Page 23 of Fate of the Fallen
That answer … it drew every ounce of air right out of the room. My eyes stretched wide before blinking more than what felt natural in the few seconds it took to realize I hadn’t misheard.
“Th … three? But I’ve already surpassed the first month,” I stuttered.
Meaning, three months could now be two, inching dangerously close to one.
A sympathetic hug went around my shoulders. “I know this is all a lot to take in, but you’re more than capable of handling it,” she assured me once again.
My reaction had less to do with whether I was physically suited for the task, and more to do with the state of our lives. If I had a more reasonable stretch of time before I was at my most defenseless, I could have been of some use in this fight. However, if this ‘cresting’Elise spoke of were to actually happen to me, it was only a couple weeks away. If that time came, if my body sided with my dragon, I wouldn’t be any good toanyone.
I’d be a liability.
My family’s Achilles heel.
“I was afraid you’d panic,” Elise whispered when I did just that. Panicked.
Frantic tears threatened to fall and I felt my heart beating triple time.
“There’s just … so much to figure out,” I panted. “So much to get straight before the…” I couldn’t even say the word.
Baby—there was so much to get straight before the baby got here.
Just thinking it now, knowing how quick this process could be, I was overcome with dread. Saying that word out loud would have made it real, would force me to face the fact that the timing of it all couldn’t have been worse.
A foreign instinct jolted me, one I neither invited nor welcomed. It was brought on by the acknowledgement that this world we lived in was too unstable for deep connections—like the one formed between mother and child. It all felt like one big, cruel joke—to be immortal, and yet so finite. The little one I carried … he or she only made an already bitter pill that much more difficult to swallow.
I didn’t want to love anyone else. Not when losing that love was such a great possibility. But I knew those feelings for him or her would come regardless of whether I welcomed them or not. And when they did, I also knew it would be unlike anything else I’d ever known.
“Evangeline?”
Hearing my name pulled me from my thoughts to meet Elise’s stare. When I did, it became clear our deep conversation about life and motherhood was about to take a sharp turn.
“I’ve been thinking,” she blurted. “Especially with what’s gone on with Ivan, with how quickly things can go terribly wrong,” she rambled. “And … you can’t stay here. It’s imperative that we get you someplace safe.”
My eyes stretched wide with her suggestion.
“Now you sound like Liam,” I remarked.
“That doesn’t surprise me. He’s always been wise, intuitive when it comes to looking after you,” she replied.
I breathed deep, wondering ifanyonewas on my side when it came to how I saw things.
“Next thing I know, you’ll suggest I be assigned a …keeper,”I sighed. “Which is basically just a glorified babysitter.”
“They were common in days past. I, myself, was assigned one, but traded her for Hilda,” Elise shared. “While that’s not the worst idea in the world, having someone watch over you still wouldn’t be as effective as taking you someplace safe.”
“And leave you all to act as some sacrificial firewall when Sebastian storms this place looking for me?” I shot back.
“Hilda already placed more sigils on the house, the property,” she rattled off. Her posture was poised as usual when she said more. “The rest of us will do what we’ve always done. We’ll fight, we’ll survive, but we can’t risk exposing you to whatever tactics Sebastian employs next,” she insisted.
I kept my expression even, unreadable. “Hilda can do whatever she wants to the house, the land, but I won’t leave here.”
A strange sense of belonging filled me to the brim as I stood my ground. I felt downright territorial over this town I once couldn’t stand the thought of calling home, but it was exactly that. My home. I wouldn’t let Sebastian or anyone else run me away from it.
Elise didn’t argue, but there was no missing the fearful expression she couldn’t hide.
“Evangeline, it’s honorable that you want to stay, that you want to stand in solidarity with your people, but … under these circumstances, no one would think any less of you if you allowed us to take extra precautions,” she insisted. “Especially for the baby’s sake.”
It would have been so easy to run like they suggested, so easy to use my newly discovered condition as an excuse to get away from it all, pretend none of it existed, but I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to sit this one out and it had nothing to do with anyone’s judgement. I couldn’t have cared less what others outside these four walls thought of me, my family. It came down to me not being willing to stand by while the ones I loved fell, all because they wanted to protect me.