Chapter 27
OWNED WITH A CAPITAL O
The rest of the day, I walk around in some weird sort of lucid fantasy state.
This cannot be my life. No one is this lucky.
I’m definitely not this lucky. Sunny is safe and happy.
Melek didn’t blow his top and go on a killing spree when he found out I had unintentionally dragged him into the Fairy Lands.
In reality, he hates the hollow as much as I do.
And Phoenix.
My brother is back. He’s alive. When we had a quiet moment in the afternoon, he told me of his daring escape a day after I’d been taken to Halo.
To my utter astonishment, the other lightning farmers revolted and charged the keepers, cutting his bindings.
A handful of them managed to steal guns, and they held everyone at gunpoint, took an idling truck, and drove the small distance to the tree line, with Mam in tow, Noah and his band of misfits leading the suicide mission.
Here, I thought he was going to grow up to be another lecherous man.
How wrong I was. He and his friends carried Mam all the way to safety, and Nix, a few of them lost along the way.
When Nix spoke of her, it was in the past tense, and I knew my grief over losing my mother was warranted.
She was too sick for too long, and he recalled how she died in his arms, sunlight shining down on her alabaster skin as he recited poem after poem to her under the canopy of trees.
Mam had made it, too, if only for a few hours.
I’d listened in utter rapture to his story, each second more chilling than the next.
They weren’t stopped from driving away, drones taking a pound of flesh out of a few of them.
Nix said he took a bullet to the leg. What he didn’t mention was the consequences that would have followed.
Too dire to comprehend. People don’t leave the factories without consequences.
No doubt, a lot of innocent people were hurt or killed that day because of what those few people did to save my brother and mother, and that is the sort of thing that grates on the soul.
Nix also asked about Melek. I told him he was a lowly keeper in The Academy who didn’t believe in Halo ideals, and we fell in love and escaped together.
It was all very tame. I didn’t have the energy to deal with what my brother would do if I had told him the truth.
I didn’t need my husband and brother fighting to the death in some sick, twisted sense of honour.
There was so much to unpack, and I barely had the wherewithal to keep my eyes open.
By the late afternoon, I was so exhausted that I had to go lie down back at Ren’s. Whatever solence Melek gave me the previous night had worn off, and when I woke, Seraphina had her hands on my dress-clad stomach.
“Oh, god. Sera, you scared me.”
“Oops, sorry. I was just checking on you and the baby.” Her dark pink-tipped fingers rub at my side, pressing down on a particular sore spot, making me fidget. “Hmm. I think we should finish healing you.”
“And what does that entail this time?”
She moves to my back and starts rubbing spots that begin to magically pop into place. I could cry with relief. “I’ve already made the tonic I need you to drink. It’s a pretty basic pregnancy concoction, with a dash of my blood to help heal any pesky lingering internal wounds.”
Stilling her hands, she gives me space to rest on my back, a stack of pillows propping me up. I stare unblinking at mischievous green eyes almost as big as saucers, with an all-seeing quality. “And?”
“And I know your mate won’t like it, but I will need to do a skin-on-skin examination. Standard stuff,” she adds, waving a hand over my taut skin. “It’s easier for me to get a read on your body if I can place my hands directly on the area enclosing the baby.”
I squint at her, weary. “Will your mouth be involved this time?”
Her eyes sparkle in delight, that sweet chiming laughter washing over me, relaxing my muscles instantly. “Gosh, I think you’re my favourite human yet. And maybe your brother. He’s quite charming.”
“I don’t want to know how charming you think my brother is, Sera.” I could, in fact, throw up at the thought. Nix just came back into my life. I’d like to keep him for a little longer before Sera gets her talons into him.
“Alright, alright. No mouths involved.” A hand goes on her heart—serious business. “Some light touching, I promise, to make sure I get a closer connection to the baby and how your womb space might handle the birth.”
“How can you tell something’s wrong?” I ask. The idea that someone can touch my body and tell me what’s going on inside is wild. Magic. Melek has a sixth sense about my body, but only mine. Which makes sense now, being mates.
“Your body speaks to me. That’s just how my skills work.
It did take many years to narrow down the voices going on inside each individual to pinpoint the areas I need to focus on.
That came with time and practice, and now, it’s easy.
” She shrugs like it’s no big deal to be able to heal people with your own body.
Her magic brought me back from the brink of death.
“What wasn’t easy was that Diviner magic of Melek’s.
If he’d—” Closing her fluttering, long golden eyelashes, she shakes her whole body on the spot, a tinkling sound coming from the earrings gracing her lobes.
“New wounds are easy. Old wounds are hard. Let’s see what I can do with you.
” Her comment about the Diviner magic intrigues me.
I still haven’t told Melek about his magic, or that he used it on me.
My mate doesn’t remember any of his time from when he went feral, and I’m still deciding if that’s for the best. I’ll break the magic stuff to him when he’s more settled and less prone to fits of rage.
So, basically, I’m telling him never. Excellent plan, Storm. I groan inwardly.
“How long will it take?”
Pondering that for a few moments, she answers. “No more than five minutes.”
“Where’s Melek?”
“He’s exploring the grounds with Sunny, Nix, and Ren.” She planned her moment well. I’ve got to admire her for that. I really don’t need Melek here for this. Not after how I saw him trying to keep himself together when she kissed me this morning.
“Okay. Let’s do this.” I shuffle further up to a seated position, and she reaches for something on the table.
“I love doing pregnancy check-ups. They are my favourite. Babies’ voices are so thrillingly enchanting.” Lips spread wide, she scoots closer towards me on the bed.
“Has anyone told you that you’re a bit strange?”
Purplish tonic potion in hand, Sera glowers unconvincingly. “If you heard the way they speak… They hold so much wisdom. The womb holds generations of stories, passed down from woman to woman. It’s like sifting through a history book. They are all so different and beautiful.” She sighs wistfully.
When the fae goddesses picked Seraphina, they really chose the right woman for the job.
She passes me the small vial, and I gulp it down without hesitation, surprised at its taste. “I did not expect this to taste like—” I lick my lips. “Is that licorice?”
“Yes, you got it. I always pride myself on ensuring that my healing tonics are not only practical but also taste palatable. My father, goddess bless him, created the most vile-tasting stuff.” Her tongue snakes out of her mouth in memory.
Before I sit back, Seraphina fluffs the pillows behind me. “Rest your head, please.”
I do as she says, lying back slightly as instructed, her voice changing in tone—the doctor and patient.
Sera scoots closer to my bump. “Are you okay for me to start now?”
“Go ahead. It’s not like I haven’t had random Halo doctors touching me before. May as well have a fae who at least knows what she’s doing.” Sera’s grimace at my words shows her disgust at my statement.
“A healer and a doctor are worlds apart.”
“I trust you.” She kept Sunny safe when I couldn’t. I owe this fae my life.
Helping me pull up my dress to expose my stomach, I notice how the stretch marks have diminished in thickness down my sides. This bump is bigger than my pregnancy with Sunny, with far fewer complications, which I’m going to put down to Melek’s blood and Sera’s healings.
The popping of a cap opening catches my attention. Sera’s eyes glaze over—a pearlescent opal, much like the colour of solence collected from the fae. Her lubricated fingers run delicately over the lower half of my stomach, an unknown scent to me, and rosemary, purifying the air.
“Do you want me to tell you what’s happening, or are you happy for me to do this without commentary?” That’s an option? Her fingers begin to knead the taut skin. My legs jolt at the touch.
“Commentary, please.” Her illuminated eyes blink, but they never shift into focus as her hands trail around the underside of my belly.
“I’m getting a picture of your inner shape in my head, where nerves end and start, what is connected to deeper areas of your body. Oh, and don’t mind the eye thing. I always forget to say that. I’m looking at your body with my third eye.”
Third eye? I’ll save that conversation for another time.
She glides her fingers around slowly, pressing on some particularly tender spots as she goes, making me squirm under her touch, a kick pushing back at her from the baby inside. “How am I meant to relax when that happens?”
Stilling her hands, the glaze from her eyes drops so she can shoot daggers at me.
“What’s that for?” I cross my arms.
“You’re as bad as a man, fidgeting. Stop complaining. Be still and close your eyes. Imagine her face, her little fingers and toes, the colour of her hair…” Sera trails off as I do what she says, closing my eyelids, trying to dissolve my fears about what she might find.
Her fingers press firmly down on my lower abdomen. My breaths are coming quicker now, so I try my best to slow them.
“There’s some deep internal scarring. I can sense it from here.” She suddenly gasps, lifting her hand. “Your mother—” Alarmed, I open my eyes.