Foretold Fate (Sisters of Danu Series Book 2)
Page 28
News had been spread by several local druids that Elim and his tuath were on the rise, continuing their journey across the land to further stake his claim as High King. Where resistance was found, only violence and famine followed. Something would have to be done eventually, and the three kings had a distinct feeling it would be them and their wives to do it. But for now, they had children to raise and lives to live.
From the other side of the room came a gurgle of delight as Katriona emerged from one of the back chambers with little Treasa squirming anxiously in her plump arms. Treasa was a chunky wee babe with a healthy appetite and a sweet disposition. At just three moons in age, she had blonde hair, hazel eyes and was the spitting image of her father. Fiona had given birth to her and had, just a few days later, succumbed to a blood infection that had slowly consumed her after Treasa was born. Even if Fiona had not, herself, admitted the identity of Treasa’s father, it would only take one look at her little face to know that she was sired by Gwynneth’s previous husband, Baine, just as Gwynneth had suspected all along.
Though Gwynneth could not find it in her to feel sorry for the loss of Fiona, she felt a deep love for the child who had resulted from the affair between her former husband and his lover. Relief had flooded her when the child was born without Liam’s cobalt eyes or his dark brown hair, and yet, a feeling of ownership fell over her when she saw Baine’s hazel eyes staring back at her the first time she held Treasa.
Seeing Treasa’s innocent version of Baine’s face made Gwynneth think of the child she had lost. Her heart had ached in her chest with images of the child she would never get to hold. Treasa would have been the sibling of Gwynneth and Baine’s child, and just about the same age. Liam was moved by Gwynneth’s strong instinct to love the child as her own. Treasa was, after all, the daughter of two people who conspired to kill Gwynneth at different times, and yet she was so incredibly in love with the chubby cheeked little lass. They had taken her in as their own and loved every moment of their life as Treasa’s mama and papa.
The leather curtains of the chamber down the corridor finally opened just as a shrill scream escaped from the depths of the room. “Tis time! The babe is crowning!” Liam said anxiously, waving the sisters in. They stood up instantly and handed their sons to their awaiting papas and ran down the corridor, light from the hearth guiding the way. As Ceara entered, she was overcome with a fierce chill. She recognized this room. It was the same room her father had brought her to in her dreams last Beltane to see her own mother give birth to the three Sisters of Danu before she died. A terrible feeling of foreboding overcame her and she instinctively backed out.
“What are you doing?” Una asked in confusion. “Are you not going to stay?”
“I will be alright, Ceara.” Gwynneth knew, without even seeing Ceara, what was bothering her. Ceara stepped in and took Gwynneth’s hand, wiping sweaty tendrils of silvery blonde hair off her damp brow.
“Aye, you are alright,” Ceara said with a reassuring smile. Una stepped in carefully, sensing some shared knowledge between her sisters. Ceara could see the look of confused hurt in Una’s face and felt compelled to include her, yet the topic of her mother dying in childbirth in this very same room did not seem an appropriate one to bring up at the moment. “We will explain later, Una. Take Gwynneth’s other hand.”
Gwynneth nodded and forced a smile between gritted teeth as she put her other hand out for Una. “This is the chamber our mother birthed us in, Una,” she ground out through the pain of another contraction.
Una’s eyes grew wide in understanding and she sent Gwynneth a reassuring smile, squeezing her hand tighter. “All will be well,” she assured Gwynneth.
“Aye, it will,” Ceara repeated, casting a sideways glance in Liam’s direction. She had never seen a man look more distraught in all her life.
Liam moved in behind the midwife who was in between Gwynneth’s legs urging her to push as the babe continued to crown. “One more push, my lady!” the midwife urged encouragingly. “Just one more…ye can do it…” A powerful contraction overcome Gwynneth’s body as her stomach became rock hard and the need to push became her body’s foremost desire. A muffled groan slipped through her lips as she bit down and squeezed her sisters’ hands while Liam was helping to push her legs up into her abdomen.
The babe slid out gracefully in a bloody mess into the arms of the midwife. Liam stared down at his new child in shock and awe. “Tis a lass…” he whispered with a choked voice... “A wee lass, Gwynn.” He could hear Gwynneth sobbing as he handed a linen cloth to the midwife so she could clean the child up before handing her to Gwynn. A moment later, she was kicking her legs and screeching loudly into her new world as she was placed into her mother’s arms. Liam smiled down at his new babe with cobalt eyes and, what looked like dark blonde hair; it was hard to tell with the babe still not fully cleaned.
A flood of unconditional love, more powerful than anything he had ever felt in his life, drowned him in a well of emotions. He sniffled and wiped his eyes on his tunic sleeve as he stared down into eyes that looked so much like his own. A tiny heartbeat could be seen beneath his daughter's thin skin and impossibly small rib cage. That was his heart, beating within the chest of another human…a human he had created with Gwynneth, the love of his life.
A gasp of shock rent the room and pulled him out of his deep musings. Looking up, he saw Ceara and Una staring at him with frowns, then their gazes shifted to his daughter, over to Gwynn…and landed on the large, squirming bulge that remained in Gwynneth’s womb. Looking at each other curiously, their eyes grew wide as reality sank in. “Oh nay…” Ceara gasped again.
“What? What is the matter C-CEARA!” Gwynneth shouted as another gut ripping contraction tore through her body. Gwynneth almost dropping their daughter in her pain, but Liam grabbed her swiftly and looked up terrified, wondering what was happening to his wife. His heart was threatening to jump out of his chest and his stomach was ready to heave.
“Tis alright Gwynneth...it will be alright…” Ceara croaked as she clung for dear life onto Gwynneth’s sweaty hand. “Another babe is coming, Gwynn.”
“Another babe?” Liam whispered. He suddenly remembered the story of Gwynneth’s mother and how she died in this very room giving birth to her three daughters. “Nay…please tell me tis not true,” he choked. Una stood next to Gwynneth in silence, clenching onto her hand and staring in horror at Liam.
The midwife was in position as another head started to crown. “Tis alright. This is nay my first time delivering multiples. Now…push!” Gwynneth screamed and pushed with all her strength, but the babe did not come. “King Liam,” the midwife said with urgency, “I need ye to push her legs up as high as ye can. She needs to push very hard. I fear the babe is nay in position.”
“What does that mean?” Liam growled as he handed his daughter to Una and came around to hold onto Gwynneth’s shaking knees.
“It means that she is going to have to push even harder.” Gwynneth’s contractions were coming every half minute and she started to tense and scream as another came. “Push!” yelled the old woman. “Ye must push! Harder!”
Nothing. The babe did not move at all. Liam felt his panic rising, threatening to choke the life out of him. His hands visibly shook as he held onto Gwynneth legs and his eyes locked with hers pleadingly, silently begging her to survive.
Ceara had silent tears rolling down her cheeks and Una stared in horror as she held their wrapped daughter tightly in her arms now, holding her breath as she watched Gwynneth’s bulging belly squirming with the life trapped inside, struggling to escape.
“The babe is moving still. Gwynneth is alright. Babe is alright. PUSH!” The old midwife yelled.
“I c-cannot” groaned Gwynneth. “I...am so…tired…” She stopped pushing and went limp, all her strength leaving her body.
“Failure is death, my lady.”
Gwynneth gasped at the harsh words of the midwife and her neck snapped forward to lock eyes
with the harsh brown ones that stared back at her. “Failure…is…death. For ye both. Ye can nay give up. Ye can do this, and ye will. Now. PUSH!”
With all her remaining strength, Gwynneth screamed and pushed, the terror and pain ripping through her body as she continued to wail. Suddenly, another scream filled the air and Liam tore his eyes away from his disheveled wife and down at the screaming child in the midwife’s arms. Another lass, also with Cobalt eyes and dark blonde hair.
Liam was speechless. He thought of poor King Doran who had been left with three daughters and no wife. Liam had three now, including Treasa. Would he end up like Doran? He looked from his new screaming daughter and back to Gwynneth. She looked as if the life had been drained from her, as if she could perish at any moment. Liam could not feel joy at the sight of his new children, only terror that Gwynneth might die and another daughter may still be within her womb.
Gwynneth’s emerald eyes bore into his, pleading with him to speak as she held out her arms for the child. He shook his head as he came back into the moment. Taking his new daughter from the midwife, he handed her to Gwynneth. “Another daughter,” he whispered with a weak smile.
Gwynneth held her new daughter and cried as Una handed her the first born. Liam looked over them and stifled a sob. Fear for Gwynneth consumed him as he looked back at the midwife, who was pushing roughly down on Gwynneth’s womb, making her wince with the pain.
“Nay more babes, my lady. You have done well.” The midwife smiled upon the new family of five.
“Everyone is alright?” Liam asked hopefully, looking into the old lady’s kind brown eyes. Understanding his fear, the lady just nodded and smiled.
“We will leave you four alone while we go check on our babes,” Ceara said as she leaned down to kiss Gwynneth on the forehead. “You did well, sister.”
“What will you name them?” Una asked as she kissed Gwynneth on the brow.
Gwynneth gave her two departing sisters a smile and then looked back down at her new daughters. “Alyson, for our mother, and Leannan, for Liam’s grandmother.” She looked up at Liam and he smiled in approval, leaning in to kiss his wife and daughters on the foreheads.
“Lovely names,” Una said with excitement as she headed out of the room with Ceara to inform their husbands.
“Tis a lass!” Ceara said with a smile as she plopped down next to Garreth and Eoin, giving them both kisses on the lips.
“And…another lass,” Una said with a giggle and looked at Brocc’s shocked face as he rocked their sleeping son in his arms. “Twin lassies!”
Garreth and Brocc looked at each other with their eyes wide, shaking their heads in unison.
“What?” Ceara asked, looking at the men incredulously, her brow furrowing.
They started to laugh as Brocc shook his head, “Liam has his hands full…”
“That is an understatement,” Garreth snorted. “He is outnumbered four to one! He will never win an argument ever again.”
Only four moons ago, Una, Gwynneth, and Ceara had sat around a fire with their husbands, the only sound in the room the crackling of the fire while they enjoyed the silence. Tonight, all six of them sat around a fire in much the same way, except they now held five new babes in their arms, three lassies and two lads. The room was certainly not silent as two of the babes wailed, one breathed heavily in her sleep, and the twins nursed simultaneously, making satisfied gulping noises as Gwynneth already skillfully maneuvered their tiny bodies in her arms.
Una looked around the room and tears filled her vision. She had become quite weepy in the past few moons with all the changes, but she was so overwhelmed by happiness. “One husband, one son, two sisters, two brothers, one nephew and three nieces,” she said with awe in her voice. “I cannot imagine how I have gone from being so alone to having a full family. But I feel so blessed by the gods,” she whispered.
Una stared into the fire, deep in thought for a moment before speaking again. “What do you suppose will happen now?” she whispered as Brocc put his arm around her and held her close as their son slept peacefully in her arms. “We have control of our elements now, but they seem to work best when we are all together. With us all living in different tuatha, how can we ever truly use them to benefit others?
Ceara shifted Eoin in her lap and shrugged. “Everything has happened the way it was supposed to, whether we wanted it to or not! Even for those of you who fought against your fate.” She stopped and sent a mock scowl at Gwynneth and Una, who both looked away and blushed at the reminder of their stubbornness. “We were all unable to deny the true path of the legend. I plan to go home, enjoy my husband and child, and get to work on making more babes and living a normal life.”
Garreth grunted and shifted in his seat. “Och, Ceara. You and I will work on new babes as often as possible. But do not expect life to be normal, for I have found that life with you is anything but!”
Brocc and Liam both guffawed at Garreth’s words, earning scowls of condemnation from their wives.
“I think we have to accept that this is our normal, now,” Gwynneth said with a grin as she nursed Alyson and Leannan while Liam rocked Treasa in his arms. “And I, for one, am ready to settle down and raise these three lassies in peace.” She looked down at her daughters and kissed their foreheads.
“Patrick said our children will play an important role in helping us save all of Ériu in the distant future,” Ceara reminded them all. “I believe this means we have time before we are needed, but I wonder…what could possibly threaten to destroy our land?”
“Elim,” Liam said with a scowl.
“Famine,” Brocc added.
“War.” The finality in Garreth’s words sent a foreboding chill up Una’s spine.
Una looked around at her new sisters and saw the same fear flash in their eyes as they all held their children close to their hearts. Then she looked at their fierce husbands as they fondly looked upon their families and felt a rush of hope and pride flow through her body. She was a wife, mother, and a Sister of Danu. No matter what happened, she knew her life held more purpose than she once believed and these men would protect them with their lives. “Whatever comes our way, we are a family now, and we will always have each other.”
“Aye,” everyone replied in unison as all three sisters stretched their bare feet out beside the crackling fire, snuggling into the warm strength of their husbands, and stared into its flames as the sounds of their children filled the room with peace, contentment, and joy.
Author’s note
Thank you for reading Foretold Fate! I hope you enjoyed the second book in the Sisters of Danu series! During my research of the ancient Irish, I came across so many fascinating tales and characters. I wanted to weave as much of ancient Ireland's “history” into my fictitious tale of the Three Sisters of Danu as possible. I put history in quotes because there was no written language at the time and it is unclear if most of what is recorded is fact or fiction. Many believe it is a mixture of both; tales of extraordinary people that have been slowly altered as the stories were passed down orally over the years.
I speak of the Tuatha de Danann often in book one and some in book two. These were considered a god-like people, created by the goddess Danu, who once ruled ancient Ireland thousands of years ago. It is said that, after a series of wars with the humans, they were finally defeated. In a plea for mercy, the original three goddesses of the Danann (who I have crafted the three Sisters of Danu after) asked the humans to split the land of Ireland in half equally. The humans agreed, but in a sneaky twist, they split the land top and bottom! Humans sent the Tuatha de Danann below ground, while humans stayed above. This is also the beginning of faeries! Faeries are said to be the descendants of the Danann, and this is why many faeries do not like humans!
The three original goddess sisters of the Danann were named Bamba, Ériu, and Fodla. The humans named the land after one of the sisters, Ériu, which eventually became Éire, and then Ireland, as we know it today.
These goddesses, their husbands, and the tale of the Tuatha de Danann inspired me to write my story about the Sisters of Danu, who are the reborn goddess sisters sent to repair the damaged relationship between the faeries and the humans centuries later, using their abilities to control the elements.
Now, on to some history from book two! It is written that in the year 56 AD, a man named Elim Mac Conracht killed the High King of Ireland, Fiachu Finnolach, forcing his wife and unborn child, Tuathal Techmar (remember his name…he is important in book 3!) into exile to Alba, which is modern day Scotland. Elim was able to overthrow Finnolach by rousing the angry, over-worked serfs against their noble masters. He offered them wealth and power if they helped him achieve his goal. This group of angry serfs became known as the aithech-tuatha.
In Foretold Fate, you get to meet Elim just two years after he has killed Fiachu as they wandered through the land of Ériu trying to gain allegiance from the smaller tuatha, or tribes. He was met with much resistance and that story continues into book three, Forgotten Fate. Not much is written about Elim Mac Conracht and, as I mentioned before, it is not even clear if he was a true person or a character in one of Ireland’s many famous tales, but he is listed as a High King of Ireland between 56-76AD. I tried to recreate him using all the research I could find and filled in the blanks with my imagination. Elim will be back in book three!
Thanks again for reading Foretold Fate and please enjoy this excerpt from Foresworn Fate: A Sisters of Danu novella about the story of Ceara and Garreth! I love these two so much and wanted to share their story with you before the release of book 3, Forgotten Fate. Thank you!