This was another chapter that was hard to write. I honestly can't believe I actually did it.
•••••••••
Everyone bowed as I passed them in the halls.
I was smiling from ear to ear, my head held high as I placed my hand on my stomach. The physician had said she was healthy--strong, was the word he'd used. She would be due any day now.
He'd never seen anything like it.
She was stronger now than before. I felt her kick every day as she grew in my womb.
My child.
My daughter.
My Mal.
"Queen Tianna, is she all right?" A woman whispered to her companion as I passed them.
"This pregnancy has taken its toll on her," the other whispered.
I didn't pay attention to them, purposely blocking out their words.
Yes, Mal was growing. In exchange, I was waning.
I wasn't a fool. I could see what my pregnancy was doing to me. I could see the physical effects every time I looked in the mirror.
My magic was less than half of what it used to be. I was losing weight rapidly. My eyes were sunken into my face. My wrists bony and incredibly delicate.
But our child was thriving. She was living. She was strong.
Robyn had to know the good news.
As soon as I entered our private quarters, I blinked.
It was impossibly dark. The curtains were drawn closed barely letting any light in. Only the fireplace burned quietly in the corner of the room.
I closed the door firmly behind me. "Robyn?"
"You're not keeping your end of the deal, queenie."
My blood froze in my veins. My heart hammered in my chest. He was mocking me, I could tell from his tone. He knew this would happen. He knew I would be sick through my pregnancy.
He had to know.
"We've kept your child alive. Gave her our power to ensure she is born and this is how you repay us?"
"No," I half-whispered.
"A half-attempt to complete your part of the deal. We can take back our arrangement very easily."
My stomach plummeted. "I-I'm working on it. I've already started--"
"Ah yes," the demon sounded half amused. "You killed Fayne."
My heart twisted and I felt my eyes water. "That was meant for Warren--" My voice cracked.
The boy scoffed. "We do not care for who it was meant for, the wrong person is dead. Your husband is still alive as well."
I shook my head. "He doesn't need to die. He will give up his throne for her just like I will."
A mysteriously mischievous smile spread over his unnatural features.
Despite trying to keep a somewhat altogether composure, I stuttered. "I-I just have to talk to him. It's the others, they will question us and our motives." I swallowed trying to keep my throat from drying. "Asmodeus especially."
The boy laughed out loud. His razor-sharp teeth sent shivers through me. "The half-breed. He's such a failed experiment."
I raised my eyebrows in stunned disbelief. I didn't know much about Asmodeus. He'd only shown up at the Keep a couple of years prior at the request of the Magister after our last loss. Somehow, through a long, complicated history of several generations, he was related to Robyn. He would be next in line for the throne after Damien. "Asmodeus?"
The boy laughed again. "Did you not know? Asmodeus is one of us. Well," he chuckled. "Hardly half. It didn't work out quite how we wanted."
Hardly half. I swallowed. "Fae magic is too powerful to overcome."
The boy's smile faded and I knew my guess was correct.
He lifted a finger, wagging it back and forth like a father who caught their child in the middle of something naughty. "Careful, queenie. You do not want to make me mad." He looked down at my large belly with his unnaturally yellow eyes. "Time is running out. We demand our reward."
---
My screams echoed in the large room.
Everyone was a flurry of movement.
Robyn kissed my forehead. "It's all right, my love. It's almost over."
I shook my head, exhausted. I'd been in labor for hours and still the baby had not been born. I was still on our bed, soaked from head to toe in sweat and blood.
We were so close.
"Robyn, our baby," I sobbed. "I feel her leaving me."
Robyn's head snapped up and he spoke to someone beside me. "Get them here, now!" His tone was cruel and curt. I never heard my gentle husband ever speak that way. "I don't care what laws or truces I'm breaking."
The demons had lied. That's what they knew to do. They'd given me the slightest hope that I would have a child and I wouldn't have her after all. It was all a sick joke.
We were toys to those liars.
Gods, I was so tired.
"Alteazor!"
I screamed as another contraction cut through me. I grasped his shirt with my tired hands. "Robyn," I sobbed. "Please save her! Please!"
Someone crossed into my field of vision. A worried-looking silver-haired woman placed a towel against my soaking forehead. "Hello, queen."
I grabbed the Light Fae's hand in relief. "You're here to save her, aren't you?" I bit back a scream. I groaned in pain. "Please, tell me you can."
The woman looked at another man. They spoke in a language I didn't understand.
I felt myself drifting in and out of consciousness. Everything sounded muffled, there was ringing in my ears.
Gods, I was tired.
Robyn's voice shook the room. "I won't leave!"
Someone spoke in hushed tones. I tuned everything out, focusing on my breathing and my child.
Please, I begged. Don't take her. Please, I'll do anything.
The woman appeared again except this time she pressed her lips to my forehead and instantly I felt renewed.
I wasn't tired anymore.
My body had new strength.
I looked around the room and panicked slightly when I saw that I was alone with two Light faes.
The woman frowned as she looked at me. "You made a deal with demons, did you not?"
I felt my heart almost burst from my chest. How did she know?
"Do not deny it girl," she said as if frustrated as she sat next to me. Her accent was heavy. "I saw your soul and hers. They're both tainted."
Hesitantly, I nodded. "It's true." I hissed in pain. "The king doesn't know anything. I did this on my own."
She looked at her male companion with worry. The man nodded. They were dressed in large, heavy robes. They were simple, nothing like what we had in the Underworld. They weren't rich with embroidered stones or silver thread.
The Light didn't see value in those things.
The woman looked at me again. "We can save her. There is a way. She is not lost."
Someone in the room spoke. "Break the bargain, queenie, and your daughter dies."
Chaos erupted.
The woman next to me stood with her hands at her sides and as soon as she did, a deafening, unnatural roar rang through the room. The room shook, making me grip the bed under me tightly. The woman placed her hands before her and I watched a familiar burst of power spring from them.
I screamed as another contraction ripped through me.
Her male companion crouched in front of my lifted strapped legs, assessing my condition. His green eyes looked at me. His accent was as thick as the woman's. Maybe our language wasn't their first. "I am going to help you with your child but you will need to push when I tell you, do you understand?"
I nodded fiercely.
"Concentrate on me and you, only." He looked down as he did something with his hands. "Ignore everything else in the room. Listen to everything I tell you."
I screamed as a group of people banged on the doors. They seemed to be ripping off the hinges.
I screamed in agony as the woman fought the demon with both magic and brute force.
I screamed through the pain and the disappointment that my child wouldn't be born in a room full of love with her father present.
The man was calm and collected. He was encouraging and soothing. And despite my every failure, I was thankful for that.
In the end, I was exhausted but Mal was born.
Mal didn't cry. She was wide awake and looked at me in wonder and knowledge beyond her minutes on the Earth. I cradled her close when the man held her to my chest even as I felt my own life leave me. Somehow, I found the strength to hold her close to my heart.
"Mal," I cried as I looked at her with love I didn't know I possessed. "You're beautiful."
The woman finally appeared next to us. She looked like she was battered and bruised, her lip was swollen on one side. She spoke to the man in their language.
I looked around the room and noticed the demon was nowhere to be seen. I breathed a quick sigh of relief.
The man placed his hand to my forehead and when our eyes met, he knew what I knew. "You're dying and you don't have much time. What did you promise them, queen?"
I didn't mind him calling me so informally. Light Fae's didn't have the same rules we did, they didn't have royalty they needed to address by title. He did bring my daughter to the world, amidst the chaos raining around us.
I looked at Mal as I held her. I studied her small toes, her small fingers, Robyn's nose. Gods, they even seemed to have the same eye color. "I promised that she would be queen."
"It cannot come to pass. They want her queen to break down the Seals. They can do it with her help." He paused. "Your child is innocent. She can be raised without the influence of the demonic deal that you made, and be saved. I will protect her and raise her as one of our own."
I shook my head. "My husband, he will want to raise her--"
"Not if he thinks she's dead."
I sniffled. I was beginning to tire. "Why?"
"She must be sealed away. The demons must believe she is dead too or they will come for her. But we can make sure she lives a long, happy life away from the shadow of your bargain. We can protect her from the demons but that will only last as long as she stays with us. As soon as she leaves, they will possess her again."
I nodded, beginning to feel everything suddenly become heavy. "Please keep her safe."
He nodded, reaching forward and taking her from my arms. "Yes. Of course."
The woman spoke to him again and through the fog, I watched him specter away with Mal in his arms.
The woman waved her arm towards the direction of the door and as they burst open, new voices filled the room.
My eyes closed slowly and I could feel my energy leave me.
Robyn was instantly at my side. "Tianna! No, no, no, no-"
"She didn't make it, Robyn," I whispered as calmly as I could. I knew the words came heavier, almost slurred.
"You said you would save her!" Robyn roared at someone besides me. "You would save them both!"
No, I wanted to say. I tried to reach for him but instead, my hand dropped to my side.
❣ ❣ ❣ ❣ ❣ ❣ ❣
I felt myself fall back in my chair until a strong arm grasped me. It caught me by my shoulder and with a loud gasp, I was back.
I wasn't laying in a puddle of blood and sweat. I wasn't in a large, luxurious bedroom with Robyn at my side.
I was sitting in a chair in a dining room I didn't recognize.
No, I did recognize it.
"Emylin."
I blinked at the silver haired man looking at me. His hand was on my cheek, his eyes full of concern. He said that name again. "Emylin."
I frowned. I wasn't Emylin.
I was named Tianna.
I blinked forcefully again. My brain was a fog. I was walking through molasses, fighting to regain my bearings.
I am Emylin. My name is Emylin.
I frowned as I looked at him. "Julian?"
He nodded. "Yes. Did you see that too?"
My hand gripped his wrist. My head was pounding. I was so disoriented. "I saw..."
He nodded again. "I only saw bits and pieces, but did you see more?"
Slowly, I nodded. "My daughter--" I shook my head forcefully. No, not my daughter. "Mal, she's innocent."