Page 57 of Love & Monsters
Memories of everything my mom ever told came rushing back to the forefront of my mind. I checked Ilya’s stomach to make sure the baby was in the right position and then moved between her legs to see how dilated she was.
“Jesus Christ. Who told you this was false labor?” My heart dropped into my stomach. “Ilya, you’re crowning already!”
Her water just broke and yet I could clearly see the top of her baby’s head, already trying to make its way into this world. A world with a red sky the color of fresh blood and monsters as far as you could see. The world this baby belonged to.
Instead of replying, she screamed again. Her head fell back as I focused on the baby coming. I didn’t need to tell her to push. As if on instinct, Ilya pushed and groaned.
“That’s it, Ilya. Keep pushing.” If only my mother could see me now.
It wasn’t long before the guard was back with servants who had the towels and hot water. The world was moving in a haze, and I vaguely heard myself asking for blankets and powerful sheers between reminding Ilya to push and breath. All my knowledge from my mother didn’t seem like enough, but it worked.
Ilya was delivering her baby the morning after the warriors left for war. Her baby was coming with the help from a human. In those moments, whatever she felt for me didn’t matter as I took control of the situation and pulled her baby from her body.
As soon as the head was far enough out, I carefully held the baby and pulled it gingerly. My eyes were enrapt with the sight of pale violet skin and wisps of white hair on the head. No horns yet, but I learned those would grow in time.
Then there was a baby boy in my arms. The servants helped me cut the cord. I was lighter than air as I cradled that beautiful baby in my arms. The miracle of life caught me off guard and I was too stunned to move or think.
Ilya sighed as the tension fled her body. The pressure of giving birth washed away, but I knew any second, she would feel the traumatic pain of childbirth. The delivery wasn’t over yet.
“Here.” I slowly handed the baby over to a servant waiting with a clean towel. It took more willpower than I thought it would to let him go, but I recognized Meela and relented.
Meela wiped the baby down with help as I aided Ilya in the last steps of the birthing process. There was blood everywhere, but I didn’t think it was too much compared to her size. She was unmoving, watching her son intently, allowing me to clean her up to the best of my ability. The filth of birth ruined her lovely dress and the towels, but the baby was alive. That was the only thing that mattered.
The moment we heard his first cry, the heavy tension dissipated. Instantly, relief and joy replaced it. Everyone in the great hall that rushed in to help smiled and laughed as we welcomed new life into the world.
I watched in a daze as they handed the baby over to Ilya. My feet pushed up, and I stood as Meela tossed a blanket over Ilya to allow her a moment to rest. The doubts in the back of my mind spurned me on and the emptiness in my chest throbbed despite the happiness surrounding me. Walking out seemed like the right thing for me to do. The thought that I didn’t belong here pushed on the back of my mind, so I silently moved past.
Almost at the last moment, Ilya’s hand flew up. Ilya’s clawed fingers curled around my wrist, holding me in place. The swaddled baby was lying on her chest, but she looked up at me with deep red eyes. Her lips parted and her eyes flickered between mine.
“What will you name him, my lady?” Meela asked, breaking up the silence.
Ilya kept her gaze on me, slowly releasing my wrist. Her hands went to the baby and fresh tears spilled from the corners of her eyes.
“Minak.” My blood froze under my skin and her red eyes bore into me. “I will name him Minak.”
Thirty-Two
|VADRIC|
The days blurred together as the massive army at my back marched toward the inevitable. Time appeared to pass slowly while Knox and I gathered forces across Nadirn. Each day, word reached us of Rykan and his army of traitors.
Days turned into weeks. Those weeks turned into a month. Still, our numbers grew with each passing day. The ever-present sense of war and death hovered overhead. It lurked behind us, but there was no turning back.
If allowed to remain as Lord of Nadirn, Rykan would undoubtedly run the Nefellim into the ground. Our people would suffer with that bastard as their leader. It was plainly obvious they already were. Larger than life Nefellim were leaving the land and going to sea. Some were avoiding the threat of Rykan and going into extended hibernation.
An uneasy pressure undulated through the air. I could feel it, Ilya could feel it, and so could Knox and Anakis. How anyone in Nadirn could follow Rykan and his bastard claim to the throne was beyond me. It was simply beyond understanding. He offered them nothing other than empty promises of grandeur.
It wasn’t the only complication in my life. As the days passed, I felt an ache in my chest. A niggling sensation where my heart was. Sometimes it felt as if there was an instinct buried deep inside of me and it was leading me back—
Deep inside, I needed to go back to her. I knew it was her. It couldn’t be anything else. Never in my life had I felt a pull toward a female in the way I did with her. No matter how small and fragile she may be, she was strong and much braver than she knew.
Mina Varlet. My soft little human.
No one had ever awoken such a tenderness within me before. This desire to protect her was wholly unusual for me. The others in my inner circle recognized it as well.
I wanted not only to protect her. I wanted to devour her whole. In the most feral and atrocious ways, I wanted to consume her until we were one. I wanted to fill her and pleasure her so thoroughly that nothing in her life would ever compare to the sensations I evoked.
“Why do you look so forlorn?” Knox pushed his nuckelavee to catch up with mine. The steady trot of their hooves over the ground and that of countless others echoed through the forest.
