Rosie blushed, looking guilty. “I wanted her to bring it up.”
Of course she did. Rosie was the most accommodating child, the easy-to-love, relaxed daughter in contrast to Stella’s fire.
Cecilia threw her hands up. “Yes, I’m sick. I thought maybe it was wasting disease and so?—”
“You didn’t tell me,” Rainer said. He cupped their mother’s face in his hands. “Cece, I thought we had settled this. What did I say to you all those years ago?”
She smiled up at him. “There’s no darkness you won’t follow me into. I know. I just wanted to know which darkness it was before I pulled you along with me. But that’s not what’s wrong with me.”
She drew away from him, grabbed her stool, and placed it in front of the windows that opened up to their back garden. She stepped up onto it with a flourish. “Now I need you all to listen and stop interrupting.”
“Look out, she’s on her scolding stool,” Leo whispered.
Rainer had built Cecilia the stool so she could reach the upper shelves in the kitchen, but as the children grew taller than her, they had branded it her “scolding stool” where she could stand eye-to-eye to admonish them. Those occasions were rare enough that it had become more of a joke.
“I saw Lyra this afternoon and I feel rather foolish for going to the worst possible thing. I should have realized what was happening,” Cecilia said.
“Out with it, Mama,” Stella snapped.
Cecilia’s whole face lit up and her eyes locked onto Rainer. “I’m pregnant.”
The words knocked the wind out of Stella. She was hit with immense relief, followed immediately by a new world-tilting worry. The revelation rocked the steadiest ground beneath her feet.
It was no secret that her mother had always hoped to give birth to more children, but so many years had passed with them trying that Stella had assumed she’d be their only one. Pathetic as it was, it was the thing that had always made her feel special. Leo had his fighting. Rosie had her art. But Stella hadn’t found her place in the world. All she had was her goddess bloodline.
It was ridiculous to be jealous of a baby, but when she looked at the joy on her mother’s face, she felt the distinct prickle of envy.
Leo blew out a breath. “But you’re soold.”
Cecilia rolled her eyes. “Thank you, Leo. I’m aware. That’s why I assumed it was something else.”
Rosie clapped her hands, bouncing on her toes. “So we’re going to have a new baby?”
“Lyra confirmed it. She assumed I knew. She and Mika had apparently noticed a couple of weeks ago.” She looked at Rainer. “Say something, Rain.”
Rainer crossed the room and swept her into a kiss. Leo groaned, but Rosie continued delightedly clapping. Their parents kissed for a not-at-all-appropriate-in-front-of-their-children amount of time before Rainer dropped to his knees, his mouth next to her stomach.
“Hello, baby, this is your father. We are delighted that you’re here, but please stop making your mother so sick.”
He stood and helped Cecilia off the stool, and she turned to the children. Leo and Rosie both hugged her, but Stella hung back.
She should have been happy, and she was. Her parents had tried for more children for a long time. She thought they were content. Though her parents made a point of treating them all with equal love and attention, Stella had always felt special being the only biological child of a legendary soul-bonded couple. What if the new baby was more magical, more talented, or simply easier to love?
Finally, her mother’s gaze leveled on her. “Say something.”
Stella wanted so badly to be gracious and excited like everyone else, but her mother was always looking at her like that—like she wanted understanding when everything came so easily to her.
“I guess it will be nice for you to have another reason to be the center of attention.” The words were too sharp and wrong for the mood, but Stella had no softness to offer. Not when her life had been tipped on its side.
Her mother flinched, her eyes going glassy as she turned and walked out into the garden.
Stella didn’t need to look to feel her father’s eyes on her, to sense his disappointment. He followed Cecilia outside, shaking his head.
Rosie and Leo hovered in the doorway. Stella hated their assessment. The way it was so easy for them to say and do the right thing.
“That wasn’t very kind,” Rosie said.
“I don’t know why you’re so happy to be replaced,” Stella snapped. “You’re the baby. Aren’t you worried about losing your privileged spot? Don’t you resent the way they’ve pined for a biological baby? Doesn’t it make you feel like an outsider?”
