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Chapter 359
Solstice morning dawned clear and cold. As soon as Leesa woke up, she kissed Rave on the mouth and then padded into the living room and over to the large picture window. Pulling aside the curtains, she gazed outside. She knew she was being foolish, but she half-expected to see some kind of sign in the sky heralding the arrival of the solstice. Much to her disappointment, the pale blue early morning sky looked like it always did. The lawn out front, however, did not.
The biting cold had brought a layer of frost with it, and the tiny ice crystals coating the dormant brown grass glistened in the slanting sunlight like thousands of tiny, sparkling jewels. Leesa had seldom seen anything so beautiful. She wished there was a spell in her magic book she could use to prevent the frost from melting as the sun rose higher. If there was, she would have used it immediately to preserve the beauty.
Rave came up beside her and slipped his hand up under the back of the T-shirt she had
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 360
By the time Leesa and Rave headed outside, the sun had melted the frost from the lawn, returning the yard to its barren, light brown color. The air remained bitingly cold, though, carried against the exposed skin of Leesa’s face and hands by a stiff northerly breeze. Instead of using a warming spell to ward off the chill, she simply hopped up into Rave’s arms. No warming spell was needed when he cradled her against his chest like this—and it was much more fun, besides. Leesa had considered skipping magic practice today because of the unpredictable effects of the solstice, but she hated to miss even one day of working to improve her skills. In the end she had decided to go ahead with her practice, but not to try anything too new or too dangerous, and to pay careful attention to any sudden changes in the way she felt. She was determined to be doubly attentive to the baby in her womb, though she had to admit she was intrigued to see if their son might conjure up anything as spe
Leesa's Advent Chapter 361
Leesa awoke to broad daylight. She was stunned—how could she have slept in so late on Christmas morning, of all days? Rave was sitting on the edge of their sleeping mat, watching her. A hint of annoyance at him for not awakening her earlier flashed through her, but the smile on his face and the loving look in his eyes chased it away. “Good morning, darling,” he said. “How are you feeling?” “I feel great.” Leesa stretched her arms up into the air above her head and yawned. “But how could you let me sleep so late?” Rave’s smile widened. “I didn’t really have much choice.” “What do you mean you didn’t have much choice?” Leesa started to roll onto her side so that she was facing Rave, but she got stuck halfway there. For a moment she didn’t understand what had happened, but then she looked down at her stomach. She couldn’t believe what her eyes were telling her. Her belly was plump and swollen now, big enough to make rolling over difficult. She wa
Leesa's Advent Chapter 362
Leesa met Ralin for real on a sunny afternoon in mid-April, almost six months exactly from her wedding day.Knowing the baby could arrive any day, she and Rave spent their time at home in the company of Balin and Kaila, a volkaane mid-wife almost as old as Balin who had delivered scores of volkaane babies over the centuries. Kaila looked enough like Balin to be his sister, with the same gray hair streaked with dull copper highlights and a similar lanky build. Since no one knew precisely what to expect from the magical human/volkaane hybrid child, they thought it best to be prepared for anything. Balin and Kaila did not mind sleeping on mats spread out on the floor of the living room, when they slept at all. If Rave’s nocturnal habits were any indication, Leesa suspected that most evenings the three volkaanes probably spent a significant portion of the night watching her sleep. She felt self-conscious at the thought, but there was also comfort in knowing they were there
Leesa's Advent Chapter 363
“What's wrong?” Kaila asked. Her voice was calm and matter of fact, disguising any anxiety she might be feeling inside.“It’s my shield,” Leesa replied. “It’s preventing Ralin from going where he needs to go.”“What do you mean?” Balin asked. “Preventing him how?”Leesa drew another deep breath. “It’s wrapped around him, keeping his magic inside, but it’s also keeping him where he is. I’m not sure I can explain it, but I don’t know how to adjust the shield so that it will slip out of me with him.”Rave’s fingers stopped moving on the sides of her head. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” he asked, his voice heavy with concern.Leesa nodded. “Yeah. As long as I keep the shield in place, Ralin’s not going anywhere. I have to remove it.”“But you can still feel his heat, even throug
Leesa's Advent Chapter 364
Baby Ralin grew even more rapidly than he had inside Leesa’s womb. By three months he was as large as a human child twice his age, and by six months he was pretty much the size of a one-year-old. His physical abilities were equally accelerated—he started walking at four months, and within days was toddling easily around the house, keeping mom and dad anxious and on the alert. Not long after, he could jump from a standing start up onto the bed. Once he learned that trick, he began leaping up and down off all the chairs in the house. His favorite landing spot, though, became the old round end table still stashed away in the corner of the living room.The first time Leesa saw her tiny infant son leapt up onto the creaky table, she was beside herself with worry that he would miss or fall or suffer some equally disastrous fate. She soon learned that his balance and coordination were as advanced as his strength, and her concern turned more to the furnishings in the hous
Leesa's Advent Chapter 365
Ralin's magic returned the very next day, triggered by a totally unexpected occurrence.After his birth, Leesa took a week off from practicing her magic before resuming her daily sessions. Occasionally, she held Ralin cradled in one arm while she practiced; most times, though, Rave held their son while Leesa worked on her ever-increasing repertoire of spells. For the first few months Ralin seemed oblivious to what his mother was doing, but had then taken to watching her with more patience than either mom or dad would have expected from so young a child.Now and then Leesa even had the feeling that Ralin was studying her, but she thought she might be reading more into his watchful eyes than was really there. He certainly noticed the results of her magic, though, often laughing delightedly when she made objects grow or blasted something with bolts of energy. He especially liked it when she floated him through the air from Rave’s arms to hers or vice versa.The October afternoon was cool
Leesa's Advent Chapter 366
Stefan's appearance seemed to trigger a rebirth of Ralin’s magic. It didn’t happen immediately, but looking back, Leesa was pretty sure the incident marked the beginning of the magical resurgence. Whether it would have occurred anyway without Stefan’s visit no one knew for certain. She thought it probably would have happened eventually, and probably sooner rather than later. Balin concurred.What did happen right away was that Leesa became more careful with Ralin when he was around other people, keeping him wrapped in a protective shield for the overwhelming majority of the time. Hugs from relatives and friends without a shield became far less frequent and much shorter in duration. Whenever she allowed a hug without a shield, Leesa made sure to focus her attention completely on her bond with Ralin, alert for any small sign his magic might be about to erupt. People who loved holding Ralin were disappointed at the restrictions, but they all understood the newly awakened danger and the n
Leesa's Advent Chapter 367
Now that Ralin’s magic had spontaneously reappeared without the stimulus of a nearby vampire to trigger it, Leesa immediately became more careful about where she took him. She knew she might be overreacting—other than blasting at Stefan, all he had done so far was harmlessly turn a smoothie green—but she thought excess caution to be the wiser choice, given the total unpredictability of Ralin’s power. Gone were the visits to her mom’s or aunt and uncle’s that she used to make with Ralin. She didn’t want to take the chance his magic might damage their homes or be witnessed by neighbors. When his relatives wanted to see Ralin, they now had to come to Leesa’s house.Worse, she grew increasingly anxious about leaving Ralin alone with Rave while she went out on errands like shopping. She wasn’t worried that Ralin would hurt his father—Rave was still much too quick, as long as he remained alert, which was pretty much his na
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