Page 14 of The Child of Rue Royale
“This happens all the time. Moms not pleased with what they’re having. But I promise you, you will love your baby no matter what,” he says and places his hand over mine. “Promise.”
I don’t remember pulling my body from the bed, not even throwing my dress on, nor sliding my feet into my shoes. I don’t remember the walk to the car where Chantal waits, phone in hand, music blasting.
“What?” she asks, our faces telling her something is gravely wrong.
Mother gets in the driver seat, turns on the car, and screams. “It’s a fucking! Boy!” She throws the car in reverse and presses on the gas pedal as my hand clutches the door handle. “What the flying fuck are we going to fucking do?”
“That’s impossible,” Chantal states, and Mother groans, the skin of her hands stretched tight from strangling the steering wheel.
“Apparently, we’re wrong, Chantal. Apparently, it is!”
I can’t even speak. The weight on my chest pressing on my ribcage, the realization of what this means striking me over and over. I can barely get my thoughts out, scrambling for an explanation.
“Maybe because Bastian had human qualities when the baby was conceived? And he’s also a vampire? Do you think that’s why? Some supernatural, inexplicable phenomenon?”
“I don’t know how else to explain it. Fuck!” Mother shouts, her driving nauseating me from the pulses on the gas pedal.
“Slow down, just slow down, please,” I say, taking deep breaths in and out, my head spinning. But...what are we going to do? My head falls against the window, cloaked in a helplessness I can’t fix.
“We can hide him...we can come up with something,” Mother says more to herself than us. Her brain wants solutions, but mine needs to stop and think.
And the words I say now more than any other words whisper from my lips. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Tears fall from my eyes, my blood galloping like a wild horse.
And for the first time, she doesn’t tell me, “It’s okay,” or, “Don’t be sorry.”
For the first time, she’s silent instead of comforting me. Mouth curling between her teeth, her curses becoming internal. Tears fall from her eyes now, a helplessness I hate seeing on her.
I go straight to bed. I cry for hours. More tears than I’ve cried in months. For the daughter I was falling in love with and the son growing inside me. The son that will out me. When Violetta and Rosemary find out that I’m having a boy, they will know his father is not human. Vampires have their own unexplainable magic, and I created a potion that gave one the ability to procreate. To conceive a boy. If I can bring Bastian back, they will find out that I had an affair with a vampire, but I can’t bring him back until the baby is at least two months old. If they find out that the baby’s a boy, they might take action against me before I have a chance to resurrect him. And that can’t happen.
A son. A boy. A little Bastian that will love me, and I will love and protect him with everything I have. Will he be a little witch? Will he have my powers? I’ve never known of any male witches. There are so many questions, and the only answer is time. And I feel like that’s even running out.
Sitting up, I cross my legs and place both hands on my taut stomach. Taking deep breaths, I close my eyes and feel around the large bump. There was supposed to be a daughter in there, the next true witch.
But surprisingly, I feel something else, something unexpected. I see Bastain’s smile. I see his smile and my heart ignites and I can hear him telling me, “Baby, let go.” Let go of what I thought I had and embrace what is to be.
I know I’m supposed to be devastated. I know I should be petrified of the consequences of my actions, for the wrath we could all endure because a lineage of only women is on the verge of breaking. But something about hearing that word...son...boy...does something to me. An innate feeling of protection has taken root, but also, there’s the breaking of something I loathed. It’s not the cycle of girls birthing girls, it’s how it’s enforced. I don’t know what the future looks like, but I doubt my son will be forced to reproduce a girl because he will be breaking barriers that have been caging us for years. I know I’m getting ahead of myself, and this will change our future forever, but that little fragment has sparked so much hope inside me.
I’ll keep it buried down deep. Despite the odd relief I feel for the change on the horizon, I’m not blind that this change could put our lives on the line.
We’ll name her Aventurine, after my green eyes,he had said once about a daughter we were never supposed to create.
“What would he say about you?” I lean down in a whisper, a tear falling onto my top. I lie back, curling on my side, no longer devastated. Fear and wonder have replaced that emotion.
I think about Nicola’s sneer every time she sees me. How she knows I’m carrying Bastian’s child yet still hates me. I think about Cassius and his desire to protect the child...the child that will need more protection than ever now. Cassius. Cassius will help me. I fall asleep, thinking about Cassius and the visit I’ll pay him tomorrow.
HANDS PRESS INTO ME, SHAKINGme awake. “We need to get you out of here,” Mother says, turning on the lights in my dark room and throwing open my closet door.
“What?” I say, shielding my aching eyes from the light.
“You can’t stay in New Orleans. If any witch finds out about this, we are dead. Dead.”
“Mom,” I say, wanting to fold inside myself, wanting to disappear forever. Everything that’s happened pushes into my chest, a weight I can’t unload. I’m having a son. A child I can’t pretend isn’t half Bastian.
Mother pulls my suitcase from under my bed, unzipping it with a mad spark in her eye.
“Who will find out?” I ask, watching her as Mercury walks up and sits right inside the suitcase.
“Are you joking me? Never underestimate the power of witches. How do you think a Bayou witch was able to put a protection spell on Franklin? By knowing our weaknesses. There is an enemy out there, my love. Never forget that.”
