Chapter 458: Brightest Star

Chapter 458: Daphne

I walk around with Lyra wrapped around my neck. She was hunting a rabbit, missed it, slammed her head into the ground, and broke her fang.

Her tooth.

It came out.

So she was crying, and in pain. My poor baby. Though I know she is crying more from embarrassment than pain.

"It is okay," I comfort her, patting her back. "It is normal. It will grow back."

"But then I will have to walk around with a gap!"

"No one will care."

"That is not true!" She wails. "Uncle Eric laughed. I saw Grandpa try not to by masking it with a cough."

I bite the inside of my cheek.

"They just thought you looked cute."

"I do not want to be cute." Her voice is muffled against my neck. "I want to be scary and big like you."

My heart has a fuzzy feeling. A warm, spreading sensation that starts in my chest and radiates outward. She wants to be like me. She wants to be scary and big like me.

"You are still very scary," I say.

"Not with a missing toof!" She hugs my neck tighter.

I try not to laugh. I really do.

I fail.

A small snort escapes me.

She pulls back and glares at me. Her eyes are red-rimmed, her cheeks are blotchy, and there is a very obvious gap where her fang used to be.

"You are laughing at me," she accuses.

"I am not."

"You are."

"I am not."

She narrows her eyes.

I try to keep a straight face.

I fail again.

She gasps.

"You are! You are laughing at me! I am in pain!"

She hides her face in my neck again, her hands tightening. I pat her back.

"I am sorry," I say. "I am not laughing at you. You are just so adorable."

"I do not want to be adorable," she mumbles against my neck.

"Too bad," I say. "You are stuck with it."

She huffs.

I start walking again. The forest is quiet. The sun is warm. My daughter is a warm weight around my neck.

"Will I be as strong as you when I grow up?" she asks.

"Stronger."

"Just as tall?"

"Taller."

She is quiet for a moment.

"But if I am bigger than you," she says, "I will not be your baby anymore."

I stop walking.

I turn her around so she is facing me. She looks at me with those dark eyes—the same eyes I see in my reflection every morning.

"Lyra," I say, "you could be a ten-foot-tall monster, or you could be a hundred years old, and you will still be my baby."

She stares at me for a moment. Then she mumbles, "And you say Mum is the cheesy one."

I smile and kiss her forehead. She hugs my neck again.

I love her. I genuinely did not think it was possible to love anyone else this much, but I do. I love my daughter.

"On TV, I saw the amusement park," she says.

"Hmmmn."

"I want one."

"You mean you want to go to one."

"No." She shakes her head. "I want one."

My lip twitches.

"It takes a lot of time and effort to make amusement parks," I say.

"That is why I am telling you now." She pulls back and looks at me with complete seriousness. "My birthday is still seven months away."

I stare at her.

She stares back.

"You want me to build you an amusement park," I say slowly.

"Yes."

"An entire amusement park."

"Yes."

"With rides."

"Yes."

"And cotton candy."

"Obviously."

I blink.

She blinks.

"You think I am going to that?" I ask deadpan.

"Are you not?"

I look at her.

I am.

I am going to build my daughter an amusement park.

Because she asked.

"Why should I?" I say instead.

"Uhm." She tilts her head. "Because I am asking."

I just look at her.

She tries again.

"Because I am your daughter."

I just look at her.

She huffs.

"Because you love me."

I do not respond.

She narrows her eyes.

"Because you missed seven years of my life," she says, "and you cannot stand to disappoint me anymore."

I stare at her.

"Emotional blackmail?" I ask.

She shrugs.

"I learned from the best."

"Touche, you got me." I shift her onto my shoulders. She settles there, her small hands gripping my hair for balance.

"Want a side of a star next to your amusement park?" I ask as I walk.

"Can you do that?"

I laugh. "I am not a god, Lyra."

"Well," she says, her voice thoughtful, "one day, when you are a god, I want you to pluck me the brightest star in the sky."

"I definitely will get you the brightest star," I agree.

"What will you do with the brightest star?" I ask.

"Show off that my mum is a god, duh."

She giggles above me, her small hands gripping my hair.

"Show off?" I repeat.

"Yes." She nods sagely. "I will tell everyone. ’My mum is a god. She can do anything. She built me an amusement park and gave me a star.’"

"That is a lot of bragging."

"I am your daughter," she says.

Like that explains everything. And she is right—it does explain everything.

I hold her feet.

"Hold on," I say.

I run.

She giggles into the late afternoon’s setting sun.She screams with joy, her small hands gripping my hair tighter as I sprint through the forest.

I leap over a fallen log. She shrieks with delight.

"You are going to make me fall!"

"I would never let you fall!"

I spin her around, and she laughs so hard she snorts.

*

I place the sleeping Lyra in her bed, tucking the blanket around her small body. She murmurs something in her sleep, then turns over, her gap-toothed smile still faintly visible.

I walk back to my room.

The second I close the door, Elara—who is naked—jumps into my arms. I obviously catch her.

She places tiny kisses around my face—my forehead, my cheeks, my nose, my chin.

I laugh.

"What is the occasion?" I ask.

She pulls back just enough to look at me. Her green eyes are bright.

"I have never been more attracted to you than I am right now," she says, "after I saw you spending time with Lyra."

Well spending time with daughter has brought an unexpected benefit.