The Raven's Source

Chapter 41 - Bad Ideas

Nikola stretched and sat up in her bed, the skies still dark but she could tell the sun was about to come up. She found herself a little angry that Cerno tricked her into getting sedated but sighed, realizing it was the best night of sleep she had gotten in a long time. The only thing that would have made it a perfect sleep was if she had waken up with Leena in her full-sized arms. She crawled out of bed and slowly made her way down the hall, slipping into Leena's dark moonlit bedroom.

"What are you doing out of bed, young lady?" Leena's voice was quiet as she spoke.

"Did I wake you? I'm sorry," she replied, walking over and crawling into the bed with her, snuggling up into her arms.

"I had gotten up to use the bathroom, was just dozing back off," she said. Nikola could hear the soft smile in her voice as Leena wrapped her arms around her.

Nikola suddenly felt her eyes welling up and she buried her face against Leena.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Leena asked in a whisper, feeling her sadness and pulling her tightly against her. "Tell me."

"They think you're not going to make it," Nikola whimpered.

Leena chuckled, "I'm not."

"No, I don't mean full term. I meant your life," she clarified, her small fist grabbing a handful of Leena's night shirt and holding tightly as a sob escaped her.

"I'm not," she repeated more quietly. She looked down at Nikola who froze and gently brushed hair out of her face.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because no secrets, no lies. I'm going to do everything I can for our children," she said, pulling her close again. She leaned back as the small child suddenly turned adult-sized and pulled her to himself instead.

"You can't leave me. You promised," he said, sadness and pain in his voice.

"These babies are so important to our family, I will do anything to make them happen."

"Leena, I need you more," he whispered as he cried. "If Lydia feels they need to be delivered this early for your safety and they don't survive, then I'll step up and carry our next, but I can't let something happen to you to chance their survival. That's not how this works. I can't have a family if I don't have you."

"But if they survive, then yo—"

"And if they don't?" he interrupted. "What then?"

Leena froze and looked up at Shej, she could see the blue shining in the faint moonlight behind the glossiness from his tears.

After a few moments of tense silence, he rolled back flat onto his back and he stared up at the ceiling. "Leena, my father is coming after you today. I refuse to protect you if you're going to let me lose you in the next weeks regardless."

She sat up as far as she could on her own and looked down at him, studying him as his hands went up to his face. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying if you don't take your life as the priority, then I'm leaving Saorsa," he said as he sits up and hangs his legs back over the edge of the bed, turning his back to her. "Father thinks I'm dead. I can change my appearance, my name...and be gone. Sheja Milana Angevin could truly rest in power today during her funeral."

"You can't leave," Leena argued, her own voice getting shaky.

"I can't stay here and watch you die."

"We've come this far, Shej. I—"

"I won't watch you die, Leena," he interrupted again, this time with more force behind his words. "Not by my father's hands, and sure as shit not by mine. I'll be at fault if you die."