Page 5 of Our Lady of War
From his perch across the room, Thanasim splayed his hands. “No longer War? There, I must beg to differ—all things considered.” His eyes narrowed, and Athania pursed her lips. He was there to argue, then. Again. To her surprise, he didn’t wait for her to make her age-old excuses. “Yet, you are not packing this evening as the rest of the army is.” His head cocked to one side. “Why is that?”
“Are you spying on me?” she accused.
“Athania, you’ve made a mess of things. You know that. And if it has anything to do with the darker aspects of a realm, it is my duty to keep an eye on matters.” He put a hand to his chest, his obsidian marriage ring glinting in the candlelight. “You cannot fault me for that. Now, why aren’t you packing?”
She scoffed. He was nearly smiling. Smug prat. He knew exactly why she wasn’t packing, or he wouldn’t have asked. “Wipe that vainglorious look off your face.”
“Athania…”
“I am not going on this particular adventure to Hawthrin,” she snapped.
Goddess above, he looked triumphant. “You’ve finally listened to me?”
Another form materialised in the room, a hand on her swollen belly.
“Darling Asteria.” Athania ignored Thanasim’s response and launched herself at his wife instead. The women embraced tightly, Athania’s face buried in the fiery locks of Lady Magic. She always smelt of comfort. Baked goods and spice. Athania knew of the fierce protector living within her dearest friend, though. Asteria would smite an oppressor just as quickly as she would bake a pie from scratch for a weary soul.
“Admit it,” Thanasim pressed as the women untangled from their embrace. “Admit you’ve finally heeded my warnings.”
Asteria perched herself on Thanasim’s lap, and his hand immediately cradled her belly.
“Unfortunately, that will never be the case.”
Thanasim snorted at Athania’s response, and Asteria huffed a laugh.
“Goddess’ damned teeth,” he finally spat.
“Language!” Athania censured. “You and that filthy mouth, honestly.”
“Filthy mouth?” Thanasim shifted and eyed his wife hungrily. “I assure you, that is the least of my filthy mouth.”
Athania made a gagging noise. “Why are you still here? I told you I’m not going, so run along.”
“Yes, my love,” Asteria said with a grin, “why are you still here?”
Lord Night had the gall to look affronted. “That’s how it is, then?” He gently helped Asteria rise from his lap and stood himself. “This is turning into a ladies’ evening? How grand.”
Asteria lowered herself with great effort into her husband’s vacant chair, a delicate grunt escaping her in the process. Surely she would have the babe within a moon. “By the way,” she spoke to her husband, “your daughter refuses to go to sleep until you’ve read her bedtime story.”
Thanasim frowned in the way of all tired yet proud fathers across times and realms. “I read to them last night. Talan or Hissa?”
Asteria eyed Thanasim without a word, and he frowned with understanding, likely some unspoken message passed within their entanglement bond.
“Ah. Hissa, then,” he murmured.
“Talan refused any bedtime story. She’s a proper adult now that she is eight.” Asteria adjusted herself in the chair. “Hissa, however, is devastated because you used silly voices whilst reading last night, and I did not do said voices, so I have been relieved of my position for the time being.”
Athania watched the gentle pride evident on Thanasim’s face. What a beautiful thing, these mundane parental moments amongst even gods. “Stubborn as the both of you,” she quipped.
“You’re not wrong,” Thanasim muttered before turning back to his wife. “And Monarch?”
“Asleep before the second page.”
Lord Night bent to kiss his Lady Magic. “To read in silly voices and convince my eldest daughter she is never too old for faerie tales, then.” He rested his hand on Asteria’s belly, his thumb rubbing a small circle, and then he was dissipating into smoke and gloom, moulding into the shadows until he was gone.
Athania smiled as she watched Asteria, a deep sense of peace coating her friend. “I’m to have another goddess daughter, then?”
Asteria chuckled. “How did you know she’s a girl?”