NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: Losing Hope
>>Aelin
Alishay's gaze softened or at least that was what it looked like.
"Draegon is gravely injured," She said, "He might not make it."
!!!
It felt like someone had swapped the floor from beneath my feet, "What…?" He might not make it? He's going to die? I looked down at my belly.
Then, what will happen to us?
"Draegon's life is tied to the war. If the war continues like this, if the demons keep losing, it could spell the end for him. But if you let them use the child's lifeforce... they can use that energy to restore Draegon's strength."
I looked up at her again, "The-what?" I had never heard of such a thing in my kingdom. "Use the baby's lifeforce to save Draegon?" But then again, I didn't know how demons and their magic worked fully.
"The witch will channel it."
I felt the room start to tilt, my vision blurring as I processed her words. "I... I don't understand. My child... my baby?" My hand gripped my stomach protectively, as if I could shield it from what she was suggesting. "You want the baby's lifeforce to save Draegon's? How will that even work? It's a-baby…"
Alishay's face softened into something that could almost pass for sympathy. Almost. "I know this is hard to understand for a human. But this is a practice that has been performed before and works really well."
"How?"
"The baby is Draegon's isn't it?" She said, "That's a direct blood relative and that's the only thing that can save him."
I shook my head, stepping back as if I could distance myself from the reality she was pushing toward me. "No. I can't... I can't do that. I can't lose my child." If they take the baby's lifeforce, that means she will die, right?
Alishay stepped closer, her voice low, almost soothing. "Aelin, I understand. But you have to understand this, too: If you want Draegon to come back, if you want him to survive, this is the price. This is the only way."
I looked at her in horror, mixed with a heavy sense of confusion
The only way?
I was shaking now, the weight of her words settling on me like a heavy boulder.
Is this the only way?
"Is there really no other way?" I asked
"No," She shook her head, "His injuries are too severe."
Just as the panic began to spiral inside me, Alishay straightened. "I'll leave you to think about it, Aelin. But know that Draegon's future... and your future... depends on what you decide next."
With those final words, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving me standing there, frozen, my breath shallow as I fought to make sense of everything she'd just told me.
I had no answers. I only had this deep, gnawing sense of dread.
***
Weeks passed, and the baby continued to grow inside me. I could feel it now, moving beneath my hands as I lay awake at night. I talked to it in whispers, as she was my only companion in isolation.
It was after Alishay's visit that suddenly two maids started to deliver my food together for some reason. The quantity was increased a little which I found odd but didn't question. I was thankful for it, because the baby needed more nutrition.
I never bothered much about my own eating but since I learned about my pregnancy, I began to take walks, drank more water, and sat by the window for more sunlight as well. The baby was making me do things I never did for myself and I loved it.
But then came the news, the one I had dreaded, the one I had never truly expected.
'Draegon had gone missing.' A maid told me when she came to deliver the food.
The words hit me like a punch to the stomach.
Missing.
The news spread through the palace like wildfire, and with it came the scorn, the pity, the whispers. I I wasn't in the main palace to hear or see the other demons and even though I was glad for that, the maid made sure to deliver the news to me anyway even though they had never done so before.
"Isn't she his wife?" one of the servants whispered as they set the tray on the table, "She can't even do anything,"
"Poor Prince Draegon," another muttered, shaking their head. "To have a wife like her."
"She could save his life but she chose to be selfish,"
It was always whispers, yet loud enough for me to hear. The words were daggers, and every single one cut deep.
I had no answer for them, no defense against their cruel words.
And, somewhere in the back of my mind, the horrible question kept repeating: What if there was no other way? What if I am being selfish and my actions will cause Draegon's death?
I stood there, in the silence of my room, staring at the spot where Alishay had stood days ago. Her words lingered in the air. My heart pounded in my chest, and I could feel the tension in my body—every muscle tight with anxiety.
Draegon's face kept flashing before my mind, followed by the horrific imagination of him lying dead.
I shook my head
No… I can't- I don't want him to die- but, I caressed my seven month pregnant belly, but the baby…
It was torture to make a decision and my only hope my Draegon's return
'It's alright,'
I began to lie to myself
Once Draegon returns all of it would stop. He needs to come back for me and the baby to have a better life, if he's not here, our baby will suffer too. I have to put Draegon first.
I sat on the window sill, looking at my belly, slowly caressing the round shape, "I'm sorry," I whispered, "I'm sorry I have to do this," Tears rolled down my cheeks, "I'm really sorry, mommy loves you a lot but-" I choked, "Daddy needs help."
Draegon has to live. He has to come back to me. He made me a promise.
***
So, in the end, I agreed and Alishay brought the witch to my room. She was a creature I had never seen before. A woman's figure yet she was all black from head to toe and some edges of her body seemed to dissipate like clouds and it looked like she was wearing a dress but I couldn't be sure because it was merged.
The only thing clearly distinct on her body were her golden eyes and those magic patterns on the sides of her cheeks that swirled around her eyes. The patterns on her hands, that extends from her gold fingertips, all the way to her wrists.
I let the witch do her work. She laid me down on my bed, making some weird patterns on my round belly with ink as blank as her.
She whispered incantations, her voice low and eerie as she moved around me, placing her hands over my belly, channeling her power. I barely felt it at first, just a strange tingling, but I was too lost in my thoughts to care.
This was the right thing,
I kept telling myself. This was what Draegon needed. For him, I would endure anything. This child... this life inside me... it was just a 'small' price to pay if it meant Draegon could return.
If he could come home and make everything right. No, he will come and make everything right.
"Please," I whispered to the air, clutching the pendant that hung around my neck. "Come back to me, safely"
And then it happened, the pain got crucifying. I began to scream as it felt like someone was ripping my organs out.
Alishay was the only other person in the room and she didn't move even when I withered in pain and agony.
She simply watched.
When the procedure was over, I found myself panting like a thirty dog but nor the witch, nor the demon princess offered me anything and left. The pain took its time to fade and I couldn't move from the bed for a whole day.
It wasn't until later when I got up to get myself some water did I realized something
The weight in my womb was gone. The baby that had been there a day before was no longer alive. Forget about it being alive, it- vanished.
Like it was never there.
The world tilted beneath me, and I crumpled to my knees. I couldn't breathe. The tears came suddenly, overwhelming, like a flood breaking through a dam. I reached down, as if I could hold the child back, as if I could somehow undo everything.
But there was nothing left. The child was gone, and so was my hope.
I did it for Draegon…
My body began to tremble as I told myself that
I did it for my husband… that I only knew for a day…
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I held my flat stomach through the sobs and the choking breaths.
I did this for him. For us… I did this so he could come back,
To me…