Page 104 of A Blightress of Wrath
“Don’tyoudare.”Iwailed, trying to raise my body off the ground. “Don’tyou say it like that and leave me!”Idropped the rhyzolm and dug my fingers into the soil in a feeble attempt to crawl my way to him.
“What’sthis?” her voice cooed. “Youleave the mother of your child as she labors?”Shereached my legs and bent, her hand pressing lightly on my belly, murmuring the same words to soothe my muscles. “Howutterly disappointing,BaronRevich.Ishall find you and bleed you dry myself.Youcannot hide in this world.”
Iignored her, dragging my body toward my love, my companion, my every reason to fight and live. “I-I,”Istuttered, gulping and shaking my head with tears that left me blind. “Iwillneverforgive you for this!”
Iheard the finality in his voice as he stepped forward. “Iwill never forgive myself.”
Theportal closed and he was gone.
“Donot fret, my child,” theBlightresssoothed, stroking her pale hand over my womb through another bout of pain, “Youwill learn at my side that the love of men is—”Shestopped, pressing her hands to her chest.Herblack nails dug into her gown, ripping and tearing, exposing her porcelain skin with streaks of red that coursed down her flesh in trails of blood. “Wheredid that portal lead?” she raged.Heriridescent eyes flashed red and her body began to fade into the darkness. “NO!” she screamed, slumping to the ground and flicking her hands at the space between two trees.Shesummoned a black portal just before her face fell into the dirt.
“Iwillkillhim!” she coughed.Bloodseeped from her lips as she crawled away from me.ThetwoBlightbeastsRevichandIhad loved bounded to her side, tugging at her sleeves, pulling her unconscious body into the abyssal void.Ina flash, they fell into the inky black, andIwas met with cold silence.
Ina desolate cry,Ifell back into the earth ofFelgren, reaching a hand toward the space whereRevichhad left me.
Aloneand afraid.
* * *
Icame to occasionally.Enoughso to push asFiguerahheld my legs bent at the knee andClairannia, draped in a wash of fresh blood, knelt, ready to catch my child.Iheard a cry, a scream from healthy lungs fly through the night, my daughter’s first cry fitting with my latest in the night breeze ofFelgren.
Iwept, howled, screamed until my voice had nothing left to give me to release the torrent of pain that ravaged through my bones, my heart shattered in the acceptance that he was not coming back.
Figuerahwrapped our wailing child in the fabric of her skirts and held her close whileClairanniamended my body.
Ihad no strength to stand, no strength to move asIlie, gazing up at the starry night sky, my body longing to fade back into the earth whereIcould live forever.WhereIwould live on, growing trees and flowers, providing shelter for the creatures of the forest, feeling nothing but the breeze, the sun, the damp chill of winter.
“Karus, you must get up.”IheardPompeii’svoice, followed by my brother’s.
“Don’tdo it,”Philiusseethed, his face appearing above mine. “Youare getting up and we’re taking you back to theFortress.”
“No,”Irasped.
“Helpme lift her,” my brother called.Ifelt the hands ofPompeiislide under my body to scoop me upright.
“No,”Iwhispered again, forcing my shield around me and pushing them back asIsank deeper into the earth.Theroots of the trees crawled over my legs and the scent of freshly turned earth lifted under my nose.
“Karus!”Iheard the shout, indistinguishable to my ears form who it came, andIsettled further, ready to relinquish my body to the forest becauseIwould not be living in the home we’d made without the manIloved.
Aharsh wail sounded at my ear, andIturned my head, catching sight ofPompeiiin the haze of green, holding my baby toward me.Shecried in the night, just asIdid.Atearful plea to be comforted, to be warm, to be with the one who did not hold us.
Ireached out my arms and my shield dropped as he settled her onto my chest.Figuerahlifted my back, fitting me onto her lap deep in the ground.Clairanniapulled a warm blanket up over my body asIlooked down atSaelyn’sface for the first time.Amess of black hair sprouted from her head in every which way, and her round cheeks bloomed to red as she squeezed her eyes shut and wailed again.
“Shh,”Isoothed, rocking her in my arms.
Shewas perfect, just as he said she would be.
Shesettled slightly, but whimpered still, her traumatizing emergence into this world deserving of such fierce cries.
Myvoice was a useless thing, butItried anyway, singing into the dim glow of the conduit lights around me,
“Sweetlydoes sing the wren to the tree, calling into the summer breeze.”
Voiceshummed somewhere, butIignored them, focusing solely on my daughter, the childRevichhad promised away years of his life to keep safe.
Ilet my shield spread, understanding dawning on me of what he had meant.Thepower to protect came from within.AndIhad our daughter to protect now, just as he, at the heart of theBlightress, protected the isle from her full force of wrath.
Ididn’t know how he planned to do it for seventeen years.Ididn’t know what he had just done to cause theBlightresssuch pain.Buta warmth drifted on the wind through the trees, andIfelt him through our bond.Hesent me love, he sent me loss, and he sent me the feeling of a peaceful calm.
