February 19, 1995. Vaihe District, Tartarus.

The second heir for the House of Gieri came into the world on a pleasantly cold night.

There was no reason for her birth to not be a joyous event, as it meant the Noble House of Gieri was once again growing in number after years and years of dwindling to a singular elder whose bond was to a woman who'd lost all ability to have children during a skirmish against Archangels shortly after the birth of their youngest. No one faulted Lady el Svairnz for it, as she was the Knight of First at the time, but having been injured so while in service directly under their King didn't take from the fact that her bonded's House would see no more growth from him.

With the rest of Lord von Gieri's kin long since dead or unable to have heirs, hope for the House's continuity laid on their children since that moment forward – but then Idahiv was labeled as a Zkhoerjae, Rhas was killed in the line of duty and Okhrei died in a training accident, all over the course of five years with none of the children having lived a full decade. Only Iekann, the youngest, lived past that mark, but the same Archangel that rendered his dame infertile would kill him at sixteen, almost fifteen years after the firstborn's banishment.

With the House of Gieri reduced to just the Knight of Second, everyone thought the mighty, ancient, noble House that most Demons strongly believed was related to their King was doomed to disappear.

But now, the disgraced former heir had proven that their King hadn't been wrong to simply order him banished instead of executed, because he'd thus far given the bloodline two heirs to keep it alive – first Itaria and now a second baby. And he was young, too, so there was hope for more heirs.

So, yes, her birth was at the very least a source of relief, for it kept the House of Gieri from disappearing, but for the members of his bloodlines it was a source of quiet, fiercely proud joy.

The House of Svairnz had several members scattered through the Assassin districts, being the second most numerous Noble lineage right behind the House of Groumn, but they always felt pride when another child of their blood was born – even if the child carried another name, because they were the kind of bloodline to which that could happen only through the joining to one of the other five Noble Houses.

Twins Idahiv and Rhas von Gieri had been the first Svairnz to bear the Gieri name in seven generations, and the boy had brought shame to both his Houses – the first Svairnz to be banished in twenty-nine generations, and the first in the whole history of House Gieri.

But Itaria was a chance for the joint line of Gieri and Svairnz to be redeemed of Idahiv's treason, and this newborn gave the House of Svairnz another chance for that shame to be cleansed from their name.

Normally, when a Demon shamed their bloodline with banishment, the bloodline would cleanse their shame by murdering the traitor – but when murder wasn't possible (such as when the line in question had no Assassins), the bloodline needed to prove their collective loyalty by accumulating enough deeds that the honor would at least annul the shame.

Idahiv and his lover would not be killed by Tartarus, for they still had use in the possibility of future offspring (it was the only reason he hadn't been killed after he pledged himself to someone, as it almost always happened – Oathbreakers had a tendency to dirty themselves even further by laying with Humans, so Idahiv's pledge to another of his kind had bought both of them their lives for as long as they could conceive together), so until he stopped being useful it came to his progeny to help the Houses of Gieri and Svairnz cleanse themselves of treason.

So, yes, the Svairnz Assassins were proud to welcome another child of their bloodline into the world.

Her closest blood ties, however, were full of joy for another reason entirely.

Lady Rivot el Svairnz felt quiet joy at the fact that she had not failed her bonded. Their relationship, like most others within the Assassin class, had been born of lust and power struggles, but over time it had morphed until they felt genuine affection for one another, even if neither would openly admit it. But affection was nothing but useless when he was the last child of his House and she couldn't give him another heir.

Lord Mias von Gieri felt quiet joy at the fact that his House was no longer in a place of absolute vulnerability. With each passing day and each consecutive disaster since his firstborn's banishment his fear of what would become of his bloodline's legacy only grew, and that fear was only matched in intensity by his sadness of what his House's grim future was doing to his bonded.

None of them had ever quite gotten over the loss of their children, but now they were beginning to heal from a wound they hadn't realized was still wide open – because they were both Knights, the closest to King Lucifer, and they hadn't allowed themselves to mourn.

Not Idahiv's banishment, for they'd still had a six-year-old to care for, a toddler to teach and a baby to nurture. They didn't have time to lament his treason and wonder where they'd gone wrong with him, not while they feared one of the other children would inadvertently follow on his footsteps.

Not Rhas' death, as their third's Master was convinced he was almost ready to face his trials and their youngest was starting to learn how to control his magic. They couldn't mourn when it was evident their teachings hadn't been enough for their only girl to survive past childhood.

Not Okhrei's accident, because their youngest was close to being able to call upon his wings. There was no place for mourning when the last child of the bloodline was so close to being taken out of their home by whoever would end up being his Master.

Not Iekann's murder, for they'd been too busy seeking revenge for their fallen heir. They felt mourning was not something they deserved until they could catch the Archangel who'd dared murder the last child of the House of Gieri and make the bastard pay.

But they'd never caught the man.

Oh, they'd gotten close – close enough to know his sickening self-entitled aura, to destroy his earthly home and kill the Humans he called kin (knowing that their child's murderer was of the kind who laid with mortals was even more enraging), but not close enough to know his face or his name and place a price on his head.

The Archangel had retired and gone into hiding, and they lost their chance to avenge Iekann.

Now, almost eight years after losing the last of their children, they could hold another chance at redemption, a small and defenseless newborn baby Demon who they'd need to nurture and teach to the best of their abilities until she was strong enough for Shaytan to assign a Master to her.

She was a wee thing, smaller than Itaria had been – they knew that such a thing was likely due to her dame being neglectful of her own health during the months leading to the young one's birth, but they couldn't be angry enough to kill the traitor in a fit of rage.

No, such a thing would have been not only rather counterproductive, since they were still hoping the woman would conceive more of their disgraced firstborn's heirs, but also a very ungrateful response to the lowbred traitor who'd somehow managed to birth two extremely strong heirs for House Gieri. A filth she may have been, but giving heirs to the House was still something that earned her a reward.

It was strange that the girls would be so magically strong even as newborns, Mias mused, with a lowborn Puppeteer filth as their dame. True Idahiv had been strong, anything else would've been unconceivable with all six Noble Houses in his immediate ancestry and two Knights as his progenitors, but surely it shouldn't have been possible for the offspring of his union to that woman to be even stronger than he'd been as a newborn.

It was all theoretically impossible, yet here the girls were – Mias chose to view this as Tartarus' blessing on the girls, a proof of its desire to see the House restored.

Itaria was awake when they arrived at the small building his bonded had claimed as home when she'd retired from active duty in order to look after the child. Mias couldn't even find it in himself to be annoyed at the one-year-old for staying up past her bedtime, or even angry at the pair of Prefects they'd left babysitting her – she'd known what was going on and had seemed rather excited, so he couldn't fault her for not going to bed.

That's not to say she wouldn't be grounded. Regardless of her reasons for staying up, the fact remained that she'd disobeyed. She needed to learn to follow orders, and the consequences for failing to.

Mias quietly dismissed the Prefects, most of his attention focused on the scene before him – Itaria's introduction to the new baby.

The toddler was completely besotted already, he could see it in the way she tried to stand on her tiptoes as if that would help her see the baby held in his bonded's arms.

Barely keeping a smile from showing, at least until the Prefects closed the door behind them, he strode forward and scooped Itaria off the ground, twisting her around so that she could be in the perfect position to get a good look at the newborn's face.

(Just like with Itaria, the baby's wings were retreating at a tremendously fast pace, exposing her to the aura of Tartarus far sooner than it was common even among Demonic nobility. It was nothing but further proof that both heirs had tremendous magical potential, that they had been blessed by Tartarus to help restore their House's honor.)

"She's your kin, Itaria," he murmured as he pressed his lips to her hair. "That means she's to be your responsibility. You will help us raise her into a proper child of Gieri."

"My kin?"

"Yes, young one. You'll help her make our King proud, won't you?"

Itaria nodded resolutely. "My responsibility."

Mias' smile could only grow, and he felt his chest expand with pride and affection when his bonded kissed the toddler's brow and taught her the one name they wanted to matter the most for her. Itaria scrunched up her nose, noticing that the baby's name was familiar, and thus pronounced it with a certainty that at one year of age she most often still lacked when she spoke.

"Rivot von Gieri."