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Gwyn lifted her head from her book at the sound of muffled giggling. She was sitting in the cottage’s main room, legs thrown over the arm of a comfy chair, back pressed against a soft pillow. The book in her lap was an adventure out at sea and it had drawn her so far into its story that she had gotten lost.
She blinked, reorienting herself. Her and Azriel’s two-year-old daughter Seryn had been napping with Azriel on the rug, the late summer sun creating a good time to bask their wings. It was adorable to see Seryn flopped down next to Azriel, wings stretched wide, her head cushioned on his arm. Even though his arm went numb, Azriel wouldn’t move.
However, Seryn was no longer asleep. She was up and on the move. She walked over to the couch and covered her eyes with her hands. Long locks of black hair swept against her cheeks as she pressed her face into the cushions.
“One, two, three,” she counted softly.
Gwyn recognized the game, but she wasn’t sure who Seryn was supposed to be seeking. Normally it would be Rhodes and Nyx, but the boys were at their respective homes that day. Wanting to see what happened, Gwyn stayed still, pretending to read even as she watched out of the corner of her eye.
As Seryn kept counting (mostly getting the numbers correct), Gwyn saw the shift in the room. Shadows crept around, slipping behind furniture, diving under a pillow, crawling under the couch. Many of them had taken shapes.
A shadow rabbit leapt up onto an end table and knelt down next to a vase of metal daisies. Trudging along, a turtle toddled under the chair Gwyn sat in while a bird flitted to her shoulder. She couldn’t hear them like Azriel could, but by its excited shiver, she could tell it was pleased. The shadow that often stuck near her, currently curled on her knee, became a butterfly. Fluffed tail wagging, a black wolf pounced across Azriel as he slept. It hid under one of his wings.
It wasn’t unusual to see the shadows play with Seryn, but this was a more elaborate affair than usual. When she had been a baby, they would distract her when she cried or soothe her by dancing when Gwyn or Azriel or both sang. Now it seemed like they were becoming more active playmates. Although Seryn seemed to have some kind of innate light-based magic, Azriel’s shadows weren’t scared of her. Instead, they lingered in the shadowy spots cast by the light she gave off, spinning through the glows that gathered around her. They were never far.
“’leven, eight, ten, ready or not, M’coming,” Seryn said, stepping back from the couch. She began looking around, wings lifted, teal eyes searching for certain shadows. A little one, still long and curling, drifted over and landed on her shoulder. She patted at it before continuing her hunt.
Slowly, Gwyn stretched out her leg and tapped Azriel’s foot with her own. It was a testament to how at ease he was and how safe he felt in his own home that it took him a moment to fully wake up. He pressed up on one arm, glancing at her over his shoulder, sleep-tousled hair falling in his eyes. She wanted to slide down onto the rug with him at the sight of those bedroom eyes, but she resisted. Instead she held her finger to her lips and nodded toward their daughter.
Az lifted an eyebrow and turned his head, staying mostly still.
Seryn peeked around the back of a chair. A shadowy frog leapt up and over the back of the seat and perched at the top. Seryn got down and crawled behind the chair, not having noticed that the frog had escaped.
Azriel gave the frog a disapproving look. It puffed up like it was croaking and dissipated into shades that wandered back over to him, guilty.
As Seryn crawled out on the other side of the chair, leggings and tunic a little dustier, Azriel pretended to be asleep while Gwyn played at reading. The butterfly on Gwyn’s knee waved its wings.
Seryn crept along, “sneaking,” her movements slow but intentional as she skirted past Azriel.
Crouching down, she lifted his wing. “Got you,” she whispered to the shadow wolf.
It sprang out and spun around her, getting a peel of laughter out of her. She instantly clapped her hands over her mouth and looked at Azriel and then Gwyn. When they didn’t move, she shushed herself.
Slowly, she looked for the rest of her shadow friends. The rabbit was found, then the turtle. She started to climb up onto the bottom rung of the rolling ladder that was propped against the bookshelf, which was when Azriel gave up his ruse.
“The ladder's currently off-limits,” he said as he moved, getting to his knees and leaning over to grab Seryn. He plucked her off the ladder and drew her onto his lap, hugging her.
“Papa!” Seryn smiled and nuzzled him. Around them, light sparkled and the shadows morphed into spirals and wisps. Gwyn’s butterfly took off and then settled on Seryn’s head.
Az looked up at Gwyn, smiling as Seryn held out her arms. Not needing a verbal invitation, Gwyn closed her book, climbed out of her chair, and joined them, the shadows shifting at the edge of the sunlight.