29. Epilogue

"You're quite sure this is normal?" I asked the Healer, pacing back and forth at the foot of my mate's bed as she let out another low moan of agony.

"Quite normal," both Meera and one of the Healers assured me, both of them focused entirely on my wife, as they should be. I'd never felt so helpless in all my life. Everywhere I stood, I seemed to be in the way of the support team bustling around Tallulah, and she was in agony and I couldn't take it away.

Never again. We were never having another child. Not if it meant her suffering.

"Ev," Tallulah groaned. "Why are you so far away?"

"I'm here, my love," I assured her, carefully stepping around Meera to get to Tallulah's side. "I'm right here. What do you need? What can I do?"

"Hold me," Tallulah demanded, breathing hard during her momentary respite from contractions. "I want you on the bed with me. Can we do that?" she asked, glancing between the Healers and Meera, who all hastily assured her that we could.

Carefully, I helped Tallulah shift forward before climbing onto the bed behind her and pulling her back against my chest, my hands coming to rest on her stomach right as it grew hard with another contraction.

"This has been the longest day of my life," Tallulah panted right as it ended, before promptly groaning in pain again. "Meera, I want to push."

While the Healers were here to help, Meera was the only one with birthing experience on the human side.

"I'm going to measure you, okay?" Meera said gently, ushering the Healers out of the way, and they ducked dramatically under the beams to avoid getting their horns stuck. The cottage really wasn't designed to hold this many Shades, and I couldn't wait until they'd all left.

This home was our sanctuary, and the only thing missing from it was our child.

Meera looked up, giving Tallulah a calming smile and a nod. "Alright, mama. You ready to have this baby?"

Tallulah tipped her head back against my shoulder with a breathy laugh while I did my best to contain my terror. "Hell yeah, I am."

"He looks just like you," I murmured, staring at my son in wonder as he nursed from his mother's breast. He had a funny little tuft of jet-black hair; clawless, dainty little fingers; and bright red skin that Meera assured me would fade into a paler pinkish hue in the next few days.

"His eyes though…" Tallulah replied with a tired smile, looking up at me. "Human babies don't have eyes like that. They barely open them. Flynn's are already so clear and distinctive, and they glow a little like yours do."

She looked down at Flynn—at our son—and her smile softened dreamily as he blinked up at her with vivid eyes. They were almost the perfect blend of Tallulah's bright blue, with streaks of my navy color.

"Will he ever be able to visit the human realm?" I asked. "Or does he look too different?"

Tallulah shook her head, her expression thoughtful. "I don't think he'll look too different these days. People will just think he's wearing colored contact lenses. Back in the olden days, when Hunters and Shades used to coexist… He might have attracted some negative attention then."

Before I could ask what contact lenses were, a faint tendril of shadows swirled around Flynn's tiny fist before disappearing into nothing.

Tallulah blinked twice before looking up at me. "Was that you?"

I laughed. "No. Our son might have a little more Shade in him than we thought."

Tallulah grinned before biting her lip. "You're not… disappointed, are you? That he looks like me?"

"Of course not." I climbed onto the bed next to her, pulling both of them carefully into my arms. "I don't think I could be happier if I tried, Tallulah. I'm not sure I am capable of ever feeling disappointment over anything ever again. You and Flynn… You're everything to me. I'm going to take such good care of both of you. I'm going to make you both so happy."

"I have no doubts about that since you already do," Tallulah replied, resting her head against my shoulder. "I love you so much, Evrin."

"I love you too. More than I can say."