A Court of Fire and Ash

Feyre

We had been walking for several hours straight.
The ashwood was still blocking my powers so there was no way to talk to Rhys.

He must have been sick with fear.
All I wanted to do was just to take that fear away from him but I couldn't.

I was exhausted, my back and my feet hurt and there was this light pain in my abdomen.

So when the sun finally settled and we found an empty cave where we could spend the night in I was more than happy to rest my body.

Once I had laid down it didn't take long until I fell asleep.

Suddenly there was this pain in my uterus.
It felt like menstrual cramps.
But worse.

Could it be a contraction?

But the baby should come three weeks from now.
Not now.

Was it going to come too early?

I couldn't go into labor. Not here, not without medical care. Not without Rhys.

But the pain only lasted a few seconds and several minutes passed and didn't come back again.

It must've been a false alarm.

But after I went back to sleep I again was woken up by a new wave of pain.
And again it passed in a few seconds.

What was this?
Was there something wrong?

This time I waited at least 20 minutes until I went back to sleep.

And when I woke up again the pain had intensified and had become much worse.
I tried laying down and just breathe through it but that didn't help at all.
It lasted much longer than it did before and it only took 15 minutes in which I hoped it wouldn't happen again, to come back.

This pain was definitely a contraction.
It had to be because the other possibilities weren't better.

When I stood up my pants suddenly felt wet.
I felt a small trickle running down my leg.

Oh my god.
By the cauldron I was in a cave.
In a freaking cave.
And my baby just decided to come?
Because this was definitely my water that just broke.
And the pain was a contraction.
So I was in labor.

No.
I could not be.
This couldn't happen.
What if there were complications?
What if something happened to my baby?

Did Celaena know what to do?
I didn't know.
But I didn't know anything about her in general.
I didn't even know if what she told us was true.
And I hadn't even asked her about that.
About her being a Fae.
But apart from that could she help me or did I have to die in this cave?

Stop.
I needed to stop.
Right now.
I needed to calm down and wake Celaena up.

On my way to her I had another contraction.
This one was worse than the others and it made me gasp in pain.
When it was finally gone I continued walking over to her trying to find my way in the dark.

I poked her arm to wake her up.
„What's wrong?”, she immediately asked after she looked me in my face.
„My water just broke.”

Suddenly she was on her feet.
„Feyre I need you to stay calm, can you do that for me?”
I nodded and just stared at her.
„You need to lay down, here you can take my coat to lay on. Take yours to cover yourself.”

After I did that she lit a fire and was by my side again.

„Celaena, do you know anything about giving birth?”
„My friend is a healer and she gave birth to her child three month ago. I was there when she had the child and she tried to teach me about Fae pregnancies. But I am not a healer and my knowledge is very limited.”

That wasn't very reassuring but better than no knowledge at all.

„How is it possible that you are Fae? I haven't asked you yet but I need to know.”
„I promise I will explain everything later. But right now we need to concentrate on this.”
„Okay.”

„So did you already have contractions and if yes how much time was between them and how long did they last?”

„I had four, maybe more. The first ones only lasted a few seconds but the last two took more than a minute.
I was asleep between the first three but there were 20 minutes, maybe 25 between the third and fourth.”

„Ok. I need to check how far you are dilated , is that okay with you or should I advise you what you need to do?”
„It's alright, just go ahead.”

„I think it might be three to four centimeters, so we still have time.”
„Time for what?”
„I can't take care of you here, I need to bring you to Velaris.”
„No. How would you do that? Wait, can you fly?”
„No”, she said laughing, „I will carry you I am fast and it's not that far from here.”

Right as I wanted to answer her the pain hit me again.
She held my hand as it lasted and I screamed in pain.
Every movement hurt.
And suddenly there was this liquid again.
But this time it felt like more.

„OK I'll pick you up and I'll carry you right now.”
I just nodded but as she tried to lift me pain worse than the one before filled my body.
„Put me down! Put me down!”
„Why what's- shit!”
„What do you mean „shit”?”

Suddenly as I waited for her answer a feeling of dizziness overcame me. Black dots danced in front of my eyes.

„You're bleeding. More than you should. I don't know what to do. Please I need you to let me pick you up.”

But I couldn't even answer her.
I tried to move my lips but they didn't obey me.

My blood just kept on dripping on the floor.

And suddenly there were those creatures standing over me.

In the rational part of my mind I knew that these were only hallucinations due to the blood loss, but I couldn't help but scream as they reached out to me.

And I screamed until there was nothing left inside of me.
Nothing but emptiness.
And when that emptiness filled up every cell of my body I didn't feel anything anymore.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE READING THIS 🎄❤️