Page 79 of Crownless King

“Like every kind of sex.” She laughed. “I enjoyed it well enough. Sex is fun, especially for those whose magic is too weak to do anything better in life. But it wasn’t difficult for me to give it up. It’s been six years since I’ve taken my vow, and I haven’t missed having someone rutting into me. I’m sure I never will.” She curled her lips in disgust. “The hold of magic is so much more enticing and satisfying. And the more you have of it, the stronger it pulls you in.”

I gripped her hand, parting my legs wider and rocking on my knees. The pressure inside me felt as if my entire lower body was expanding like a balloon.

“You were nineteen?” The pressure eased just a little, and I took a few short, shallow breaths. “Three years in the convent. Six as a hag. Sauria, you aren’t even thirty yet, are you? We’re about the same age.”

I exhaled a strangled laugh at the shock on her wrinkly face.

“Fuck, Sparrow. How did you even figure it out in your state?”

I had no idea how. But our conversation distracted me from fear and trepidation before each new wall of pain crashed into me. Focusing on something else helped me get my mind off the agony, too.

The pressure grew too strong, however, impossible to ignore now.

“Sauria… I have to…” I gripped her thin, scrawny hand so hard it was a miracle I didn’t crush it.

“Push, Sparrow.” She patted my back soothingly with her other hand as I bent over the cot again. “Push, my brave human girl.”

He was born just a few minutes later.

“I got him.” Sauria chuckled, retrieving the being I’d just brought into the world. “Such an impatient little boy.”

“Aboy?” That one word, followed by a high-pitched wail from a person who hadn’t been there before, made it all real at once. “There was a baby boy in there?”

It was so stupid to ask after carrying that baby inside me for months. But only when I actually saw him did the enormity of it all finally hit me full force.

I gave birth to a baby. I produced an entirely new person right now.

The immediate physical relief was euphoric. But I couldn’t focus on the sensation of my body. My mind, my heart, and my entire being were pulled to the wiggling, screaming little thing in Sauria’s hands.

I could barely wait until she had cleaned him off a little with a cloth and the warm water that Bavius had just brought in.

“Congratulations,” Bavius boomed, giving me a smile, then helped me climb onto the cot properly and covered my legs with a blanket.

Sauria bent over, handing me the baby.

Mybaby.

“And there he is,” she cooed.

He stopped screaming when I put him to my chest. His eyes were closed so tightly, only the very tips of his dark eyelashes peeked out. Wet wisps of black hair plastered his little head.

“He’s perfect,” I choked out, too overwhelmed to even breathe properly. “Hi, sweetheart. I’m your mommy.”

I stroked his wet hair and traced the delicate shell of his ear. He squirmed in my arms, poking with his face at my chest.

“He needs to feed,” Sauria stated expertly.

With a grunt, Bavius grabbed the bucket with dirty rags and water and stomped out of the room. I untied the laces of my shirt, and Sauria guided my little son to latch to my breast.

“Do I even have any milk yet?” I was worried.

But she waved at me reassuringly. “Let him work on it.”

He seemed to like snuggling to me, looking content. I caught his tiny fist, and he promptly curled his hand around my finger, gripping it tightly.

The peace that descended upon me in that minute was indescribable. The emotion was so enormous, I wished to share it with the entire world.

“Damn you, Voron,”a bitter thought wormed into my brain.“You should’ve been here. Even if you hated me, even if you couldn’t stand me and wished me dead, you should have at least talked to me instead of kicking me out. Now, you missed the birth of your son. Nothing would ever give this back to you.”

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