announced she was expecting, I ran away for a week to get a grip on my emotions," Henry admitted. "But running from anything is not a reaction my son has ever had. He probably shifted into his demon form to try and handle it mentally but shifted back to human when he realized he needed to deal with his emotions. If he got overwhelmed, his brain likely shut down to let him recover. As a last resort, an overwhelmed demon goes into a short, intense regeneration cycle. I believe this is what Conn has done."

"Did he do this with his first children?" Mulan asked.

"No," Henry said flatly, looking up at her. "But that was because my son did not love their mothers. I don't think he loved his children, either. Producing more royal demons was required, and he did his duty. To the best of my knowledge, Connlander has only loved two females. His first relationship was not compatible enough for procreation. Banshees are primarily human in DNA. We assumed the same would be true for you, so a baby never crossed our minds. This is quite a surprise but a welcome one. Demon children are rare and precious to us."

Mulan swallowed hard, but her face didn't show if the news pleased her or not. "You can take high demon with you. Aran will stay with me until I recover."

Gale patted Mulan's shoulder. "Be strong, daughter. My son fainted for the love of you and his child. You have given him a gift like no other today. Things work out as they are meant to most of the time. Call if you need anything."

We hadn't called her or Henry, but Conn's fainting must have sent out some massive distress signal to have so many of his people come running.

Henry motioned to several demons. They burrito-ed the naked, unconscious Conn into a cover from the bed and carted him away inside it.

Rasmus could have carried him easily but never volunteered. I was glad he stayed with us because I needed to talk with him and didn't want to track him down. I was running out of time to get all my personal issues worked out. I needed to be sure of what I was doing before Ezra showed up.

I removed my hand from Mulan's and hugged her. "I'm very proud of yer courage. Did ya know he'd faint?"

Mulan huffed as she pulled herself from my embrace. "If I could do sarcasm well, I would speak best sarcasm in the world to you."

"So no , ya didn't know," I said with a grin.

"No, I did not expect father of my child to faint when he was told. I expected much screaming and yelling over me not telling him sooner. I expected many bossy commands not to do this, and I must do that . I expected huge declaration of undying love and many promises to love our child as much as he loves me."

"Well, I'm sure that will all be happening once Conn wakes up. How are ya doing? Can ya handle some other startling news?"

"You know I will help you with fairies. We are partners, and sickness is better with visiting witch's tea."

"And ya know I have yer back no matter what the future holds for ya personally, right? I want ya to trust in that because carrying a child makes ya vulnerable."

Mulan nodded. "Is there actual point to your long speech?"

"Yes. Yer baby is only half demon. It's half something less."

Mulan shrugged. "Is this science lesson? I know about DNA."

I grinned at her snarky tone. "It's mostly a magick lesson. What would ya say if I told ya that yer parents were not yer biological ones? What if I told ya that ya were sort of adopted?"

Mulan's frown deepened. "I would be even more heartbroken by them choosing me as their child and then casting me aside. Was I not good enough for the family? I would also say that it would explain many things that I never understood."

"Have ya ever heard of a tea that causes forgetfulness?"

"Yes. My parents sell tea of forgetfulness to families of traumatized children. It treats those who have been abused by erasing their worst memories. It takes years to work its magick completely."

"How long would it take for it to make one small, curious child forget all the questions she has about her powers that her parents refuse to answer?"

I stood and watched her while she pondered my words. I could see her mind churning.

"I have something to tell Rasmus. Talk to yer shaman staff while I'm gone. We'll talk about what they tell ya when I return. I never persuaded yer mages to come clean with ya—not that they have the details—but they read their intentions during the years ya subsidized their business with yer Wu Shaman earnings. The mages discovered things they were afraid to share because they thought ya had suffered enough."

"I was always unwanted child. That is not news to me. Adoption makes more sense. It also must be why they favored my whiny sister," Mulan said.

"Yer mages think ya're a stolen child, Mulan. We'll look into that when ya're feeling better… if ya want to do so. I chose to tell ya about this now because it wasn't yer magick that froze the female fairy. The staff says it is not that strong. They said it was the baby's magick melding with yers. And there's a reason it worked as well as it did."

I looked at Rasmus and then back at her.

"Anyway… talk to the staff. I may need both the baby and ya for what I plan to do today."

Mulan's mouth twisted into some odd shape, but I wouldn't call it a smile. On her lips, it looked like resignation. But now and again, when she felt in control, the Wu Shaman beamed with awareness of her greatness.

"You are not idiot—just annoying, Aran. No worries. I still think you are good friend."

I grinned at her attempt to reassure me. "Well, I'm not smart. If I was smart, I wouldn't be planning to manipulate a couple of fairies into learning the truth about themselves."

"Why is that not smart? You manipulated Conn and me for the baby."

This time I laughed. "Yes, but that's different. I did that out of love."

"I will do as you ask because you speak of love. Your friendship makes me weak."

"Never—not even on yer worse day," I said.

Showing me she meant to keep her word, Mulan lifted the staff in her hand and gazed intently at it. But she wasn't glaring this time.

I hoped that meant she and her mages were finally talking.

I took Rasmus to the greenhouse. We did our best talking there, and getting back to Mulan would take less than five minutes.

"The mages powering Mulan's shaman staff said the Wu Shaman's baby wields nephilim magick. They said it was the baby who helped Mulan stop the fairy from escaping."

Rasmus rocked back on his heels and crossed his arms. I knew he was remembering our discussion about the watchers and their long-ago mistake.

"That's a bit shocking but possible. What will your primary concern be if it turns out to be true?"

I lifted both hands palms up. "Mostly, I need to know if Zara or ya have any desire to destroy Mulan's child because of what it is."

"Ah..." Rasmus said as if my interest was suddenly crystal clear. "I can't speak for Zara, but I have none. The nephilim who survived defeated our efforts. They own their fate as much as the rest of us, though I'm sure they hate us still. What we did to their kind exists in myths about us and them. You knew the story before I told you."

"Yes, that's true. Should I ask Zara the same question?"

Rasmus nearly laughed. I saw him start to, but then he caught himself. "No, just give Zara a horse. That will keep her too busy to care about anything or anyone else. She is single-minded."

What Rasmus left unsaid for me to finally figure out was that Zara had known the story all those centuries she'd spent among humans and hadn't taken it upon herself to track down nephilim descendants.

I sighed and let my body relax. "I would never let ya hurt the baby, Rasmus. I would chop ya into pieces and give them to Orlin to put back together."

"The child is safe from me and my kind, but Mulan might not be."

"Why not?"

"The nephilim were never supposed to reproduce. She has worked a modern miracle in her body to have done so."

I crossed my arms. "Well, yer kind can make yer grand rules all day, every day, but that doesn't mean humans are going to faithfully follow them. Also, the baby is half demon—and royal demon, at that. What kind of blood would rule in such a person?"

Rasmus lifted a hand in surrender. "I don't know. What I'm trying to communicate is that the original nephilim were given something to consume that made them sterile. That was the first wave of us trying to rid the earth of them."

"I guess some of them didn't drink their sterilization juice like ya thought."

Rasmus shrugged. "So it would seem. Mothers of following generations must have stayed in seclusion while gestating. Nephilim magick is riotous until the child learns to control it."

"Do ya think the Mulan can direct his magick?"

"I have no idea. Mulan is good at controlling things. The child is barely a divine spark at this point. He is staying out of sight. If Mulan truly has nephilim blood, her very existence proves our sterilization efforts failed. Geneticists would be fascinated to know how."

"I can't talk about geneticists today. It makes me want to kill all of them." I looked at Rasmus. "I'm calling the baby a ‘he' as well. Do ya know for sure if it's a male?"

"No, the spark is still deciding. Perhaps next month, we will see his choice."

Sometimes Rasmus could be as dense as Conn. Referring to it as ‘his' choice seemed a done deal to me that the baby was a boy, but I let it go.

"The shaman staff couldn't tell the gender but said the child was very powerful. They also said Mulan had been stolen from her biological parents when she was a baby. Their opinion was that her pretend parents disowned her because they no longer needed to capitalize on her magickal talents after she and I regenerated the jiangshi. He became their money-making magickal replacement."

Rasmus looked at me. "Throughout human history, children have been created and used as commodities. In some parts of the current world, they are still treated that way. It is one of the hardest things to stand by and let humans do. I've seen too much."

I nodded. "So the bottom line is that I will never have to worry about ya hurting Mulan or the baby."

"No more than I would ever hurt you."

"Good," I said. "I need to get back to her. Learning she's got nephilim blood and has passed it to her child may be the thing that breaks her. I thought she was a goner when Conn fainted."

"I don't understand that. Why would the knowledge disturb him if a child with her was what he most wanted?"

I shrugged and then laughed. "I've learned more about Conn since he hooked up with Mulan than I ever knew about him before that happened. In twenty years, I never saw him faint once. But I've also never seen him as happy as he is with her. We're both having lives we never expected."

"I was just curious. Perhaps I will ask him about it one day."

But that day would not be today because Conn was now stuck in regeneration. I smiled at the disappointment in the guardian's voice as we headed back.