CHAPTER I

“Danaë!” Tyrian called out to his Heart Mate. He had rushed to be at her side the moment he heard she had gone into premature labor. It was three weeks too soon, and he feared the worse. She had not had an easy time bringing Lorenth into the world when she had given birth to their first child, and he was worried this one would be even more difficult. Would he lose her? It was possible.

Danaë took a moment from looking at the baby she was holding to shift her attention to her Heart Mate. With a loving smile, she reached for Tyrian, “You must have ridden like the wind to get here so quickly. I would like you to meet our son, Gabriel. He is the most beautiful child I have ever seen.”

Tyrian was more interested in making sure Danaë was well. She seemed somewhat wane, but outside of this, she was in good spirits. His instincts screamed for him to hold her and tell her how relieved he was that she was well. It was not to be. He needed to wait until she set their son aside first.

“I came the moment I heard,” Tyrian informed Danaë.

“Meet Gabriel,” Danaë insisted, as she turned her attention back to the small bundle in her arms. She carefully lifted the corner of the blanket surrounding the child and smiled with loving pride.

To pacify Danaë, Tyrian turned his attention to their son. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about their child, but he had been so worried about her that the baby took second place. The moment the cover was removed from the newly born baby, he could tell this was no ordinary child. “He is perfect, you have done well.” He took the boy from her so that he could get a better look at him.

Gabriel opened his little eyes the moment he sensed the change of the person holding him. Tyrian could see the strength of his different talents. His eyes widened, as he noted each different one and spoke to Danaë in his surprise. “His load will be a heavy one. Especially if the Fates felt he needed to be so heavily gifted.” They had already known their son was going to be well endowed, but what he was seeing went beyond what they expected.

“What do you see?” Danaë wondered. She had not been able to read him in the way she knew Tyrian could.

“One of his talents is to become a Master Swordsman,” Tyrian began.

“Like his father,” Danaë spoke with the pride of an Elven woman for her mate.

“He also has the talent of a Master Strategist,” Tyrian added.

No one needed to tell Danaë how rare it was for an Elf to have more than one major talent. If something like this was the case, one of them usually was stronger than the other. She could tell this wasn’t the case. Not only had Gabriel been equally blessed with two high level talents, but they were ones that spoke of a future that could be filled with danger. She was afraid to think about what this might mean for her child. She looked at Tyrian’s expression and could tell he was thinking much the same. She got the feeling this was where their thoughts on the matter differed. Tyrian wouldn’t only be considering Gabriel, but also what it meant for the entire Elven world.

Danaë knew her Heart Mate well. Tyrian was looking at their son in a way that told her he was planning something. She was certain she knew what he had in mind, but Gabriel had just come into the world. He needed time to grow, be a child, and play. He was a unique and shining star looking at them from a black sky. Like the star, he would try to chase away the darkness on his own, she could see it in him. He was going to do all he could to live up to everyone’s expectations. It wouldn’t matter how difficult the task, she knew they would expect her son to be able to work miracles.

With a sense of desperation, Danaë reclaimed her child. She would be the buffer that shielded him from the rest of the world. She would move Heaven and Earth to make sure her child had the right to a proper childhood. No one was going to take this from her Gabriel, not even his father, and she could tell that it was exactly what Tyrian was planning. She wasn’t going to allow him to take their child’s youth from him. She would fight him on this. It wasn’t something an Elven Female did, but she would.

Tyrian looked at Danaë in surprise as she reclaimed the baby. He couldn’t imagine what was going through her mind. She looked at him like he was a monster and insinuated her body between him and their son, as if she would protect the baby from him. Whatever she was thinking it had to be wrong. She needed to know this. “I would never hurt our child,” he said.

“You will want to take him from me. He will know no softness, no love in his life. He will only know war. I want our Gabriel to know what it is like to be loved and to play like other children. He will have laughter in his young life.” Danaë cried out. She narrowed her eyes at Tyrian, and she warned him. “You are not going to take these things from him. I. Will Not Let. You.”

“Our child is special, Danaë,” Tyrian tried to explain. “The Fates have given him these gifts for a reason. This is a warning to us that our people are in danger. He will one day be our salvation. But, before this can happen, he must be trained. He is too young for us to think about this yet. But, in the not-so-distant future, his lessons must begin. We cannot stand between him and his destiny, no matter how much we might want to. The choice is not ours to make.”

“His destiny,” Danaë came close to spitting the words out. “He is only a few hours old and already you have his future mapped out for him. I will not allow you to deny my Gabriel a childhood; I won’t let you. He has a right to run and play with other children.” Her reaction to what she thought Tyrian wanted to do made her feel as feral as a tiger. She would protect her child if she had to. She would give her life for him.

“There will be time for this Danaë,” Tyrian tried to reason with her. “But, before we do anything, Gabriel needs to be taught how to use his talents. It is not such a simple thing. It will take years to teach him all he needs to know. We are short of time, every moment counts.”

Danaë didn’t feel the same way, nor was she willing to back down. Her child was not going to leave her side until she felt he was old enough to begin his training, not before. She had no intention of listening to reason, not Tyrian’s, not on this. “I warn you, Tyrian, I will fight you on this, I will not have you taking him from my side before it is time.”

“I have no intention of depriving you of our baby, Danaë,” Tyrian tried again to reason with her. “We are fighting over something that won’t happen for a long time. It makes no sense.”

With those words, Tyrian took Danaë and their son into his arms to hold them close. She needed him to hold her, to comfort her. She was not herself after the long period of labor she had gone through. She was also allowing her imagination to get the better of her.

It took a while for Danaë to settle down, but eventually, she did. When this happened, she began to feel slightly silly. Tyrian was right. Gabriel was much too young to be taken from her. She was getting worked up for no good reason, and it wasn’t good for either her or their baby. She needed to get herself back under control or little Gabriel would also become unsettled. This would not be a good thing.

As Tyrian felt Danaë calm down, he smiled, assured by this lull in their relationship that the matter of Gabriel’s future training was settled. To make sure the peace remained, he would wait until she relaxed her guard, then he would carefully measure his son’s body so he could make the tools the child would need in order to teach him how to hold the weapons he would need for his lessons. He would have to be very careful what he made these items look like in the beginning. Any signs of them being associated with a weapon would split the fragile truce like a ripe pumpkin that he was currently enjoying with his Heart Mate. He would like to bask in their love for at least a few more years without her declaring war on him.

There was no doubt in Tyrian’s mind that when the time came to begin to seriously train his son, Danaë was going to rage at him. She would make him bleed in anyway possible for taking her Gabriel away from her. It, however, needed to be done. The Elven people needed him too much.