just another consequence of sleeping on cold stone or of being beaten and starved and for
w. Not
llen stomach, feeling the f
ents were sharper, more urgent, as if the
sing in my chest. "Please, not y
nto a ball on the dungeon floor. I bit down on my lip to keep from screaming I
hands trembling as I pushed myself up
flickering in my chest despite everything. Maybe
lank, their hands resting on their weapons. They just
"Please, I need help. The baby is coming. I need..
~
ody convulsing with pain, my screams echoing off the stone walls no midwife came no
d. "Breathe through the
bed. It hurts
nsumed every fiber of my being. I felt my body stretching, opening, changing in ways I c
y the pain, the pressure, the desper
n ragged gasps and then I saw a woman I didn't recognize standing in
augh
s. "Give her to me," I whispered. "Please let me hold her." The
ing toward the door, the baby in her arms. My da
was too weak, too broken, bleeding and torn and barely conscious. "Please, don'
~
The pain of labor had faded replace
ts ached to feed her. My heart ache
ispered, her voice broke
he doorway, his face unreadable, a small vial in his hand. The liqui
e said stepping
exhausted to feel
e word echoed in my mind, col
eside me, his expression carefully blank. "When you wake,
sper. "No, you can't " He grabbe
throat, cold and bitter tasting of ash and oblivion. I gagged tried t
murmured. "
he edges of my vision darke
othing to do with sleep but even a
anything that would
emory was already fading slippi
e mark but my fingers found nothing just smoo
name was already losing meaning
aching from another night on a hard cot. My hands were ro
e am
/1/133443/coverbig.jpg?v=20261110121114&imageMogr2/format/webp)