Chapter 45 Complications
Chapter Forty-Five
Complications
Althea
They had been walking for hours before they began to hear Rivka’s pain-filled cries.
Althea had sprinted ahead, fear gripping her like a vice.
Ellis kept pace as they burst through an archway into a large chamber.
Rivka lay on a table, her hair drenched with sweat, the sheet in front of her soaked with blood below her waist. She clutched at her swollen stomach as she screamed, her eyes wild with pain.
Althea gasped, rushing to her immediately. “Rivka, baby, tell me what it is. What are you feeling?”
Rivka sobbed, “I tried to wait. The babe isn’t moving…I can’t..cant..” collapsing back on the bed, Rivka cried out in pain again, riding out the wave of a contraction.
Althea lifted the sheet off Rivka’s legs, checking to see where she was in her labor, and saw the blood pooling beneath her niece.
She had assumed she would only be assisting with a birth; her training only went so far, and she didn’t have the tools or facility needed to deal with complications of this magnitude.
"Something is wrong - there’s not supposed to be this much blood", Althea murmured, more to herself than anyone else. “How long has she been laboring, El?”
He took a beat to think.
“Any day now, El!” she demanded.
“I think since last night, but I could be off”, he stammered. “She will be ok, right?”
Althea hesitated. She didn’t want to lie to him but right now she didn’t have a definitive answer to give him. Still, she needed to stay positive. She turned her attention back to Rivka. “Riv, darling, I need you to tell me exactly what you are feeling.”
“Everything was fine, until it wasn’t.” Rivka let out a whimper, turning her head to look at her. “Is there supposed to be this much blood?”
Althea glanced at her niece. “Were you not schooled in what to expect during delivery?”
Rivka shook her head weakly. “No. My mother doesn’t even know. I was never able to tell her.”
Althea let those words sink in. She had assumed that something was amiss when Ellis had shown up the way he had, dodging her questions.
Add to that everything Alexandria had disclosed in the Med center, and Rivka keeping something like this from her mother…
it could only mean trouble. Something untoward had happened and once Rivka was stable, she would be demanding those answers.
A noise sounded from the tunnel behind them. Whipping around, Althea watched as Ellis came face-to-face with Alexandria.
"What the hell?” Ellis exclaimed, clearly not expecting this new turn of events. Althea couldn’t say she was surprised though. That girl was tenacious on the best of days.
Alex
Alex didn’t speak. All she could see was Rivka.
Rivka, and the blood soaking Althea’s arms and spattering the floor under the table.
The agonizing wail that had spurred her forward still rang in her ears.
Davin had gone pale, leaning heavily against the wall, a stunned look on his face.
His wide eyes darting between them. Alex froze in her shock, her face a mask of terror.
“RIA!”, Ellis shouted, snapping his fingers in front of her face. She jerked her gaze to his.
“What?” she rasped, still unable to focus.
“It doesn’t matter anyway”, he glanced back over his shoulder at Rivka, “come help me comfort her. She needs you-us.”
Alex blinked, looking back at Rivka. She lay there, red-faced and panting, sweat soaking her, tears rolling down her face, her hands gripping her swollen stomach.
Alex's thoughts raced. So much blood. She looks so exhausted. A baby. Riv’s going to be a mother.
Blinking her eyes rapidly to clear the tears that threatened to fall, she moved to Rivka’s side, sinking to her knees, and took her hand gently in hers.
Rivka turned her head, her lavender eyes unfocused.
A sob broke from her lips when their eyes met, and she realized it was Alex kneeling beside her.
“You came, Ria. I knew you would figure it out.” Her last word died on a moan as another contraction took hold.
Her hand gripped Alex’s and squeezed–hard.
Alex winced but held firm, her focus never leaving Rivka’s face.
Ellis was on the other side, encouraging Rivka to breathe, all whilst wiping her forehead with a bit of cloth.
“The babe is turned the wrong way,” Althea called.
“I’m going to have to try and turn it so that it can pass through the birth canal.
This is going to hurt Riv. I’m so sorry, baby.
When your next contraction starts, you cannot push.
Do you hear me? Do not push. Once the contraction releases, I will try and turn the babe. ”
Rivka tensed, muffling her cries of pain as she rode out the next contraction.
“I can do this.” Rivka panted.
Althea looked up into her niece's eyes, “Ready?” Rivka nodded weakly, but determinedly. The next moment, she let out a blood-curdling scream as Althea attempted to turn the baby inside her.
Tristan stumbled forward out of the tunnel, drawing Alex’s attention, horror written all over his face.
Rushing forward, he brought his hands up to cover his mouth. “What is happening?” he whispered, seemingly unaware that everyone was now staring at him.
Alex leapt to her feet, clutching her now blood-soaked tunic in one hand, her dagger in the other. She couldn’t tell how much of the blood was Rivka’s and how much was hers. Her stitches had definitely ripped open. Again. She lifted her blade towards Tristan, the tip pointed directly at his heart.
“You don’t belong here. You need to leave.
” Her threatening tone caused him to pause.
“Were you following us?” she ground out.
She was torn between the need to step towards him with every word and not being able to leave Rivka’s side.
“You aren’t touching that baby. It’s not yours to take!
” The snarl that ripped from her lips was murderous.
Fingers weakly wrapped around her wrist, drawing her attention down.
"No." Rivka rasped out. “He’s part of the reason we’ve made it safely this far and he is the father of this baby.”
Alex stared in dismay. The rejection and betrayal speared through her like a blade to the heart. But even with the pain, she could not force herself to leave Rivka’s side. Lowering her dagger, she looked down at Rivka, her face twisted in agony.
“So it’s true? He is the father, then?”
She knew it was her own stubbornness that had made her latch onto the hope that Tristan had been lying and that there was no baby, or that if there was, that it would somehow, miraculously be Ellis’.
“Yes,” Rivka started quietly, “There is so much that I need to…” She let out a wail, everything in her body going taut.
Alex frantically looked between Althea and Tristan.
“Alex, we’ll sort this out later. I promise you that he means no harm to Riv or the baby.” Ellis soothed, trying to get her to calm down. “Now is not the time.”
Alex turned back to Rivka, as another contraction wracked her body.
“Today is your lucky day, prince, but all the same, I wouldn't come any closer if you value your life.”
Tristan started to speak, but Alex saw Ellis shake his head, and he stopped. At least he had the decency to listen to one of them.
Rivka’s contraction eased, her body relaxing against the table yet again, her panting harsh in the sudden silence.
Davin pushed off the wall. "I'm going to scout the tunnel to see if there are any other, nefarious, surprises lurking."
Alex looked up at him for the first time since they entered the room.
She had completely forgotten that he was there.
Davin’s already pale face had turned a sickening color and if Alex didn’t know better, she would say he was going to be ill.
Their eyes locked and she watched as he struggled to maintain his emotions.
His look of confusion bled into something else, grief, maybe, but she couldn’t be sure.
Alex stared for a moment before nodding her head in approval. Davin lifted his chin in acknowledgement, spinning on his heels and slipping into the depths of the tunnel once more.
Rivka let out another scream, wrenching Alex’s attention back to the matter at hand. Althea had finished turning the baby, and it suddenly slid free.
"It's a girl,” Althea breathed, holding the baby up for them to see. Rivka struggled to lift her hand towards the babe in Althea’s arms, a weak smile on her lips.
“Kaela,” Rivka spoke so quietly that Ellis had to lean in to hear her better.
“A crown of broken beauty,” Alex finished for her. A knowing smile softly lighting her face.
“She’s beautiful,” Ellis sighed as he brushed Rivka’s hair back from her face, watching as Althea cut the cord and began to clean the babe up.
A tiny cry echoed around the room as Kaela took her first full breath.
Alex held Rivka’s hand tightly, completely in awe of her strength.
She had made that perfect baby girl. Anyone could tell, even still covered in blood, that she would be just as stunning as her mother, and from the sound of it, just as feisty too.
Everyone’s attention was on Althea and Kaela when Ellis suddenly cried out. “Riv! Rivka, you need to stay awake! Stay with me!”
Althea looked up from wrapping Kaela, her smile draining from her face. She thrust the baby into Alex's arms.
“El, I need you to keep her awake!” she ordered, jumping into action. “She’s lost too much blood. I need to control the hemorrhaging.”
He began tapping Riv’s cheek. “Look at me, my Queen, I know that you are tired, but you can’t sleep just yet.” His eyes met Alex’s. “Help me. Talk to her. Show her, her daughter.”
Alex leaned closer, moving Kaela to Rivka’s line of sight. Rivka’s eyes cracked open.
“Hey, baby girl,” she rasped out, “Aren’t you gorgeous?”
Her eyes moved to Alex’s. “Now you have two of us to protect”, her voice barely more than a whisper, “Say you’ll stay, that you can forgive me?”
Rivka’s breathing was becoming more challenging with each inhale, her skin pale and clammy against the sweat-soaked sheets. Her eyes were no longer vibrant but dull and shadowed with her pain.
“I am here, Riv. I’m sorry for not believing you. I forgive you, even if I am still angry. You are my whole world, and I can’t lose you. So, you have to fight, damn it. She needs you, her mother. I need you. Please don't leave us.”
The last part came out barely audible as tears began to flow in rivulets of pain and terror down her face. Rivka struggled to stay conscious, a desperate ache building in Alex’s chest as she watched.
“Althea, please! I can’t lose her.”
Squeezing her eyes closed, Alex prayed to whatever Gods might be listening. She could not lose her, not again, not like this. “Please.” She begged. She had never begged a day in her life, but she would do it now. To save her.
Kaela’s whimpers forced her to look down into the babe’s eyes, the same exact shade of lavender as her mother’s, and her heart shattered. She knew Riv wasn’t going to make it, could see the life slowly draining out of her with every drop of blood on the floor.
The tick of the seconds that passed with no more words from her queen, and the panic on Althea’s face were all the confirmation she needed.
She realized that she’d lose this battle.
A trickle of time was all that remained.
Leaning over Riv, she whispered, just loud enough for her to hear, “I love you, Rivka Varon. I always will. I swear an oath to you now that I will raise her in your image, to be brave and strong and caring. I will spend the rest of my life protecting her, as I have failed to protect you. One day we’ll meet again, my love, and I will spend eternity making things right. ”
She bent down and gently laid her lips upon hers, knowing that each breath may very well be her last.
I hope that she hears me. I hope that she truly knows how much I love her.
Alex watched as her queen finally succumbed to the darkness, her eyes falling shut, her hand dropping limply to the table.
Althea’s anguished cry rattled the walls as she, too, realized that her niece was gone, that she hadn’t been able to save her.
Grief gripped Alex’s mind, the numbness battling with the pain. Kaela’s whimpers were the only thing keeping her from losing complete control. Alex looked down again, directly into those heart-stopping eyes, and sank slowly to the floor, sobbing as she rocked her tightly in her arms.