by Sariah Skye
Maxxus’ expression fell momentarily, before fixing his face stoically. “Of course, Elder.”
“I cannot believe you just executed him just like that! He’s been Shadowtouched; he didn’t know what he was doing!” Shazandre protested. “Here, I thought the crazy one was the pink dragon; I wouldn’t have guessed it’d be you!” She spat at Maxxus venomously.
“That was uncalled for,” Daniel observed dryly. I nodded in agreement.
Maxxus appeared unmoved. “I was within my right; it is law of the Court to execute on site anyone that threatens the life of the monarchy; especially when that monarch is with child!”
A collective gasp undulated throughout the room.
My eyes widened at Maxxus’ admission.
“Order!” My grandfather smacked the staff again. “Yes, he is within his right! The entire Court was present, as well as several humans and delegates from other kingdoms! There is not a dragon or being in this realm that would deny the king this right!”
Shazandre’s gaze fell into her lap. “I…realize that, Elder. Even though I am innocent, I ask that you execute me anyway, for I cannot live without my mate. My heart is broken knowing he committed such an atrocity; I hope I can meet with him again in the Underrealms and help guide him to a better life, next time around.”
Maxxus left brow twitched, raising ever so slightly. “I would apologize for your loss, but I am not sorry. Your mate did a heinous thing—in front of everyone! Did he think he would get away with it?” Maxxus clicked his tongue, grinning malevolently. “No, execution is too much. You will be banished, henceforth now and forevermore from Anarach and of course, stripped of any title and station you have. You have twenty-four hours to vacate the kingdom. Does anyone disagree with this ruling?” Maxxus raised his eyes, looking upon the crowd, finally landing on my grandfather who stood, expressionless.
“Banished?” I repeated to myself, quietly. A wave of nausea settled in my stomach, creeping up my chest like a burning fire.
“Where would she go?” Gabriel asked curiously.
“Maybe a mytho haven, or another kingdom would take her in?” Daniel suggested, but I shook my head.
“No, once you’ve been banished from one kingdom for a reason such as this, it’s unlikely another will take you in, just in case it tips the kingdom’s favor by the monarchs. At least, until Maxx and I abdicate,” I said with a struggled sigh.
Gabriel looked at me inquisitively. “Are you all right? You look a little pale.”
I nodded. “Yeah…I just think that soup didn’t agree with me,” I said, feeling the sharp pain underneath my heart.
“Heartburn?” Daniel asked.
“I think so.” With my palm I rubbed at my chest, trying to knead out the shooting pain. It sunk lower as I rubbed, and I doubled over as the pain when it reached my stomach.
My eyes widened and I fought to keep from crying out in pain.
“Leo?” Gabriel propped himself along my side and clutched an arm around my shoulders for support.
“I’m…” I began, but my words were cut off by the worst, sharpest pain I ever felt, deep inside my abdomen. I crumpled over to the ground, clutching my stomach, panting heavily.
“Get Maxx!” I demanded, crying out. I let out a piercing shriek as the pain increased; a squeezing pain that shuddered my body in indescribable pain.
“Maxxus!” Gabriel’s voice boomed throughout the corridor.
I didn’t see him next to me as I cried out once again, feeling a warm sensation between my legs, almost like I had wet myself. “Bladder infection?” I asked myself, daring to reach down and touch the ground.
My fingers touched a hot, thick liquid. I screamed in terror when I held my hand up, and saw the blood on my fingertips; a clotted, viscous liquid that came pouring out between my legs as my stomach writhed inside.
“The baby…” was all I said in despair, staring up into Maxxus eyes with a feeling of dread.
I knew that the baby was gone.
Chapter 30
“There has to be something that can be done!” Maxxus had whisked me away from the hearing, crumpled in his arms and carried me to the bedchambers, my grandfather and the rest of my family in tow. “Get Finnian! Get that vampire! Now!” He demanded, his voice riddled with panic and determination.
I rested my head against his firm shoulder, motionless and blank except for the warmth of the blood between my legs. I blinked every so often, just to make sure I was still alive but my mind and body were otherwise numb.
If I thought about it, I knew I would lose it.
If I allowed myself to think about the blood, I would know that the baby was gone. I already knew that, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it. If I acknowledged it, I would start crying uncontrollably. Maxxus had already had a tough enough time that day; this would probably send him over the edge. As it were, he was teetering at the edge, anyway.
If I didn’t think about it, I could pretend it was still here, still thriving deep inside my belly. Or, better yet, I could pretend it never happened. Not that I didn’t want him—or her—but if I’d never been pregnant in the first place, at least I wouldn’t have to feel the loss now. The emptiness. The anger at the betrayal of my body, that it couldn’t do the simplest thing: carry a life. Bring a life into this world. Maybe someday…but not now. Not when it meant the most.
Now I had to begin to acknowledge the child I’d never meet. I’d never see what color she was, or what color hair he would have: Maxxus’ barely auburn locks, or my sort of strawberry?
Right now, I was just numb. I had to be, otherwise I would go insane.
Maxxus kicked open the door to our chambers and set me gently on the bed. Daniel had the mindset to rush in before, grabbing a towel from the bathroom and setting it down on the bed before I lay down. It was a fruitless gesture; I could care less about the sheets or getting them stained. But, he knew I didn’t want to see the blood later; be reminded of what had happened.
It allowed me to ignore it.
“Leorah? How do you feel?” Maxxus perched himself next to me on the bed, grasping my hand tightly against his chest.
I knew he spoke, yet I didn’t recognize the words. I simply blinked once, and focused my gaze on anything but his wounded blue eyes. I fixated on a dent I noticed across the room, near the window that I now just noticed. My eyebrow cocked when I thought about how it got there. Was it during a rambunctious “romp” between a previous set of monarchs? Did a torch once hang there, or was it just an error made while building the room? These are the questions I occupied my mind with.
“Daniel! Gabriel! Do you sense anything?” Maxxus trembling voice demanded.
I didn’t pay attention as the brothers exchanged sad, regretful looks. Gabriel was crestfallen as he announced, “No, man…I’m sorry. I don’t sense any magic anymore.”
“Daniel?” Maxxus had asked, panicked and pleading.
“I’m sorry, bro.” Daniel tried to be comforting, snaking his arm around the green dragon’s shoulders for a side-hug. Maxxus allowed himself to be indulged in the brotherly embrace for a split second before he pushed the seer away.
“No! You have to be wrong! Where is Aleron? Can’t she be healed? There has to be something!” Maxxus turned to Gabriel, tears streaming down his face as he begged. “You can heal her right? I know she can’t do anything now but with Aleron’s magic, you can—”
Gabriel heaved a huge sigh. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing that can be done.”
“You cannot heal a life that is lost, dear friend.” My grandfather’s voice said, as he neared the bed; his cloudy eyes shining with sadness.
“NO! No, I refuse to believe that’s it! This cannot be it—the baby cannot be gone!” Maxxus’ voice was frantic, as his hand released mine and rested on the now empty belly.
“Step aside, King. Let me see my daughter!” My mother’s voice interrupted. She carried an armful of cloths and bottles that I didn’t recognize, didn’t understand the
purpose for. Obligingly, my grandfather, Daniel and Gabriel took strides backwards and stood near the walls, like silent flowers, observing my mother as she began to fuss over me.
“I am not going anywhere, Lady Miradoste… I will not, until I see Finnian, or Evie. And know…for sure…” his voice cracked, trailing off into nothingness. “Leo?” he said again, looking into my motionless face and my blank eyes. “What is wrong with her besides…well, you know…”
My mother sighed. “She is in shock. Or heartbroken. Or both. It’s best to just let her mind work it out as it can. Just leave her be, for now.”
Maxxus nodded slightly, but didn’t budge from my side. He growled. “Where is that Loremaster?”
“He’ll be here shortly!” Gabriel raised his phone up, indicating that he had just contacted him.
Maxxus grumbled. “What is taking so long?”
My lips barely moved as I spoke, “It doesn’t matter; what’s done is done. I’m sure he knows that.”
“Leo?” Maxxus concerned face searched mine. My eyes remained fixated on the dent—the more I looked, the more it appeared to not be a dent at all, but a shining black stone embedded in the wall.
I didn’t move as my mother set blankets over the top of my bottom half, and carefully pulled down my pants and underwear. Maxxus wondered if she should wait until someone more experienced could attend to me, but she insisted that she was probably the most experienced dragon that could be found. Since my memories were altered, I forgot that in her earliest years of serving the Court as a Baroness, she acted as a mid-wife for pregnant females. Even still, I could sense the dread as she saw what remained between my legs, but she showed no outward signs of emotion; she simply used her bottles and clothes and cleaned me up with warm, soothing liquids. She worked entirely behind the blanket so Maxxus nor I could see the blood that had collected there. For a split second, I wondered if there was anything else to see—anything to say goodbye too, or bury. But that was foolish; I was only a few weeks along. There was little more than fluids and blood still.
I was a few weeks along.
Now, I was empty.
I heard her bark to someone—Daniel, I think—to grab some fresh clothes from the wardrobe. I was going to open my mouth to insist upon my gray sweats but I realized, I didn’t care.
With haste, he returned with the clothing—I didn’t see what it was, honestly—and my mother discreetly slipped them over my legs. I felt a warm compress against my vagina that soothed the cramping and pain as she arranged my clothing around me.
Somehow, she managed to wrap everything up under the blanket so no one could see the mess I had made. Another blanket was placed over me and she quickly carried the mass of what remained of my pregnancy and ruined clothes out of the room, calling for Braeden. I didn’t have to ask; she was going to have it burned.
I wondered if I should stop her, maybe I should see what remained…to say goodbye. But I couldn’t make myself say the words. In the end, I was just glad it was gone.
My mother returned, offering me a warm drink out of a metal cup. She placed it on my lips and tipped slowly; the heat soothed my throat and calmed my nerves, making me dazed and sleepy. I didn’t quite fall asleep, but my eyes shut and I relaxed with a sigh against the pillow, feeling relieved and cramp-free again.
Perhaps I did fall asleep, though I didn’t feel rested when my eyes slowly slid open. Maxxus was still next to me, resting his head on the top of mine as he rubbed his fingers up and down my arm absentmindedly.
“What do you think happened?” Maxxus asked, someone indiscriminate in the room. “Was it the stabbing? Because if it was, I swear I’ll resurrect that son-of-bitch somehow just to blast him to the Shadow realm—”
“No,” a female voice replied, as I felt touches over my stomach and body. I knew it was Evie, performing another examination. “As I said, the wound was nowhere near the womb. More than likely it was just a coincidence, and stabbing or not, it would have happened anyway.” Evie said, with a sigh. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know much about dragon pregnancies—I’ve only seen a couple in my life so far—but I know it’s about as common for dragons to lose pregnancies as it is humans. No one knows why it happens, most of the time; but it’s no one’s fault.”
Maxxus snorted. “No one’s fault…”
Evie gave him a sympathetic smile. She reached out and patted the side of Maxxus arm. “I know, it doesn’t seem that way but it really isn’t. If I had a sonogram machine, I could see what was going on inside, but that’s the one thing we don’t have in Castle Danger; we usually rely on magic only. Without that I can’t see if there is anything biological going on, but from all the tests I’ve ran there is nothing wrong with Leorah at all. It was just bad luck. And, her next fertile period—whenever that is for her,” she added with a chuckle, “there is probably no reason why you cannot try again.”
Maxxus shook his head dismissively. “No…no. Not until this Shadow battle is behind us.”
“But, you were—” Finnian spoke up, but Maxxus cut him off.
“No, we can’t purposely put a life through that. It was okay when we didn’t know better; now we do. We need to be more careful until…” Maxxus words lagged and remained unfinished, but I knew what he was going to say. Until the Shadows are gone.
“Of course. A sensible precaution,” Finnian said. I noticed something about his voice sounded unsure; a very unusual emotion for the Loremaster. I was about to question him about it when Evie interrupted.
“I’m so sorry about your loss,” she spoke solemnly at Maxxus. I felt his head move once as he acknowledged her. “Please get in touch with me if you need anything else. As soon as we’re able, I’d like to get Leorah into an actual hospital, to do an ultrasound on her.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” My grandfather questioned.
“Not at all, I have connections. It’s how I get my blood.” I could imagine her winking playfully even with my eyes shut, and I nearly smirked. “Please offer my condolences to your wife—mate, whatever—when she’s awake.”
“Thank you, Miss Evie.” My grandfather bid her farewell, and I heard footsteps as the door opened and shut again as she left.
“Well, son, at least we know there’s nothing really wrong.. We’ll rid the realms of these Shadows and then you can feel free to try again. Maybe if you aren’t so stressed things will go easier, next time,” my grandfather said, trying to sound reassuring.
“Perhaps…perhaps,” Maxxus said blandly.
Finnian exhaled slowly. I crooked an eye open just wide enough to see his irises; a pale yellow. He blinked his eyes a handful of times and his eyes returned to normal; however, the expression on his face was one of apprehension.
His unease made me extremely uncomfortable. I raised a brow at him but he stared ahead, grim-faced, and said nothing.
“You’re awake,” Maxxus said, relieved. He nuzzled his cheek against mine affectionately. “How are you doing?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Okay. Given the circumstances.” He gently traced the outline of my cheek. “My darling Leorah. I…I am…”
My eyes swelled with the sting of tears as I gazed into his eyes. The storms once again returned, seas of violent despair and raging waves. “I know Maxx…I know.”
“Will you be okay for awhile? I need to…take care of something.” His lips quivered as he spoke, as well as his touch and I knew he was about to lose it.
I nodded slowly. “I’ll be fine. I’m just going to nap or something for now.”
“All right. Please…just give me a bit.” He stroked my face tenderly once more before spinning on his heels. Finnian smiled hesitantly at him before he disappeared out of the door.
I caught his gaze again. “Spit it out Finn. I know you have something you want to say.”
Finnian ran his hands through his messy hair, ruffling it up even more, making him appear more unsettled. “I…don’t know if I should. I need more research.”
“No!�
� I demanded. “Just say it. Please.”
Finnian sighed heavily. He took a seat at the foot of the bed, and looked between Maxxus and I with sympathy. “What do you know about this genestatem spell? I mean…really?” He turned to my grandfather. “What do you know?”
My grandfather shrugged. “I was told it would make her magic—and the sorcerer’s—much more powerful. That our future descendants would have a close, unexplainable bond.”
Finnian nodded slowly. “Well that’s true. Wouldn’t you say so, Leorah?” he asked me.
I shrugged, but knew he was right. “I suppose…”
“Part of the reason the spell is so strong is because it enhances the genetics of those whom it was casted upon. If there’s any other interference…” Finnian struggled to find words, staring at me with regret.
I rolled my eyes. “What Finnian? Please just tell me.”
“Okay. Okay…but please just know I’ll do whatever I can to fix it. I am sure that your grandfather had no idea—nor Niall—when they cast this spell.”
I grumbled. “For the gods’ sake, man, just spit it out!”
Finnian hanged his head for a moment, before breathing in deeply. “Maxxus…Leo. I’m not sure you’ll ever be able to have children. At least, not natural children. Not with each other.”
I gave him a strange look. “What? Come on infertility is practically non-existent with dragons!”
Finnian pressed his index fingertips to his temples briefly before speaking next. “The genestatum spell enhances the future genetics. Any interference—like, if we tried to genetically select out certain traits—the consequences could be disastrous. It was designed to hamper genetic interference. Any interference from the outside.”
I smacked my hand against my forehead with frustration. “What does that mean?”
“It means that if you try to have children with anyone but Gabriel, the spell will attack the other genes,” Finnian explained. “It doesn’t discriminate between the baby’s genes and other magic.”