Chapter Thirty-Two
BENEDICT
Kieran dropped beside her immediately. “Wren.”
I held her in my arms as she panted, utterly spent, her white scales slick with heat. Her wings trembled violently with each breath she dragged into her lungs, breaths that came too shallow and too fast. Blood pooled beneath her thighs, dark and frighteningly thick.
Too much blood. It made my heart skip a beat. I studied Enya, Mara, and Yazmine. Their expressions were tense and serious, but they weren't panicky. Not yet.
For a heartbeat I froze, my chest tightening with a terrible sense of déjà vu. The last time she had screamed like this I had not been there to help her.
I moved before the thought could paralyze me again, kneeling on her other side. Ronan stood behind Kieran. Mara didn’t look concerned Wren was about to pass out. She was focused on the baby.
“Quick,” she snapped. “Put your arms here.”
Before I could ask what she meant, she grabbed my arm and forced it forward. Ronan’s arms were shoved beside mine while Kieran knelt between us, three grown drakens huddled around our crying, bleeding mate.
“Come on now, nearly there. One more push,” Mara encouraged.
“Our warrior queen!” Kieran said to her.
Ronan was stony and white-faced.
He was afraid. Just like me.
“AGGHH!!” Wren cried out.
A slick weight slid into our hands, all three of us bearing its weight. The slimy bundle was warm, and fragile, but alive.
For a stunned second I could only stare.
Our child.
Mara moved with swift efficiency, scooping the baby from our hands and wrapping the tiny body before any of us had truly processed what had just happened. Blood and fluid coated our hands and claws as Yazmine.
“It’s a girl,” Kieran breathed.
“A female,” I whispered, the word leaving me in awe.
Stars, she was so small.
“Wren? WREN!” I tried to get to her but Yazmine elbowed me out of the way.
Mara wiped the baby clean with brisk efficiency, and for a terrifying moment there was no sound.
Then the drakling screeched in outrage, a fierce cry that cut through the tension in the room.
A flash of red hair appeared as Mara adjusted the blanket, and relief hit me so hard my knees nearly buckled.
With the three of us, we had never known whose child she might be. Not that it mattered—never truly—but I couldn’t help glancing at Kieran, jealous.
This had been my only chance for a blood child. When the Overlord fell, the magic that broke our curse had left me sterile. It had been my price for peace and protection.
I stepped closer and rested a hand lightly against Kieran’s back.
“Congratulations,” I said quietly to Kieran. My voice was steady, and I was proud of that.
I let out a breath that was half laughter as Kieran seized me in a hug, lifting me off the ground. “Congratulations to all of us!”
Ronan laughed.
Wren blinked, eyes cracking as she came back to us.
“It’s over,” Wren slurred, her body going limp. “‘So why does it still hurt?”
We turned back to her in alarm, but Enya cut us off. “There is another child.”
Enya’s announcement snapped our attention back to the bed as she called out from her spot under another tree, Wyrren cradling her in his arms.
Mara thrust the first baby into my arms without warning and I fumbled before clutching the drakling tightly to my chest. She weighed almost nothing, yet somehow felt heavier than anything I had ever carried.
Behind me Yazmine worked frantically while Mara pressed down on Wren’s belly. Kieran and Ronan held onto each other, not bothering to detach after their hug. We watched in horror.
A second drakling slid free from Wren, but this one didn’t cry.
My stomach dropped.
Mara grabbed the baby quickly, blowing air into its nose and mouth before flicking its tiny feet and pinching its skin. When that didn’t work, she slapped the baby sharply.
I lunged forward with a growl, but Ronan caught my arm.
“Trust her,” he said.
Seconds stretched unbearably long. Then the baby wailed, a furious cry filling the room.
“There we are,” Mara said, placing the second drakling carefully into my trembling hands. “Another girl.”
Twins.
I leaned closer to look, curiosity momentarily overwhelming my fear as I sniffed her deeply.
“Look at the hair,” Ronan said, leaning over to look.
I stared down in amazement.
“Benedict, look!” Ronan said, his voice brightening with excitement despite everything. “It’s as black as yours.”
I stared, as though afraid the moment might shatter if he moved too quickly. When I looked down at the baby in my arms, my heart shattered all over again.
“Do you have Daddy’s eyes?” Mara murmured.
Kieran was grinning so hard I thought his face might break, coming to stand next to me so we could hold both babies side by side. Two daughters–two miracles.
Kieran elbowed Ronan lightly. “You should have gotten there faster.”
He smirked, but Ronan ducked his head, embarrassed.
Wren’s head rolled back, eyes going white.
“Wren!” I shouted, already moving toward her.
“She’s fading,” Mara snapped. “The birth is over, but she’s losing blood fast. Feed her immediately.”
Ronan tore open his wrist with a fang and pressed it to Wren’s mouth. Nothing happened as his blood spilled uselessly down her chin.
“She’s unconscious,” I said hoarsely. “She can’t take it.”
“Then wake her!” Yazmine shouted.
Mara began to sing, a soft draken melody meant to soothe, but Wren didn’t stir. The air felt as though it were sucked out of the trees around us.
“We’re losing her,” Enya said calmly from across the way. “Feed her now.”
The words hit me like a physical blow.
“So do something!” I heard myself shout. My voice cracked under the strain. “Please—do something—”
Mara slapped Wren hard across the face.
The sound echoed sharply through the room.
Nothing.
“Again,” I whispered.
Mara struck her again, harder.
Kieran made a broken sound I had never heard from him before as he leaned forward, pressing his forehead against Wren’s temple, the first baby in his arms.
“Please,” he rasped. “Please don’t do this.”
The sight twisted something deep inside me
If she died now—
“We’re out of time,” Mara said.
No.
“Wait! I … I have something!” Ronan cried out. “An old passage from a draken birth text I had studied years ago!” He sputtered, talking fast, reaching for the drakling in Kieran’s arms.
“Ronan—” I began.
“Yes! Skin-to-skin!” Enya crowed, clapping her hands. “Well done, Ronan.”
“What are you doing?” I demanded. “What is skin-to-skin?”
I brought the dark-haired baby to him without protesting.
“It usually works to revive a baby, but perhaps it can work the other way around as well,” Enya said.
Together we lowered the babies onto Wren’s chest, their tiny faces brushing against her skin. For a moment nothing happened. Ronan gently pushed their heads closer to her nose. Wren inhaled sharply. Her nostrils flared as she caught the scent of her children. Her eyes fluttered open.
“She smells them,” I whispered.
“Now!” Enya barked at us. “Feed her!”
I pressed my wrist to Wren’s lips again. This time she swallowed. Slowly at first, but then a second time. She kept drinking and color crept back into her scales. I didn’t realize I was crying until tears fell onto the bedding.
“Good girl,” Yazmine murmured.
I offered my wrist next, my voice shaking as I leaned close to Wren. Her hands reflexively clutched her babies to her chest.
“Come back,” I whispered. “Please come back.”
Her breathing steadied. The bleeding slowed. Her wings twitched faintly.
She lived.
Stars above, she lived.
Kieran opened his own arm and let her drink as well. I wasn’t sure how long we fed her, but the exhaustion hit us all at once.
I collapsed backward against a neighboring tree, pale with blood loss. I sagged to the side, catching myself with trembling hands.
Mara clapped sharply. “That’s enough. All of you, lie down.”
None of us argued, collapsing into the moss around Wren.
The female drakens moved around us with quiet efficiency, ordering Nasi and Canavar around like their personal servants.
Bedding and sheets and pillows appeared out of nowhere, wrapping around our legs and under our heads.
Water was forced into our hands, and someone checked our pulses.
They placed the babies against Wren’s chest and guided them to nurse.
I tried to keep my eyes open. I wanted to be certain she was truly alive and well, along with the draklings, but exhaustion relentlessly dragged at me.
The last thing I saw before sleep claimed me was Wren stirring faintly, turning her head toward our daughters as they suckled beside her.
She was alive.
Our daughters were alive.
And for the first time since the vampyre attack—
I allowed myself to truly rest.