Chapter 1285: Three Hands Over One Life

Melissa drew small circles over his chest with one fingertip.

The Goddess’s hand rested lightly along his ribs, Melissa’s fingertip drifted lower without thinking, over Phei’s stomach, close enough to the thick ridge of his cock that his breath caught. The Goddess felt that catch and smiled against his arm but neither of them took him in hand.

For a while, nobody spoke.

Phei could feel the exhaustion behind both women, though neither seemed ready to sleep yet. The worry surrounding Althea had not disappeared simply because the Goddess had reached a bed and Melissa shared herself with the Goddess’s burden. It lived quietly beneath the room’s peace, a wound left carefully untouched for several breaths because everyone there knew it would still exist whenever they returned to it.

Perhaps that was why Melissa eventually decided to give the night something gentler to hold.

She shifted.

Phei glanced toward her as Melissa propped herself upon one elbow and her black hair spilled over her shoulder while her free hand moved instinctively toward her stomach. The black lace tightened across her breasts with the movement, her tits swayed in the cups and one nipple nearly spilled free of the lace. The soft swell beneath her palm looked almost ordinary still, and yet Phei’s gaze dropped there immediately, possessive and helpless.

The Goddess noticed the movement.

Her eyes followed Melissa’s hand.

Melissa looked at Phei first.

A question passed silently between them.

Phei smiled.

This was hers, so, Melissa turned toward the Goddess: "There’s something I haven’t told anyone yet. Well, apart from Roxanne and Adriana."

The Goddess’s expression immediately became attentive. "What is it?"

Melissa hesitated; that alone made Phei’s chest tighten with ridiculous happiness because he knew precisely what was coming and somehow still felt the words before she even spoke them.

Her hand settled fully over her lower stomach.

"I’m pregnant."

The Goddess went completely still and her eyes widened, for several breaths, she simply stared at Melissa before her gaze snapped toward Phei.

Phei’s smile had already become impossible to hide.

The Goddess looked back toward Melissa. "You’re..."

Melissa’s lips trembled with a smile: "Pregnant."

The Goddess pushed herself upright so quickly that Phei had to move his arm out of the way: "With his child?"

Phei looked offended. "I would hope so."

Melissa slapped his chest without taking her eyes from the Goddess.

The Goddess did not even react to the joke, she stared at Melissa’s stomach as though something miraculous might become visible through skin if she looked hard enough.

Her hand slowly rose but stopped.

Melissa saw the hesitation. "You can."

The Goddess’s fingers touched her stomach carefully; almost reverently.

The white silk of her own lingerie brushed Melissa’s black lace as she leaned in. Her fingertips rested on the warm, taut skin just above the low waist of Melissa’s bottoms, so close to the place Phei had marked and claimed that the contrast made his throat tighten. The Goddess’s fingertips rested so close to Melissa’s pussy that Phei’s cock jerked under the sheets. Melissa’s breath shook too and the black lace between her thighs was already a little darker with heat.

Nothing could be felt yet through a touch by the Goddess since the child remained too small, too early, hidden inside Melissa where even the shape of pregnancy had barely begun appearing.

The Goddess still inhaled sharply, she could see how Melissa’s stomach had changed slightly now.

Her eyes immediately brightened. "Oh..."

That single sound carried enough emotion that Phei’s teasing vanished, the Goddess looked at Melissa and Phei and Melissa’s stomach.

A smile slowly appeared across her face, beginning uncertainly before growing until it transformed her entire expression.

"Phei is going to be a father."

The sentence struck him again; hearing it from someone else still possessed entirely too much power. Phei stared toward the ceiling and breathed out through his nose: "Yeah. I am about to become a father."

The Goddess turned toward him.

Her smile softened. "You look terrified."

Phei looked back at her. "Excuse me?"

Melissa immediately betrayed him. "He is."

Phei slowly turned his head.

Melissa smiled innocently. "He asked me approximately a thousand questions after I told him. About bloodlines, powers, cravings, doctors, what happens if the baby inherits Void-Ice, whether we should prepare the nursery immediately..."

"I was being responsible."

"You started planning thins before we even know whether the baby’s a girl or boy."

"Prepared."

The Goddess began laughing.

Phei looked between both women and realized the alliance had formed with insulting speed.

’Fantastic.’ His child had existed for barely any time at all and already motherhood had created a coalition against him.

The Goddess’s laughter softened before her attention returned to Melissa. "How long have you known?"

Melissa’s smile became smaller. "Long enough to be certain."

"And nobody else knows apart from those two?"

Melissa shook her head.

The Goddess looked genuinely surprised. "Nobody else?"

"Only Phei."

Phei kissed Melissa’s temple. His mouth lingered there, then dropped to the corner of her lips, warm and slow, one hand still covering hers over their child; when he pulled back, his mouth brushed the lace over her nipple once, deliberate, before he returned to her temple.

"And now you."

Something changed in the Goddess’s face.

The happiness remained, but another emotion entered beneath it.

Being trusted with the secret mattered, she understood that intimately, her fingers remained resting lightly over Melissa’s stomach while her gaze softened. "Thank you."

Melissa gave her a warm smile.

The Goddess leaned forward and kissed Melissa’s cheek. Then, after a heartbeat, she kissed the corner of Melissa’s mouth as well, soft enough that Melissa’s breath caught and Phei felt both of them shift closer against him — while Phei watched both of them flush against his chest. The Goddess’s hand stayed on Melissa’s stomach while Melissa’s fingers slid into the Goddess’s hair.

Then she unexpectedly turned and struck Phei on the chest.

Phei blinked. "What the hell was that for?"

"You nearly got yourself killed before finding out you were going to become a father."

Phei stared at her; who was the traitor who told her? Sienna? Couldn’t be her or Eira.

Melissa’s mouth opened slightly, she nodded. "Actually, I support that."

Phei looked betrayed. "You cannot retroactively punish me for danger that happened before I knew."

The Goddess settled back against him with a perfectly satisfied expression. "I just did." White silk and warm skin pressed along his side again. Her breast settled against his ribs. Melissa rested her head against Phei again, laughing softly. Black lace and the heavy warmth of her chest followed. Her leg hooked over his other hip until he was trapped between them, exactly where he wanted to be.

Phei sighed toward the ceiling. "My baby isn’t even born and my legal protections are already disappearing."

The Goddess smiled. "Wait until the child learns how to speak."

Melissa’s eyes immediately brightened.

Phei noticed. "Don’t encourage her."

"Imagine a little girl ordering him around," the Goddess continued, clearly enjoying herself now. "Amethyst eyes, tiny black hair, perhaps little Dragon horns..."

Melissa covered her mouth as laughter escaped.

Phei’s imagination betrayed him immediately.

The Goddess saw the expression before he could hide it: "Oh, so you want a daughter."

Phei recovered quickly. "I said nothing."

"You didn’t need to."

Melissa shifted closer, eyes sparkling. "He does."

Phei looked toward her. "Traitor."

"You already admitted it."

"I said I was just as happy regardless of the gender."

The Goddess laughed again, and for a few precious moments even the weight of Althea’s disappearance loosened around her.

Then the laughter faded naturally.

Her hand still rested upon Melissa and her eyes lowered, Phei knew where her thoughts had gone before she spoke.

"Althea would be so excited."

Melissa reached immediately for the Goddess’s hand.

The Goddess swallowed: "That little girl loves babies, I wonder where she got that," she whispered, her voice holding together only because she forced it to. "Every time someone brought one to the estate, she would follow them around until somebody let her hold."

Phei closed his eyes briefly.

The little girl beside the broken ice swan returned to him again.

He opened his eyes and turned toward the Goddess.

"She will get to meet this one; she’ll her aunt, sister actually."

The Goddess looked at him and her eyes shone.

Melissa squeezed her hand.

For several breaths, the three of them remained intertwined beneath the blankets, joy and grief sharing the same bed because life apparently possessed no obligation to deliver emotions separately. Eventually the Goddess lowered herself again.

Phei drew both women close.

Melissa’s hand remained over their child, the Goddess placed hers gently over Melissa’s.

Phei looked down.

Then added his own hand over both of theirs; their three hands were now resting above one tiny life. Something inside him softened so completely that even the darkness buried beneath Primordial Blood seemed very far away.

Melissa smiled against his shoulder.

The Goddess closed her eyes.

Phei stared into the quiet bedroom.

Tonight, someone was missing while someone else had only just begun to exist in his life just yesterday.

He intended to protect both.

And with Melissa warm against one side of him, the Goddess resting against the other and their hands gathered over the smallest member of his family, Phei finally allowed his eyes to close.