Read On a Clear Winter Night: An Irin Chronicles Short Story for Free Online

distance.
    “Vasu came to me,” she said. “He had a message from Azril.”
    “Azril?”
    She put a hand on his thigh. “Nothing to worry about. I think it was a spell Azril wanted to give me. He said I would know when to use it.”
    He gently rubbed her belly and heard the children’s laughter come closer.
    “This feeling, reshon . I have never felt such power. I would die for them. Kill for them. And I have not even seen their faces. This fierce love scares me.”
    “Do you think it was any different for your father?”
    “No.”
    She lifted her face to his, and he kissed her.
    “You were loved,” she said. “Now you understand how much. We only fear the unknown.”
    “We all fear the unknown.”
    “But you—” She broke off with a gasp.
    “ Reshon ?”
    The laughter was in his ears, but his eyes never left her face. It was shock and fear and surprise and wonder. Every emotion flickered across her face.
    She sighed and said, “It’s time.”

    HE woke to find her still sleeping, her brow furrowed and her stomach tight with a strong contraction. Malachi bent and kissed her awake.
    “Mal,” she whispered in a hoarse voice. “I… I think—”
    “It’s time, canım. Wake, my love. Our children are coming.”

Chapter Five

    AVA BEGAN TO WHISPER the verses Orsala had taught her as Malachi helped sit her up in bed and put pillows behind her back. Astrid and Karen had already prepared the bed with special sheets and pads to help keep things clean. For a second, Ava wanted to throw everything Astrid had said out the window and demand a drive to the hospital.
    Screw traditional Irin birth! She wanted antiseptic! She felt hot and uncomfortable. Her whole body ached.
    But when Malachi pulled off her shirt and dressed her in the linen robe that would open at the back and front for skin-to-skin contact with her mate and children, she calmed.  
    She could hear the fire crackling in the sitting room beyond their door, and the low snores of their brothers. She heard another brother pacing outside the house, pausing at the lit window. There was a soft tap.
    “Malachi? Ava?” Rhys called softly. “Is everything all right?”
    Malachi pressed kisses to her shoulders. She felt her mating marks start to glow as Malachi walked to the window and cracked it open. The gust of crisp air cooled her skin.
    “I think it’s time for the babies,” Malachi told his brother. “I’m going to wake Astrid.”
    “It’s quiet out here. I’ll wake her so you can stay with Ava.”
    “Thank you.”
    Ava heard Rhys stomping his feet on the front porch before the door opened. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the slow build of tension in her abdomen. She reached a hand out toward Malachi and he grasped it and slid behind her, stripping off his sleep shirt so he held her skin-to-skin.
    He put his hands on her shoulders. “Do you remember the songs Orsala taught you?”
    She nodded.
    Malachi squeezed her shoulders and said, “Then sing, my love. I’ll hold you.”
    Ava sang as the slow vise tightened around her middle. Just as she reached the peak, she felt Malachi draw a swirling pattern down her right arm and the pain eased. He rocked her through the last lines of the Old Language as she finished the first spell and everything tense in her relaxed. Her mind. Her heart. Her spirit rose.
    Their babies were coming.
    There came a soft tap at the door. Astrid’s blond curly head poked through, her curls askew but her smile bright.
    “It’s time?” she asked.
    Malachi said, “I heard them laughing in our dream. I woke to her contracting in her sleep. She might have been in labor for some time.”
    “Midwinter babies!” Astrid sang. “So much fun. I banished your brothers outside, Malachi. I think they might have issues with boundaries. Ava, is there anyone else you’d like to be here with you?”
    “Candace,” she panted. “But maybe not until later. I feel like this is going to take a while.”
    Astrid made all