Chapter 297: Gentle Claims

Orion sat on a chair, one knee up, cradling Raina against his chest with a tenderness that had nothing to do with his usual hardness. The girl was a warm little thing, cheeks flushed, lashes dusted with sleep. Even as Sophia moved closer, she kept her voice down so that she wouldn’t disturb the small, perfect breathing.

Up close, Orion looked so gentle with the baby. He hummed softly, a rhythm just for Raina, and the sound warmed something up inside Sophia.

"What does it look like I’m doing?" Orion asked Sophia, answering her previous question, but even as he spoke, his eyes didn’t leave Raina.

Sophia rolled her eyes. "You are holding Raina. What I’m trying to understand is why you are here," she told him.

He shrugged without guilt. "I came to your room first, but then I saw you and Brynhild together, and I knew you guys needed space, so I left and came here instead to get some uncle time with my favorite niece."

"She’s your only niece," Lysander told him.

"And my favorite," Orion told Lysander, who shook his head.

Sophia turned to Brynhild. "Did you notice he came to the room?" she asked her.

She hadn’t noticed that Orion had come before.

Brynhild, standing by the foot of the bed, gave a small nod. "I only noticed after he left though."

Brynhild reached for Raina, and Orion playfully resisted, angling his body, making a tiny show of holding on. "Just pack the satchel, Brynhild. Raina’s getting uncle time," he said in a mock-authoritative voice.

Sophia rolled her eyes at the display. He looked ridiculous and perfect at the same time. She had noticed this before, but Orion was good with children.

Raina’s small face was slack in sleep, the faintest flutter at the corners of her mouth. Sophia let out a soft, delighted squeal, then swallowed it down, trying to be quiet. She inched closer until she was just a step away. The baby smelled sweetly.

"She looks so cute," Sophia said excitedly.

Orion glanced at her. "You don’t think she looks weird?" he asked, amusement flickering across his features.

Sophia shook her head. "No. She looks cute. Very cute," she said. "I can’t wait to get this sickness out of me so I can hold her."

Brynhild watched Sophia’s enthusiasm with a soft amusement curling in her mouth.

After a beat, Orion turned to Sophia and said sternly, "Alright, that’s enough for now. Go stand by the door. We don’t want you infecting Raina while you are still suffering from a fever."

Sophia glared at Orion, who merely pretended not to see it, hiding the smile tugging at his mouth.

She didn’t do as he said and instead turned to Brynhild. "Are you guys sure you want Orion as an uncle for Raina?" she asked.

Brynhild nodded as Lysander laughed.

"We didn’t choose him. He chose the role himself. Him, Ronan, and Tobias. We had no choice in the matter," Lysander told her.

Orion rolled his eyes. "I’m not going to steal her, Shorty. My character isn’t that bad."

Sophia scoffed. "Who told you it isn’t that bad?"

"I know it isn’t," Orion told her. "I am an exemplary man, after all."

Sophia scoffed.

"And um, maybe I wouldn’t steal her if you just give birth to one. That’s a nice idea, yeah?" he asked her.

Sophia rolled her eyes again. "Who wants to give birth to a child that looks like you?"

"You, Shorty. Come on, we can do it. We’ll just double down on everything we’ve been doing before," Orion said with a laugh.

Lysander, putting the finishing touches on the satchel, chuckled at them both. "Are you two plotting to make babies tonight or something?" he asked, amused, voice dry as he looked between Sophia and Orion.

"No," the both of them said at the same time.

Lysander just shook his head as Brynhild chuckled at them.

"I’m so not ready for motherhood. Just auntyhood," Sophia told them.

"Me too. But mine is uncle-hood," Orion added.

"You guys do know that sometimes it just happens. You don’t plan it, right? And I suspect from the way you guys..." Brynhild paused, then looked at her daughter. She adjusted her words. "...tangle..."

The other three chuckled hard. Brynhild rolled her eyes but continued. "...you guys don’t use precautions."

"True. You’d need them if you don’t plan on having a child anytime soon," Lysander added.

Orion made a face like he’d been smacked with a wet fish. "I forgot about that," he muttered, and Sophia made a sound somewhere between exasperation and laughter.

"You forgot?" she said incredulously. "What is wrong with you?"

"You forgot too," he shot back, grinning at her. "So the blame is shared."

At that exact moment, Raina shifted and made a small noise, a plaintive, satisfied little sound that had the power to stop everyone’s conversation. For a breath, they all listened.

The sound stilled. The room held its breath. Then the tiny cry broke out.

Brynhild reacted like a woman with a map burned into her bones. She threw her hands forward instantly, as if she had spent all of last week practicing for this moment. "She’s hungry," she said, already reaching for the baby.

Orion blinked in shock. He handed Raina to Brynhild with no small amount of awkward sheepishness. "I thought she had eaten a few hours ago," he offered weakly.

Lysander laughed. "Babies have their own timetable, Orion. It does not consult us."

Brynhild’s hands were already going to her breasts, and Sophia turned to Orion with a raised eyebrow.

"You are not going to look at another woman’s chest while I’m in the room, right?" she asked him.

Orion laughed. "Sorry, ma." He then gave Lysander and Brynhild a mock salute. "Shorty demands I leave, and what Shorty wants, Shorty gets," he told them.

Orion immediately left the room.

Sophia took her place on his chair as Raina started suckling at her mother’s breast.

"Are you guys leaving?" Sophia asked them.

Lysander nodded. "We’d have gone days ago, but Brynhild wanted to stay until you woke up, and given the fact that she can’t make long walks until the incision in her stomach heals, I thought it best for her to stay."

Sophia watched the way Brynhild’s hand moved over Raina’s head with delicate confidence and felt a calm that she hadn’t had for weeks settle over her.

"I’ll come visit when I’m better," she promised. "We’ll spend the whole day together. I’ll help. I’ll—"

"You’ll hold her," Brynhild said before Sophia could finish. "You’ll be auntie for proper."

Sophia laughed softly. "Yes. I’ll be the best aunt ever, as soon as I stop being a walking furnace."

Brynhild tightened the blanket and looked at her with warmth. "Hold me to that."

"I should go," Sophia said, voice soft.

Sophia reached the door, half turned, about to step into the corridor where she had thought Orion would be waiting—but was surprised to find out he wasn’t there—when Brynhild called out to her in that clear, warm voice, the one that held both authority and affection.

"Sophia—"