She was out of bed and on her knees in front of me by the time the second one fell. I could see her face a little easier now since she was so close. She lifted a shy hand to my face, and I forced myself not to flinch. She touched the second teardrop and brought her hand back to study it with wonder.

“Keiran.” She exhaled. I gripped the arms of the chair when the room began to spin. “Keiran, look at me.” My heart followed her command even when my head continued to question everything. I looked into her blue-green eyes and didn’t find deceit. “What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t kill her,” I choked.

“Who? Esmerelda?”

“Sophia. My… My mother.”

“Oh, baby.” She stood up and slid into my lap and then slid her hands up my bare chest until they rested on my tear-streaked face. “No. You didn’t kill her.”

I shook my head, dislodging her hands and roughly dried my face with my hands. “But I didn’t save her either.” I gritted my teeth when I felt a sharp pain in my chest near my black hole where my heart should have been.

“You were only a child.”

“I could have done something. My father was right that day. I killed so many, so what was one more? It should have been him.”

“You were born among monsters,” she lifted my face when I hid in her shoulder, “but you were not meant to walk with them.”

“What am I supposed to do now? Knowing I didn’t kill my mother doesn’t change what I’ve done.”

“Keiran Masters, my dark prince,” she touched my face again, “you find out who you really are.”

Chapter-Twenty-Nine

LAKE

Willow went into labor the following week and we were all camped out in the waiting room. Dash refused to take any chances and paid the hospital to secure a private floor for the birth. It was forty hours after her water broke and still no baby. Kennedy was well behaved despite the long hours, but it was Keenan we had to try and keep contained. He circled the waiting room with a video camera, insisting on interviews from everyone and hourly updates. He also announced he was making a documentary for when he and Sheldon had six more kids. She cut her eye at him but wisely, remained silent. I discreetly laughed at her situation because he was determined to pump her full of babies, and she was determined to ensure that didn’t happen until she was ready.

I shook my head because we all knew Keenan was spoiled and would get his way sooner than later.

Eight hours later, their son was finally born. Kennedy had jumped up at the news and demanded to see her baby cousin. The nurse warned that only two were allowed in at a time, but as soon as her back was turned, we all bum rushed the room until it was overflowing.

We found her appearing half-alive and sitting up as she held onto him. Dash stood over them, staring down at his son swaddled in a blue blanket. I could see a thin splatter of copper, much tamer than his mother’s hair, on his tiny head. I inched closer just as his eyes opened and inhaled as much air as I could.

He was beautiful.

“What’s his name?” Keenan blurted, still filming.

“Haven Jasper Chambers,” Dash announced.

“Can I hold it now?” Kennedy questioned.

“Your cousin is not an it,” Sheldon scolded.

Kennedy rolled her eyes upward. “Ok, but can I hold him, Mama?”

“Not yet, Ken Doll, but when he’s bigger you can.”

“Daddy says I grow an inch every day. Can I hold him tomorrow?”

Everyone laughed at her impatience. “We’ll see,” Sheldon answered, cooing over Haven. I could see Ken wanted to argue, but the nurse came back just then.

“All right, everyone. Shoo. We have to get this little guy fed.” Keiran took my hand after the nurse kicked us all out and slowly led us to the elevator. I noticed he had been silent for most of the day but had grown even more distant when Haven was born. I could see the vulnerability in his gaze when he stared down at their son, and I wondered what he had been thinking.

* * *

Three days later, it was my birthday and I hadn’t seen one sign of Keiran since I had awakened and found his side of the bed empty. I slowly dragged myself from the bed to begin my morning ablutions. I had been in the middle of brushing my teeth when the doorbell rang. I descended the stairs with my toothbrush in hand and found Keenan and Sheldon’s porch overrun with my friends.

“Happy Birthday!!!!” They screamed it so loud, Haven, who Willow held in her arms, woke up with a hitch-pitched cry.

“Well, shit,” Dash muttered and took him from Willow. He brushed past me with his son and sat on the couch.