Split Blood: The Ancient Codex - Part One (Book #1 ) - COMPLETE

CHAPTER THREE - CONGRATUALTIONS IT'S a... (Part 1)

‘What’s going on? Why is this happening?!’ he shouted to Autumn, who ordered one of her followers to go and fetch some water. ‘I - I - don’t know. This has never happened before. The previous witch died within a day of discovering she was pregnant…’ she stammered as she attempted to touch my stomach. This was a big mistake.

As soon as her hand connected with my stomach, her arm exploded into oblivion, ‘Oh my - I’m so sorry!’ I wailed through my cries of pain.

‘It’s fine, don’t worry! I’ll be back in a minute,’ she replied jovially (considering she’d just lost an arm). With that, she sped down to the stream and was back within minutes, limbs back to normal and slightly more cautious of my offspring.

She handed Rohan a silver chalice of water to feed to me, whilst she poured the remaining fluid onto my stomach. ‘She cannot leave in this volatile state. Let her rest for tonight and assess the situation in the morning,’ Autumn suggested to Rohan as they took me to her headquarters to rest.

The water again acted like a cloud of ice, cooling the fire within, and Rohan agreed to allow the some of the other more powerful fairies to watch over me. I lay in Autumn’s extra-large wooden bed and watched their shadows flit around outside the window.

He joined Autumn and Lily in the branch-entwined porch to discuss my options. ‘What did you mean when you said this has happened before?’ Rohan asked, still shaken and perplexed by recent events.

With a deep and heavy sigh, Autumn began: ‘A few centuries ago a young witch, Rose, came to the forest looking like she had just been in a war. Her clothes were drenched in blood and torn and she was struggling to breathe. She was escorted by a Lycan, Alastair, and at first we thought he had attacked her and was using her to gain entry into the forest - he was in fact her partner. She was young, maybe fifteen, and he explained that she was pregnant. It was obvious that she would not survive the night without help, so I welcomed them in and tried to heal her throughout the night. I tried everything but nothing worked; we had to induce the labour as the child was killing her from within. The labour lasted an hour and it was horrific. Her screams shook the earth, her pain made us all wince in sympathy, and eventually she gave birth to a baby boy. He was beautiful. Unfortunately, the process was too much for her body to handle and as she held the newborn in her arms, she passed away with a peaceful expression on her face.’

Lily couldn’t believe what she was hearing and sat there with her eyes wide open. She was distracted only by Dryden joining the meeting, at which point she whispered in his ear to give him an update on what they were discussing.

Rohan was visibly stunned by this myth and stood up to take a break. His mind racing with thoughts and fears, he looked over the valley and asked impatiently, ‘Did Rose get pregnant straight after intercourse? What happened to the Alastair and the baby?’ He was unsure whether he wanted to know the answer.

Autumn glided over to join him and put her hand on his shoulder for comfort. ‘She was a virgin before she met Alistair, so yes, she did become pregnant straight after. However, I can only assume that the reason for the rapid conception is to do with mixing two different beings’ blood together; there is nothing in the Ancient Codex to state that it’s against the law, though.’ Rohan shook his head, knowing he should have suppressed his desire to be with me.