His face had changed in a way Isabella could not fully see, but she felt it in his body. The trembling that moved through him was small, but deep. One of his children had come into the world. His son. Their son.
The older woman quickly cleaned the baby with warm cloth, her hands practiced but gentle. He had not come in egg form. He had come out in beast form, tiny and wet and curled, with a small snake-like body that shimmered dark red under the firelight. He was so small that Isabella's heart almost stopped from fear. But he moved. He cried. His little mouth opened wide, and his tiny body twisted with surprising strength.
Then the younger woman froze.
The older woman also slowed.
Because on the baby's head were two tiny horns.
They were very soft-looking and small, no bigger than little rounded buds, but they were there. Two little horns on the head of a newborn snake beast.
The women looked at each other.
Then they looked at Cyrus.
