Rule as Equals (Meant to Be My Balance #2)

Chapter 6

I didn't think I stopped crying after Aleksander left. Or before, but when he walked out with a kiss to my cheek, they came harder. His promises fell too short.

"It'll be okay," he said, but I had never felt pain like that.

"Everyone is safe," he said, but there was a war at our doorstep and my powers weren't coming back.

"I love you," he said, but how would he feel if my powers were gone forever, my immortality stripped?

"I'm going to get someone to help you," he said, but no one could help me.

I closed my eyes and either a few minutes or a few hours later, I felt soft hands at my body, a damp towel against my forehead. I barely processed the bile that crept up my throat, the dinner I emptied into a bucket by my bed while the healer helped the water sink into my skin, mumbling about dehydration.

"What is it?" I barely recognized the voice I knew inside and out because it was so raspy and pained, like he had been crying too and hadn't really stopped.

The healer looked up and I blinked blearily until I could make out the concern on her face. "It's too soon to tell if my suspicions are right."

"They are," another voice said, this one as calm and stern as ever. Baghra. She spent most of her time in the hut, having given little care to the Darkling's company after he stole her eye. Her presence here was... new.

"Then tell me," Aleksander growled.

Baghra laughed. "You can't figure it out for yourself, boy? I taught you better than that. Sense the life in her."

"Her heart is beating the same as it does every day," he said lowly. He had to have delved deep into his powers to be able to listen to my heart. It was normally an ability limited to Corporalki but Aleksander had learned there was little that couldn't be done when you were blessed by Morozova, when you had access to everything in the universe. And if you looked closely enough, you could attain access to the making at the heart of the world.

"Miss, it may only be a—" the healer began to say, but Baghra cut her off with a raised hand.

"See for yourself if your arrogance has any merit." She gestured to me and Aleksander took my limp, clammy hand and breathed deeply in and out. With a muffled sound, he pulled back sharply, his gaze cutting between me and my stomach.

"It's too small," he said. "It's nothing."

"Ordinarily, too small for even the most skilled Healers to detect," Baghra acquiesced. "Nothing more than a cluster of cells. But this is the product of two immortals—unless of course Alina had an affair with—"

"Shut your mouth, old woman," Aleksander rasped, but his eyes hadn't left me since he held my hand.

"I don't understand," I murmured, barely following the conversation.

"The baby has changed the making at the heart of the world. It is a crease in the fabric of reality, more significant than any other existence. It is growing in her belly and what your wife felt an hour ago was the universe folding in on itself to make room for this development."

The baby. The baby. The baby. I can't think. The baby.

"That's not possible, I've been giving her the tea every day. I promised her." His jaw clenched. "I promised her we'd wait."

"It's herbs, not magic, stupid boy," Baghra spat out. "You think I wanted you? I'd been drinking five cups a tea a day, but you were a stubborn bastard and so is this one."

He stared at me, eyes watering up again. "Will she be okay?"

Baghra shook her head. "I'm telling you about the universe changing and you're worried about a girl?" At whatever fierce gaze Aleksander sent her, she shook her head. "She will be fine, the baby will be fine, and the universe will mold itself around the three of you. Nature shifts, as is its way. It is painful, but temporary." She looks at Aleksander with raised eyebrows. "How do you think I gave birth to you? Alina's parents to her?"