• • •

She had dreamed about him for centuries, the child she would one day have with her true love. She had thought about the moment when she would finally get to hold him in her arms, and how good it would feel to finally be a proper mother, something she had wanted for far, far too long.

Neither she nor Aleksander had wanted to bring a child into their lives until the Dark Realm’s hold on her had gone. How could she have kept her child trapped within her realm when there were so many to explore? How could she let her child leave knowing that for every hour he was outside of her realm, over a year would pass for her?

So they waited. Waited until she found the key to her escape. Waited until Gideon broke the Realm’s hold on her with the sword of Hrunting and Emma Swan’s life force.

And when she no longer had to wait, when she was free from the control of her realm and free to live her life the way she chose to, when she could finally have the family she had always wanted…

Her son used her own wand to rip her apart.

Fortunately for Fiona, even death was not strong enough to keep her husband from her. Aleksander found his way into the Underworld. He defeated Hades, bettered her uncle and carried her bruised and battered form to Mount Olympus where her father gave her a second chance at life and returned her to a corporeal form.

Her new found freedom allowed her to finally get what she had wanted for longer than she could remember, and when they placed her newborn son in her arms, she knew that there was not a single thing she wouldn’t do for him.

Her eyes flew open at the sound of his cries in the darkness, and she slipped out of Aleksander’s arms, wrapping her robe around herself. Pushing open the door to his bedroom, she was immediately cast in the light of tens of dozens of stars that she had enchanted his ceiling to display, a moving reflection of the universe, but Fiona didn’t take even a moment to marvel in the work of her magic as she crossed the bedroom towards her son.

It took her less than a minute to scoop him into her arms, holding him against her as she soothed his cries, her heart breaking at the sight of his beautiful green eyes full of tears. As she held him to her, breathing in the gentle scent of him, she was overwhelmed with feelings of the same pure, unconditional love that always hit her when he was in sight.

With Adryk in her arms, she moved over to the rocking chair and took a seat, brushing her fingers through his hair as she gently rocked them both. She knew that many would complain about being awoken in the night and their lack of sleep, but she couldn’t help but enjoy these small fleeting moments where the rest of the realm slept and only she and her son remained awake, content in the silence of one another.

“Was it a nightmare?” she asked softly, brushing damp curls from his eyes. Adryk nodded silently, his tiny hands clinging to her for comfort, the way he often did when he was afraid. His head came to rest against her chest, as though soothed by the sound of her heartbeat.

“Monsters..” he said quietly, before burying his face in the silk of her robe, attempting to hide from whatever creature it was that had interrupted his sleep. Her dark eyes looked down at him, a soft kiss planted on the top of his hair as she let out a sigh.

“Don’t be scared of monsters, Addy.” She whispered softly, slowing her rocking as she repositioned her son so that he was more likely to fall back to sleep. “Monsters won’t ever touch you. They’re all far too afraid of me and Papachka to even try..”