“Okay, I guess.” I followed him as he led me well away from the encampment.
Low hills and scattered groves of trees quickly hid us and soon even the murmur of almost fifty people was left behind and only the soft sigh of the breeze and distant bird calls filled the night. “Why are we way out here?”
“I thought it might be better if we had some privacy” He sat in the grass and motioned for me to do the same. When I did, he said, “I heard about the pregnancy, are you all right?”
“How did you hear?”
“I overheard a bit of your conversation with Bethany last night.” He held up his hands. “Not much, just that you were pregnant.”
I groaned and dropped my face into my hands. “Have you told anyone?”
He reached over and rubbed gentle circles on my back. “No. I more than anyone understand the dangers of a baby from an unapproved mixture. How does Caius feel about it?”
I lifted my head and sighed. “I haven’t told him yet. I was getting ready to talk to him when you asked me to come out here.”
“Why haven’t you told him?” Elijah looked confused.
“I’m not sure how he will react. I’m pretty sure kids aren’t something he wants.” I toyed with the short blades of grass by my foot.
“And if he doesn’t react well?” His gaze searched mine. “What do you plan to do with this pregnancy?”
“Plan?” I shot him a glare. “I plan to have this baby and do the best I can with it.”
“No offense meant. I just wanted to know.” He pulled one of the leather canteens off his shoulder and handed it to me. “Have a drink, it’s warm out here. We’ll head back in a bit so you can let Caius know and put your worries to rest.”
“You think he will be okay with it?” I took the canteen from him. After opening it, I sniffed. The distinct sweet smell of the berries I loved wafted from it. I took a big gulp, then another and another, unaware of how thirsty I’d been. “Sorry for drinking so much,” I said when I handed it back to him.
“It’s no problem. Soon we will be in the mortal world where food and drink are easier to come by.” He sighed. “As to Caius, I would never presume to know him well enough to guess. Until the day you tried to fry me, we’d barely crossed paths and never spoke.”
“Sorry about that.” I blinked, feeling slightly dizzy for a second. Maybe I was bit dehydrated. I took a couple more deep gulps when he passed the canteen back to me, a little disappointed he couldn’t shed any light on Caius’s possible reaction. “How are you going to get to the mortal world? I thought you couldn’t get through the veils.”
“There are ways, though they aren’t easy to achieve.”
I blinked again. My mind felt fuzzy and his face drifted in and out of focus. I didn’t feel right. I pushed myself up, trying to get to my feet on legs that didn’t want to work right. Unbalanced, I tipped sideways. Elijah caught me before I could hit the ground. My vision blurred around the edges.
“Wha…?” It came out slurred because my mouth didn’t seem to work right either.
Elijah eased me down until I sat again and steadied me. “It’s okay. Just a little bliss flower root added to the juice. It tends to make angels a bit drunk and loopy. It will keep you calm while we help you.”
“Helf meh?” What the hell was bliss flower root? I couldn’t get my brain to process what was happening as another man stepped into sight. My skin felt flushed all over. One of the other Fallen was there. Why would another Fallen be there? I registered the shackles he handed to my father only a moment before Elijah placed them on my wrists.
These weren’t exactly the same as what the Sentinels carried, but close enough. The open hole of darkness yawned inside me and I could sense the complete and total separation from my powers. The sensation of flying and falling swept over me. I opened my mouth, but only one slurred word came out, “Why?”
Elijah raised an eyebrow. “It is better that this pregnancy is ended. It is a danger to everyone, especially you. It’s just as well Caius doesn’t know of it on the off chance he was pleased. Some things should not be born. I am sorry to do it this way, but I could see when you answered me earlier that you are determined to see this pregnancy to its end. No one will talk you out of it. You have the same stubborn streak as me.” He gave a regretful sigh. “But I need to protect you from this, and even from yourself it seems.”
I forced my brain to work. My powers might be beyond my reach, but Caius and Lilly had taught me how to defend myself without them. I rolled and leveraged my weight, my legs flashing out to catch Elijah’s and drop him to the ground. A swift kick to his face and another half roll and I was on my feet and staggering back toward camp. The scenery teetered on edge and it was a struggle to breathe.
I yanked my wrists in the shackles, trying to find a weakness. There was none. Before I’d gone far, Elijah’s companion grabbed my arm and spun me around. I stumbled and fell to the ground, my palm landing on a smooth, rounded rock. I curled my hand around it. The Fallen hauled me up and shoved me back the way I’d come. Dizziness swamped me and my knees buckled.
Elijah stood waiting, impatience on his face as blood dribbled from his nose. “Just grab her and let’s go. And for the gods sakes, don’t let her injure herself.”
The Fallen, whose name I couldn’t remember, hoisted me up and tossed me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, putting uncomfortable pressure on my stomach. The world faded in and out as the root swamped my mind. There was something I needed to do. The rock. I couldn’t infuse it with the shackles on, nor did I know how, but I had to try something. I brought my finger to my mouth and bit it as hard as I could, pleased when I managed to break the skin and few small beads of blood welled up. It was a shame self-inflicted injuries didn’t reflect, then Caius would already know something was wrong. Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way.
Careful not to drop the stone, I rubbed my blood over it. Elijah said something about finally getting to the portal as the world spun. The rock fell from my hand and darkness engulfed me.
***
“When I discovered she was missing…” ~Caius
Chapter 34
I woke with a groan to a frigid wind cutting across my overheated face and a raven’s urgent call. My lips were dry and chapped. Forcing my eyes open, I tried to take in my surroundings. Deep snow surrounded the cleared area where I lay wrapped in a heavy blanket. A raven flew silhouetted against the flat, iron-gray clouds that hung low in the sky. Unable to see the sun, I could only guess by the amount of daylight that it was either early morning or late evening. One thing was obvious, I wasn’t in Between anymore.
My stomach cramped with a force that had me curling in on myself one second and trying to get up the next as berry flavored vomit rushed up my throat. My hands were still shackled, but my legs were free. Not that it helped much. They were too weak to carry me more than a few steps before dropping me in the snow where I retched violently.
Elijah was there, draping the blanket over me, his hands pulling my hair away, his voice soothing. I shuddered, wanting away from him, but unable to do anything beyond throw up. When it was over, Elijah moved me away from the mess before I collapsed in it. Where was I? Darkness tried to pull me under again and I pushed it away. I needed to know where I was and what was happening. Elijah carried me to where his henchman sat near a pile of burning logs.
Elijah knelt next to me and offered me some water. I desperately wanted it, so snatched it and took several long drinks before I realized it tasted off and pushed it back at him. “More root? It’s making me sick.” I tried to fight the shackles again. Tears stung my eyes at his betrayal. How could he do this to me? He’d lured me in, pretended to be the father I’d always hoped for, and then crushed everything. It hurt more than I ever thought it would. “If you want me dead, why not just do it?”
“I do not want you dead, my daughter.” Elijah capped the canteen. “The root just keeps you from opposing me right now. I have seen you train
. It is better this way. I don’t know why it’s making you sick, but as soon as the pregnancy is taken care of, you will not need it anymore.”
“What are you talking about?” It was hard to focus again. My heart beat strangely as if its rhythm was off and sweat ran down my face.
“I told you, this baby you are carrying, it cannot be allowed to exist.”
Oh gods, he was going to force me to get rid of my baby. Gritting my teeth against the nausea, I sucked a breath between them and asked, “What will the root do to the baby? Is that how you plan to take it away from me?”
“It was not how I planned to.” Elijah shrugged. “I have no idea what it will do to it, nor do I care. I just need to keep you compliant until this is over.” He sighed and shook his head. “I know right now you think you want it and you hate my guts. But once this is all over, I am sure you will see I was right.”
“You oonly thenk that ‘cause yous a douchebag,” I slurred. Damn it, I couldn’t even English right with that crap in my system.
“Once the hormones that drive your desire to keep the child are gone, you will be relieved to have the burden removed.” He gave me a sad smile. “You need to be protected from this.”
A feral snarl welled in my throat as he stood. Hormones? Hormones? He hadn’t even begun to see those! I staggered to my feet, swung at him, missed, and smacked my knuckles into a tree. My drunken body spun around, almost toppling into the snow.
Elijah caught me, wrapped me in the blanket and deposited me near the fire again. I stared at my bloodied knuckles. Caius would now have the same injury. Would he be able to find me in time? The intense anger washed away in despair.
I curled myself around my middle. Crushing sorrow filled me. I didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know how to stop Elijah. I couldn’t protect the little life inside me. I wasn’t going to be like my mom, I was going to fail before I even had the chance to try. Fail at the most basic of parental duties. Unable to look at what was coming in the face, I let the darkness pull me under.
When I woke again, it was full night. The area looked different, fewer trees, more open windswept mountains. I pushed myself up into a sitting position. My body felt like lead. The embers of the fire still glowed strong, flaring occasionally in the bitter wind. I squinted at them through the pounding in my head. I think my brain was trying to escape through my temples. Despite that, my mind was blessedly clear for the moment. Maybe the bliss flower root had worn off. I glanced at where Douchebag and Henchman were sleeping. They must not have expected me to wake for a while.
Struggling to my feet, I shrugged off the blanket and pushed myself through the deep snow as quietly as possible until I made it around the edge of a large boulder, the scattered trees hiding the fire and sleeping forms next to it. I broke into a run, slogging through the snow as best I could with the shackles holding my hands in front of me.
My body felt wrong. Weak and shaky in ways it shouldn’t be. More than once I went down, only to come back up coated in snow. My hands and feet started to ache. Tree limbs pulled at my hair and left scratches on my face and arms. I didn’t care, didn’t have time to care. This might be my only chance to get away.
The snow gave way beneath me and I grabbed for a branch as I started to slide. The momentum dragged my hands along the rough wood, scraping the palms of my hands and burning like fire across my icy skin before I regained my balance. I searched the darkness with wide eyes, heart pounding. Where to go? If I stayed too long I would freeze to death. I needed a natural arch of some sort. Even ending up back in Midtween would be better than this. Maybe. The moonlight glinted off the snow, lending some light to my search as I fumbled across a wide open space.
I don’t know how long I searched—there was no way to mark the time and I’m sure it seemed longer than it actually was—before I finally found something that would work. Two trees leaned together in such a way they made a peaked arch. It wasn’t perfect, but it should work.
I stood inside it and waited. Nothing happened. I closed my eyes as hot tears coursed down my face, turning icy before they made it halfway down my cheeks. This had to work. I focused on the Incoming Room in the Reaper Offices, saw it in every detail. Nothing happened. A raven’s warning call rang out. My eyes snapped open.
“Those don’t work for the shackled. You have to be connected to your powers.” Elijah walked toward me, his face calm as if he was an indulgent parent chasing down an errant toddler. I spun and tried to bolt away from him. Henchman caught me before I got more than a few steps. I thrashed against his greater strength. A heavy smack from Elijah sent pain exploding across the side of my face and left a cut on the inside of my cheek. Elijah sighed and said calmly, “That is no way to behave.”
Henchman pried my mouth open while Elijah poured more of the root-infused liquid down my throat. I fought them as best I could, kicking and scratching and trying not to drink it. But it was either swallow or drown.
By the time Elijah lowered the canteen, it was empty and my world was already reeling. They’d dumped more than twice as much down me as before. Sweat broke out on my skin like my temperature had suddenly climbed. I sucked in a breath, having trouble getting enough air in as I started to shiver from more than the cold. My stomach heaved. Before it could turn itself inside out, the world went completely dark with only the chill of the snow surrounding me.
I woke slowly. The cold was like a knife through me. Oddly, it felt good. The world wavered in and out of view, not that there was much to see from my position slung over Henchman’s shoulder. The raven called again. Elijah was talking to someone…I recognized the voice. My stomach rolled as Henchman walked forward and I caught a glimpse of another Fallen. Siena. That was her name. How many of them were in on this?
Warmth surrounded me and I hated it. I was already overheated, the extra was uncomfortable. My vision tunneled and I caught a glimpse of a door that didn’t look like a door as it swung shut. Nadia’s voice sounded like she was speaking into a tin can from far away when she said, “Place her on my bed.”
The tunnel receded and I got a view of the familiar dwelling as I was carried across it and placed on the narrow bed I remembered. A small sob escaped me as I remembered the first time in her house when Caius had held my hand the whole time I slept. He wasn’t here this time. I was alone.
Nadia placed a hand on my brow and turned toward Elijah who stood near the door with Henchman and Siena. “She’s burning up. I don’t know if she will survive whatever you’ve given her.”
“She should be fine. What we gave her doesn’t harm angels and has no effect on demons. Maybe the mortal in her reacts to it. Even so, she should be fine once the pregnancy is ended and I don’t have to give her more,” Elijah said.
“No.” My plea came out cracked and slurred. “Please, Nadia, don’t let them do this.”
She turned sympathetic eyes on me. “It’s for the best, Child. I know it isn’t easy, but this time, it truly is the only course of action.”
“This time?” My head swam and I struggled to stay conscious, to pull air in as my heart thumped erratically. I blinked at her. “Oh gods, this is what you did. How you betrayed him.”
“And how you will betray him as well, my dear.” She sighed and moved to the shelves of teacups. Selecting one, she took it down and poured hot water into it. “Although you aren’t being given a choice.”
“I never betrayed him,” I mumbled.
“He doesn’t know that, Child,” Nadia said.
“He doesn’t even know about the baby, he might not even care—” Shivers wracked my body, cutting off my words.
Nadia sighed sadly. “How can you have conceived a child with a man you know so little about?”
She swirled the liquid in the cup a few times then said to Elijah, “Hold her.”
Panic shot through me and I tried to scramble off the bed. I had barely moved when Elijah grabbed the sides of my head. I thrashed against him with everything I had, which was too little to ma
ke a difference. Henchman held my arms down with my shackles as Nadia leaned over me with the cup. I clenched my jaw shut, lips pressed together. Siena gripped my jaw with one hand, forcing it open. Tears slid down my temples as Nadia poured whatever was in the cup into my mouth.
I tried to spit it out, but my jaw was shoved closed. My teeth cut through one side of my tongue. Bucking and twisting, I fought them. Henchman let go of my shackles and covered my mouth and nose. I couldn’t breathe until I swallowed. I glared at them as my lungs screamed for air. I held it until my vision dimmed and the world faded and my own body betrayed me by swallowing.
The hand came away from my face and my first breath caught on a sob.
Elijah let go of me and the three Fallen stepped back.
Nadia stood straight. “You need to leave until it is over.”
“We will wait outside.” Elijah inclined his head in Nadia’s direction. “Thank you.”
I curled away from them, tears flowing freely as I willed the darkness to take me. Hoped it would kill me. I didn’t want my baby’s tiny soul to go alone to the river. When the door closed behind the monster that was Elijah, Nadia came and sat on the edge of the bed. I tried to scoot away from her, but the bliss berry still held me in its grip.
“Josephine,” Nadia whispered close to my ear. “What I gave you will not harm your baby or the pregnancy.”
“What?” I rolled enough so I could look at her.
“When Siena showed up here an hour ago, demanding I do this, I was afraid to tell her no. Not because she might have killed me for refusing, but because they would have found someone else and then the gods only know what might have happened. I took one child from him, I will not be party to taking another. What I gave you was plain tea. Hopefully, it buys you enough time.” Nadia smoothed my hair out of my face. “I don’t know how to take the shackles off or I would. And I don’t know what they gave you that made you so ill.”
“Blissy flower woot.” I had trouble forming the words.
Betrayed (Raven Daughter Book 2) Page 25
