The first of the three little ones had arrived and while the screaming was just a bit there was a lot more to come once the other two were here.

“Here you go Lord Volkov,” Anemone smiled up at him. “This is Roman right? Lehya should be here soon but Tamara is being stubborn. Lady Angela is fussing at her.”

The small nymph had been chosen to watch over the birth of the newest children. It was the first time that the goddess was giving birth to triplets as she had deemed triplets too much of a hassle in the past for the very reasons that were happening now.

“She is quite mad at she waits.” Anemone was glowing with excitement. “He has red hair like her!”

Months have slowly crept up as Angela’s belly grew with the three little being inside her. As much as it had astonished Nemesis, she had never carried triplets before. Although, he was sure that not many women would blame her if they were in her position, nor would he. Into the final hours of the pregnancy, she was being tended to by her best healers and midwives while he stood waiting by her side. Both Reaver and Maalik were out waiting with Celeste- the former man was there to make sure he performed his blessings once the children were born and cleaned up and Maalik waited patiently by his mistress’ side.

While he was sure that the goddess’ hand would have surely crushed his own throughout the labor, any pain he had felt up to that point subsided once he was greeted by the first of the babies. Roman. He had picked out the name, if he recalled correctly as Anemone handed him over to his father with care. Minding his head with one hand, Nemesis cradled the crying baby against his chest and nodded at her. “Yes…and my eyes”, he spoke as he peeked at the faintly open eyes and saw the red tint of them.

Lehya would be next- a joint idea on both parents’ part. Both he and Roman were given strong suiting names for which he hoped that they would continue their bloodline well into the future. Tamara, on the other hand, was all Angela’s and while it was still too early to tell, he was sure that she still had that feisty rosenite demeanor most of them carried. He could easily hear her words at the babe to come out, though it was equally easy to see that her frustrations were getting the better of her.

“It will be fine, only a little bit more and both of them will be out soon”, he spoke up, trying to reassure Angela. A part of him was reminded of the time she had given birth to the twins and even back then he had overseen everything to make certain that they were okay. Roman’s cries started to quell as he felt his father’s warm embrace along with being bounced in his arms. “At least he isn’t as loud as Nerezza was.”

Nerezza had shown up with Emry and Kaiser in toe, “I heard that! I AM NOT LOUD!” She was the screamer out of the two twins but she refused to have it be written down that she was the worst offender.

Angela groaned a bit as she laid on her side and smiling up at Nemesis. “Hopefully, Lehya comes out as easy as his brother but Tamara is just stubborn…” She listened as Roman started to quiet down and made a small smile. He was going to be a good boy. Maybe better than their Lucian.

It was only another five minutes before Lehya came into the world with Nerezza’s lungs. Anemone was panicking as she tried to get him to calm down. She cleaned him and he wailed even harder as he was toweled. “Please, please calm down. Sire, I don’t know what has him so mad.” Anemone smiled as she handed him his second son.

Tamara though took another hour and finally magic had to coax her out so she wouldn’t die. When she entered the world she was quiet and her red eyes almost immediately opened and looked around. It was only at the sight of her brothers that she cried.

Following behind them was Lucian and Episcia- the former chuckling a bit at the absurdness of his sister. “Yeah right. I’m still surprised that Emry isn’t as loud as you are. Got some good blood in you, Kaiser.” Her husband ignored his brother-in-law and merely kissed the top of her head as they could hear more sounds of baby crying echoing from the room. “I’ll just be surprised if Angela ever lets Nemesis touch her again after this”, Reaver said as he drank some wine and poured the others glasses as well. For Emry, he handed her some juice and rubbed at her face gently.

Nemesis swelled up with pride, a bit more than what he would normally allow himself to have. His children were always able to bring out the gentle side of the monster, and nothing would seem to change that with these three either. He was also aware that his brother was counting on the lone daughter to be the one that gets spoiled the most, something that he couldn’t quite argue with either when that time came.

When Lehya came out, Maalik looked on with a grim face. “I swear I heard the place shake for a moment.” Lucian covered his ears. “Yup, that’s Rezza in him all right.” He knew that would get some retaliation from her but it was well worth it. Even Nemesis cringed a bit at Lehya. “Perhaps, he wasn’t ready to leave just yet?”, he answered, just as confused as everyone else was before he took hold of him in the opposite arm. “It’s almost over, Angela. Just Tamara now.”

What God didn’t count on was the long wait she would bestow onto them. Through will and stubbornness, the girl wouldn’t come out until they had no other option but to “cheat” to bring her out. Nemesis felt his heart slow down as the beautiful babe was tended to and once she started to cry, Lehya began to let his lungs sing again. And when that happened, Roman started tearing up again. Just like dominoes.

“Well, that was three sets of them I heard, Reaver said as he led the rest of them into the room. Lucian rushed over to his mother’s side and retrieved a wet cloth to pat down her forehead. “A bit different in pace for you. How are you faring, mother?” Once Tamara was cleaned up, Reaver took each of the babies and performed his blessing for good health and fortunes and as he finished with each one, he handed each of them off to someone’s arms. Roman was handed over to Celeste as Sergei was arriving, Lehya to Lucian, much to his jargon and Tamara to Nerezza. Maalik made sure to count each of their fingers and toes to make sure everything was there before he was satisfied and Nemesis leaned over to take Lucian’s role in comforting his wife.

“Careful Nemesis, after what you did to her, she might bite you”, Reaver laughed and patted his shoulder. “The children are well and healthy. A cause for a celebration in these parts from what I hear.”

“Me too. Me too. OR Shiloh for that matter. It was her luck that got them the triplets,” Celeste made the comment as she smirked a bit. This was all according to her plans. Three healthy new babies. Emry bounced up on his lap and took the juice and face rubs.

“No babies,” Emry puffed her face out and frowned before drinking the juice.

“I think my dear Emry the time has come and gone for that one,” Nerezza chuckled a bit.

Rezza smacked Lucian’s head as she frowned at him once they heard Lehya. “Rude.”

Angela sighed a bit, “Who knows…” Mara was the worst as everyone held their breath. They heard Angela’s panic at the girl not wanting to come out.

“She could die if we don’t do something. JUST DO IT ALREADY AND GET HER OUT,” the mother demanded at her midwives.

“Okay, okay Lady Angela please calm down. Princess Tamara will be fine,” they tried to reassure her and even use a title to calm down the mother. Once all three were out and screaming Angela was pleased to see her children and family coming in.

Angela smiled up at her Lucian as he started to take care of her. “Aye, Mara gave us quite the scare.” Everyone held onto one of the three.

Nerezza was excited to see her baby sister who was just watching the world. Lehya was making a fuss and Roman had calmed down enough. “She’s so quiet.”

“She’s so stubborn.” Angela snapped. Once Nemesis took over caring for Angela she smiled up at him. “Ever get me pregnant with triplets again and I’ll consider a divorce,” there was a curt nod from her as she held out her arms. “One at a time, please. The fussy noisy one first.”

Lehya got handed to her and she shushed him down. Immediately, he was fine and he was staring up at her with those red eyes. “Now, what is your major issue? Hmm?”

Lucian rolled his eyes after he felt that graceful slap from his sister. “Sorry the truth hurts. But at least Emry takes to news easier.” Not that they wouldn’t be hearing it from her, who had been very vocal ever since she learned that her grandmother was pregnant.

Everyone was in a panic to get Tamara into this world, especially her mother who they were attempting to calm down while Nemesis tended to the two boys. It wouldn’t be too long before the third was born and the set was complete, and crying their hearts out because of one another. “I guess she knows her brothers then”, Nemesis said as he peeked at Tamara. “Gorgeous little thing, isn't she .” The rest of the family came in to witness the new additions. Especially Celeste, but by now, nearly everyone knew why she had arranged for all of this in the first place.

“Stubborn? So she fits right in then?”, Lucian chimed in as he bounced Leyha, who got a tiny handful of his hair and started to yank on it. “Ow, ow, ow. Leyha, that hurts, ow.”

Nemesis rolled his own eyes at his wife., “I hardly think it was my doing, but I’ll try not to next time.” In any matter, he was sated with having three of them at once. He went to retrieve Leyha and Lucian nearly dropped him into his father’s arm to relieve himself of the painful vice-grip. From there, the god released him into Angela’s care, and the child settled down. “Guess he recognizes his mother too.” His little hand reached out for her instinctively.

“Y’all are going to be beating sticks at the boys gunning for her”, Reaver said, pointing to Tamara still in Nerezza’s care. “Probably some of the girls once they get their eye on those fellas too.” Roman was looking all over, greeted by the warm smiles of his kin. After a bit, he started to squirm a bit and got fussy. “His turn then? Probably exhaust from the excitement from everyone else.”