“There is only one born in each generation in our family who possesses such power. Aila was the one in ours and in yours…” Verbena looked to Bliss.
Bliss shook her head. “I possess no such power or skills.”
“You commanded the wolf,” Verbena reminded. “You have such power. You simply need to allow it to mature.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to,” Rannick snapped and sent a formidable scowl at the woman.
“Watch your tongue with me or I’ll turn you into a frog,” Verbena warned, her tongue sharp.
Bliss squeezed her husband’s arm in a silent effort to plead with him to hold his tongue.
Gunna stepped in to help her. “Don’t worry, she can’t do that.”
“Why? Why did I have to get you as a mother-in-law?” Rannick asked as if pleading to the heavens.
“Because the heavens smiled down on you,” Verbena said with a smile that was anything but pleasant.
Elysia spoke up. “If one with powers are born with each generation, then that means one of our bairns will possess such skills.”
“That’s right,” Gunna said.
“How would we know which one?” Annis asked.
“The child will be born with her eyes open and able to see all from birth,” Verbena said.
Elysia’s eyes went to Bliss. “Was my daughter born with her eyes open?”
“Nay, and I have never seen a child born that way,” Bliss said.
“Well, if your bairn isn’t born with her eyes open, then it will be Annis who has such a child,” Elysia said.
Annis shook her head. “Nay! Nay! Nay! Nay!”
“We will soon find out,” Verbena said and looked to Bliss. “Isn’t it time you tell them that you have labored since leaving the woods and your bairn will be born this day?”
Rannick stepped quickly in front of his wife. “Is this true? The bairn is ready to be born? I thought you had another month.”
“The bairn has decided otherwise,” Bliss said.
“I’ll help deliver the bairn as I did with Elysia,” Annis called out.
Bliss and Elysia laughed.
“I would like to have the honor of delivering my granddaughter,” Verbena said.
Rannick turned another scowl on the woman. “Absolutely not.”
“I did not ask you,” Verbena snapped.
“That is enough,” Bliss warned and looked to Verbena. “My husband comes first, Mother!” Then she turned her eyes on her husband. “Know that I wish to come to know my mother.”
“I can learn to tolerate her,” Rannick offered.
“If I must, I will do the same. I have been separated from you far too long,” Verbena said.
Bliss sighed. “At least it is a start. Her hand went to her stomach. “Now I need to make ready for the birth of our bairn.” She saw fear race up in her husband’s eyes. “All will go well.”
Rannick went to argue with her then recalled all the times she had told him all would go well. It had not just hope, it had been that she truly knew it would be so, and his worry eased.
“Aye, wife, it will,” he said and kissed her.
Bliss rested against her husband in bed, their daughter sound asleep tucked comfortably in the crook of her arm.
“The curse is no more, and no one hunts us any longer,” Bliss said with a smile. “Life will be good from here on.”
“Life is already good, Bliss. “We have pledged to keep Elysia’s identity a secret even from our parents. And if it should ever become necessary, Brogan and I will be there to help Odran protect her. Though with the powerful family of wise women she comes from, Odran does not believe that will be necessary.
“That has brought great relief to Elysia,” Bliss said, having spoken to her sister not long after she gave birth herself.
“Gunna sits and talks with Annis and Brogan, telling them all about Annis’s father, a skilled craftsman who built many dwellings.”
“Has Brogan said anything to you about his mum?”
“He tried to offer an apology to me and Odran, but we both told him it was not necessary. He could not be blamed for her madness. No doubt, it started way before the curse and perhaps worsened when she learned Balloch had fallen in love with Verbena while his father had promised Faline’s family that she would wed his son only to discover his son intended to wed the peasant he loved.”
“Do Verbena and Lord Balloch talk?” Bliss asked.
“You mean your father and mother?” he asked teasingly, though with a cringe when he said mother. “It will take time for the pain of the past to heal and for them to talk.”
“It will take time for me to come to know them both as my parents. Though I do not mind having Brogan as a half-brother,” she admitted, he deals so well with Annis.
Rannick laughed. “He doesn’t mind either, teasing Annis that he is more related to you than she is, of which he has received many jabs and punches that he laughs off.”