The Stains of the Crown

Chapter Thirty Five

Trigger warnings: fear of miscarriage, traumatic nightmares, conversation about nightmare containing suicide.

Fear floods my body. All I can respond with is a nod. I feel tears on my face, and I find myself praying to gods I wasn't sure I believed in. She grabs my hand, leading me through the castle. At some point, Vix and Finley join us. Finley picks me up, carrying me through the halls as I cry. I can hear them speaking to me, but I can't make sense of it. It didn't matter what they were saying, anyways. The only thing that mattered was whether or not the baby was okay.

"Echodis, can you hear me?" someone asks, shining a bright light in my eyes. I nod. The light pulls back, giving me a view of a tall elvish man in a white lab coat. The doctor. "We're going to run a few tests, okay?" I nod again. Finley grabs my hand. Vix sits in the corner, her legs bouncing up and down like she was on the verge of a panic attack or something.

"It's going to be okay," Finley says.

"No," I say, wiping at my tears, "don't tell me that. Tell me literally anything else, please?" She nods, seeming to understand that what I needed now was a distraction, not false hope.

"Okay, um... Sevas recommended this book about humans back when we first got here. It's written from the perspective of the last human. She was born months after the war started and grew up in hiding. She ended up with a group of Ioni when she was younger. She said they were cursed by the gods for refusing to kill her. The Ioni apparently switched sides at that point and began fighting against the other magical species. They would've won if the gods hadn't stepped in and wiped out all but two. So those two and the human were forced to go back into hiding even after all the other humans were wiped out."

"Why?" I ask, wincing as the doctor presses gently on my stomach.

"Why were they stuck in hiding for so long?" I nod. "At first, it was because they had no way of knowing if the war was over. Then, the human had a baby with one of the Ioni. They couldn't risk his safety, especially after they legalized killing any human mixes. But by the time he was old enough to find a mate, they'd already killed all known mixes. But she had to stay in hiding until she died. Anyways, he had several mates like the other Ioni, and had a few kids. One of them ended up becoming a king. But one of his other kids had more human DNA, and looked human. After she was killed in what he believed was a hate crime, he managed to convince the other kings to outlaw killing mixes of any kind."

"That's really interesting," I say. I mull over her words as I watch the doctor work. I think about how awful it would be to spend your life in hiding. But then I catch Vix from the corner of my eye, still tapping her foot, but looking way paler than she should. "Vix, you don't have to stay here."

"Yes, I do." I just shrug, sure she'd be sick any moment.

"Why did you get involved?" Vita asks softly. "I had it handled." I can see the guilt on her face. She blamed herself.

"Because, Vita, you're important to me. And if I hadn't stepped in, it would be you here, instead."

"But your baby-"

"Vita, please, I'm trying really hard not to think about it." She sighs, nodding. A moment of silence passes before Jovi runs in. She has a cut above her eyebrow and her hands are a bit torn up.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"I'm not sure there's been a decision on that score." She hums, sitting in one of the free chairs. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Damia... might not be," she says in a tone I can't decipher. It crosses my mind that maybe she couldn't decipher how to feel about it.

"Where is she?" Vita asks.