“Save them now!” Ristan orders Eliran, and a moment later Eliran stumbles away from Synthia’s body. His head shakes as he looks from me to the Demon, as if weighing which of us will kill him first.
They’re blocking my view of the body, and Ristan is nowhere to be seen, and then I hear his torn, broken whisper. “I’m so sorry, Flower. I wish you could have held on for us.” I hear the sickening sound of flesh as it meets the sharp edge of a blade as it cuts through. I jump to stop him, but my men are there, holding me back. Zahruk’s mental voice is shouting in my mind, trying to reason with me and the beast. My mind struggles to find the bond I share with Syn but it’s gone. I feel my beast as he struggles to get loose, pushing and tearing at me to get to the surface to get out, to get to Ristan. He’s fighting for total control.
“I’ll fucking kill you, Demon!” I snap, and the room shakes from my anger. My power pulses and begs to be released. In the struggle, the room shifts and I’m able to see her, as Ristan cuts her from one side of her stomach to the other with a scalpel. As I watch them, Eliran moves into action and women come pouring into the room as it comes alive with movement.
One son is pulled out of her lifeless body and given to Eliran, who briefly checks the child before passing it to one of his helpers. The woman takes the babe and with her magic, she pulls, forcing the fluid from his lungs until he lets out a cry of shock and surprise. The other boy is pulled out next and passed to Eliran, and I want nothing to do with them. If I’d never gotten her pregnant, she’d still be alive. It isn’t until Ristan pulls out a third babe that my heart stops cold.
“She did it, fucking hell, she did it,” Ristan says it as he stumbles back from the body and hands off the silent, blue, lifeless child. “She gave you a daughter.”
I’m up before I know it and my men release their hold, as I move to the child. She’s not breathing, and Eliran looks down at the helpless child and then over to where her mother lays lifeless on the bed, gutted. Ristan gutted my world to save my daughter, and maybe he had known, maybe he hadn’t. In the end, nothing matters beyond her children living, all of them. I step back from Eliran, knowing my menacing presence isn’t helping. “Save her, please, save my daughter.”
He moves into action, asking for things I have never heard of, but one of Eliran’s helper’s moves forward to help him.
Adam sifts in, his hands pulling at his hair as he sees Synthia. He looks around at the men; every one of them was as helpless to save her as I was. He must have felt their familiar bond shatter as her life slipped away. Devastation is written on his features as he stands there, trying to come to grips with what he is seeing. He spins and sifts out, only to return minutes later with Alden and Adrian, who wisely doesn’t lip off. Instead, he stands and watches the proceedings, unable to look away from the train wreck scene unfolding before his horrified eyes.
We all watch, waiting for a sign that one of the three will live. I stare at Synthia; where has her spirit gone? Did she go with Larissa, or did she join with her Fae ancestors? Or did demi-Goddesses have a cherished place among their own dead that I couldn’t follow her to?
One of the Fae assisting Eliran walks over to us and in her arms is a screaming infant. I hold out my arms, numbly. I then stare into azure eyes with a dark crop of midnight hair. He’s strong for something so small; his little arms push against mine as he frowns up at me. He’s tiny, born too early, yet strong like his mother.
Our link joins and I can feel the small boy. My son. I feel tears as they slide down from my eyes. Everyone in the room stops and looks at me and I don’t fucking care.
I break.