Dominic stared down at the tiny face, wrapped in a soft white blanket.
The first thing that he noticed, other than the shockingly blue eyes and blonde hair, were the small golden horn nubs on her head.
Unlike his own, they sat further back on the sides, and seed to be designed to grow backward.
That would be convenient, as she could braid her hair around the horns, making them part of her style.
His daughter would never need to hide her lineage.
The blanket rustled, and Dominic saw small golden wings push up behind her head, right before the little one’s face scrunched up and she sneezed fire.
Actual dragon fire.
Dominic laughed as he reached down and plucked his daughter out of the arms of the horrified Trollish midwife.
"Sorry about that. It used to happen to as well. But on a positive note, I can only do it once a day, so it’s unlikely to happen every ti she sneezes."
Baby Katerina smiled at Dominic, and for a mont, he was certain that she could actually see him, and understood who he was. A ridiculous notion for a child who was only minutes old, but he was already smitten.
This creature was adorable.
"Excellent work, wife. She’s absolutely magnificent. Nearly as pretty as her mother."
"Only nearly?"
"Well, she is half , so it’s inevitable that she couldn’t be as lovely as you are." Dominic replied with mock sympathy for the little one, who was giggling hysterically as she kicked her legs in the swaddling.
Alexis smiled as she watched Dominic gently bounce their daughter.
He was born for this, she could tell. That little girl was going to be one of the most pampered Princesses in the entire world, and with her as the mother, she would have every opportunity open to her, not just the usual route of a political marriage and running a Noble household.
That was everything that Alexis had dread of when she was little, even before all the creepy Noblen ca calling for her and her sister.
In a way, she was overjoyed that her first daughter was not a twin.
She would likely kill soone for doing to her daughter what was done to her and Josephine when they were younger. So many vulgar insinuations.
Alexis was much more concerned about the future of her daughter than Dominic was. His only apparent concern was whether the little one would keep breathing fire when she sneezed.
She was making the face like she was going to.
But when the full body shudder ca, it was an explosion of a different sort that needed to be redied.
"And that’s my cue to pass this happy disaster to soone else."
"Too good to change a diaper?"
"I don’t even know where they are."
The troll laughed, and then cast a spell that brought a basket full of materials flying her way.
"Well, Your Grace, I believe that visiting hours are nearly over. The Princess is exhausted. There is no danger to her or the little one, and we will call you if that changes."
Dominic nodded. "Call if the fire issue continues, and I will have a charm made. My old one was damaged, but I can have the witches make a new one for her. Actually, I will just do that now.
She’s going to need it. I have a strong feeling."
The maids were in a panic, getting everything ready and cleaned. By Royal decree there was a whole list of things to do during and after a Royal birth, and one of them was to send a sample of the child’s hair to the Palace, so that the mages there could verify that the child was indeed a Royal.
In the past, it was not uncommon that soone might try to swap the child, or to replace a stillborn with a commoner’s child without telling the mother.
So, the Palace instituted checks to verify that the child was Royal, and they were still alive within the building where they were supposed to be.
It might not stop all swaps, but it helped.
In this case, it was unlikely to be an issue. There weren’t many other children in the world that could be passed off for little Princess Katerina. The horns made things much more difficult for any attempted baby swap.
Dominic just made it back to the sitting room when he heard more swearing in the birthing room, and then the door slamd open.
"Duke Dominic, you need to co take your daughter."
Dominic chuckled. So, she was his daughter already.
She was born to be a handful.
What he found when he got upstairs was one very angry baby, who was much more mobile than expected, at least in the arms, courtesy of one shredded blanket.
Tiny blue eyes glared at him, then at his chest.
"I can’t fix this one. She’s hungry."
"She’s got claws."
"Understandable. I too will happily shred clothing to get to those titties."
Alexis rolled her eyes, while Dominic searched through his storage cube.
There were many keepsakes in there that he had claid when he left ho, and he hadn’t looked at them in years. But as he recalled...
Yes, there they were. A small pair of leather mittens that tied around the wrist.
"There we go. No clawing at your mother. Good girl."
The midwife smiled. "Those are a great idea. We could use them for troll babies too. Mostly we just ignore it, since we heal so fast. But troll claws are soft when they’re little. These are harder."
"It’s an emotional thing. They’ll soften when she’s calm again. We might end up having to write a whole new parenting book, though. I haven’t seen one on raising dragonkin children."
"I’m certain that there is one. There are so many books in the Library here that don’t have proper labels or titles that there is bound to be relevant information in one of the local Manor’s histories.
Who knows, it might even be about you." Alexis joked, absolutely exhausted.
"I certainly hope not. It will just scare you unnecessarily. I was a rambunctious child."
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