“Get me evidence that she’s pregnant and I’ll be happy to show him to you. If I need to send my men to pick you both up, I can do that. Perhaps it would be easier for everyone if you were both here. If our doctors helped you along. Of course, the village might suffer. And your son, well… he hardly eats as it is they tell me…”
“If you hurt him…”
“I will do what I need to do to!” Commander Norrin shouted, slapping his hand down on the desk so hard that Silas heard it rattle the room. “You have one more month.”
Silas vowed revenge but for now, he knew his hands were tied. If he at least knew where his son was being kept, he could physically go to him, but he didn’t. Commander Norrin kept that knowledge very well hidden. Even his informants in the colonies knew nothing of the whereabouts of the child.
“She’s not been bred before. How can you be sure she can bear children?”
“Our testing is thorough,” the commander said, sounding angry at being questioned. “You just do your part and quickly. I’m sending another test. If it’s not positive, there will be consequences.”
“If you touch my son…”
“Goodbye, Silas.”
With that, Commander Norrin disconnected and Silas slammed his fist into a wall. He packed up his things and, without a word to the others who sat in the outer room, he left the hall and headed to the clinic to pick Rowan up. He’d fuck her for the next twenty-four hours straight if he had to in order to get her pregnant. But when he arrived at the clinic, Dr. Stone explained that she was upset about Kara and had left to see her almost as quickly as he had dropped her off.
“And you allowed her to simply go?” Silas asked.
“I’m expecting them both back any minute. Besides, she’s not my prisoner and I saw no harm in it. She won’t leave the village and I didn’t like to see her so alone all the time,” the doctor explained. “I have patients, Silas. She’s most likely at Kara’s house.”
Silas wished he could tell his friend about his son, about his recent call and Commander Norrin’s threat, but he couldn’t. Instead, he turned and walked out the door and went to Kara’s house. But when he found it empty, he switched on his tablet in order to search for Kara, grateful for the tattoo she was marked with. He was surprised when he saw that the coordinates led directly to his own house.
“Rowan? Kara?” he called out when he entered a few minutes later.
“Out here!” Kara called out. “Help me, Silas!”
Silas ran out the back door to find Rowan lying on the ground clutching her belly, curled up into a tight ball. She wasn’t speaking, but a constant moaning came from her as she rocked in obvious pain.
“What happened?” Silas asked, suddenly frantic as he turned her onto her back.
“I don’t know. She needed to pick something up before going back to the clinic but before we even got here, she was having some pain. It was worse than before, I could see that, but I didn’t expect this!”
“Go get the doctor. Fast!”
Kara ran while Silas lifted Rowan in his arms and carried her inside. “Rowan? Can you hear me?”
That continuous moaning was her only response.
“What’s happening, Rowan? Did you eat something? Look at me, don’t close your eyes.” She was slipping away, he could see it as her eyes rolled back and she stopped clutching, her body relaxing. Silas shook her. “Fuck! Rowan, look at me. Look at me, damn it!”
“What’s going on?” Dr. Stone asked, rushing in.
Kara came running behind him.
“She’s nearly unconscious! She was clutching her belly as if she were in severe pain.”
“Get her some water. Let me have a look at her. Kara, do you know anything? Did she take anything?” he asked.
“What are you talking about? What would she take?” Silas asked.
Dr. Stone’s expression showed he was holding something back. “The herbs. I don’t know half as much as she does, Silas.”
“What the hell are you saying? She did this to herself?”
Silas looked from the doctor to Kara who now sat at the head of the bed, wiping the sweat from Rowan’s forehead.
“She’s burning up!” Kara said, tears in her eyes.
“I can’t give her anything if I don’t know what she’s taken.”
Kara’s worried expression went from Dr. Stone to him and back to Rowan who now lay completely still, her face flushed, her eyes closed. Silas looked at her. There was something Kara knew that she wasn’t telling.
“Kara,” Silas said, “do you know what she’s taken?” He tried to keep his voice calm and level.