Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews Page A

said. “Named after her grandmother and you.”
    â€œMe?”
    â€œYou. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have met,” he said.
    Andrea opened her eyes and smiled. “We’re going to call her Baby B.”
    â€œNo trace of loupism,” Nasrin said behind us.
    â€œHere.” Raphael handed me the baby.
    Aaa!
    â€œIt’s okay.” Andrea chuckled. “She isn’t made of glass.”
    I very carefully took the baby. She was so tiny. So light. Her little hands were curled into fists. There was nothing and now there was a life. A little tiny helpless life.
    I stood perfectly still and watched her breathe. She was full of light. It seemed to stream from her little plump cheeks and her dark eyelashes, suffusing her whole body. Her fingers were so tiny.
    â€œSomeone take my baby before Kate faints,” Andrea said.
    I realized I’d been holding my breath.
    Curran gently took her out of my hands, held her for a long moment, and passed her to Raphael. Raphael sat on the bed next to Andrea and murmured something I couldn’t quite catch. Andrea’s eyes shone. Such a happy, content light. She looked completely at peace.
    In four weeks Atlanta would burn.
    Curran’s hand rested on my shoulder.
    Atlanta would burn, and Baby B’s world would change. She wouldn’t know it, because she was a tiny baby. But my father would reach out and strangle her future.
    I didn’t want her to die before she had a chance to grow up. I didn’t want her to be enslaved. I didn’t want her to go to sleep in our world and wake up in my father’s and then grow up thinking that was the way things were supposed to be.
    â€œKate?” Curran said. “Baby?”
    The magic seethed under my skin. “I need some air.”
    I turned and walked away, down the hallway. My legs carried me outside, onto the top of a short stone tower. Sunshine hit me. I inhaled, breathing deeply, feeling my lungs expand.
    I had to stop this from coming. I had to.
    â€œHey.” Curran blocked the daylight.
    â€œHey.”
    â€œLooking grim, ass kicker. Rough day?”
    â€œI’ve had worse.”
    â€œAre you going to tell me what the witches said or do I have to ask our minister?”
    He’d put two and two together.
    â€œIn about a month there will be a battle,” I said. “Atlanta will burn. If we marry, you die. Roland kills you. I watched it happen.”
    I didn’t want to tell him about our son. Not yet. When we talked about the future, he always talked about children. His father died protecting him, and Curran would do the same for our son. I had to shield him from knowing our baby might not have a chance. It was enough I knew. Telling him about it changed nothing at this point, except to pile more weight on him.
    He shrugged. “I don’t care. I’m not going to live my life according to someone else’s vision. Your father can’t dictate it. The witches can’t dictate it. The only question that matters is do you want to marry me?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThen we get married. Fuck them.” He put his arm around me and squeezed me to him. “If I’m going to die, I’d rather die married to you. But more important, what makes you think I’ll roll over?”
    â€œI didn’t say you would. I have no plans to roll over. I want to win, but I don’t know how.”
    I looked past the Keep’s courtyard and the clear stretch of cut grass between the walls, to where the woods met the horizon. Somewhere out there my father was adding the tower to his castle. I had no doubt of it. The vision showed it complete. I would pull it down.
    â€œWe win the old-fashioned way,” he said. “We outthink him and we fight. We’ll do what we always do.”
    It wouldn’t be enough, but if I said that, he’d tell me we wouldn’t find out until we tried. That’s what I would’ve