Harrowing. The sounds that met me, sounds that echoed through our Family Branch and found my ears. Sounds of pain and despair.
Andy.
Eris followed me, racing with me to the source, the chambers opposite mine, the sounds of torture making every hair on my body stand to attention, fear grabbing at my chest and forcing my heart to stop each time she cried out.
I arrived at the doors and threw them back. Andy was laid on the bed, her white night gown covered in blood from her waist down. Her face was pale, her hair wet with sweat and plastered to her skin, her cheeks flushed, her skin hot to the touch as I placed my hand upon her forehead.
"My love. I'm here" I whispered, kissing her head repeatedly.
Her teeth chattered as she tried to speak "Rowan" she said with hardship, her words quiet and her voice hard to hear "I'm so sorry for what I said"
"Shhh my love, save your energy. You don't need to apologise for anything"
I looked around, Bell and our midwife were frantically moving towels and getting ready to assist the baby on her descent.
"I love you" she managed, before another cry of agony shattered both my ear drums and my heart in succession.
"Where is Cassiopeia" I screamed"and should there be so much blood" I asked with panic.
"You had her under house arrest remember" Eris reminded me, accusingly, as she attended to Andy "and no... there should not"
"She is the only one who I trust with this type of birth... she's the only one who's ever seen it done... safely"
I looked around the room panicked, and I called the only name I knew to in a moment of distress "Sycamore"
He arrived instantly "My Queen" and then he saw the scene in front of him and he too panicked to see the blood "oh no... not again"
"Cassiopeia ... now" I shouted urgently.
He nodded once and was gone. He returned only seconds later, Cassiopeia beside him.
"Oh my darling daughter" she cried out, coming to her side and stroking her brow "she's barely conscious. She's bleeding out. Why wasn't I called sooner"
"This all happened quickly" Bell replied, as she held Andy's hand and gathered as much healing energy as she could.
"Fetch the healers" I ordered Sycamore "all of them"
He went in a flash.
The chaos and fraught scene unfolded quickly, and I had Andy sedated by the healers the second they arrived. Each healer in the room sent their energy toward Andromeda, and just like the Aurora borealis they trailed over the bed in green hues towards her bloodied and broken body. Cassiopeia had taken the knife and made the incision across the bottom of the bulging belly that our daughter was soon to emerge from. "I see her" Cassiopeia announced, her last cut sending liquid pouring from Andy's belly, the colour of it a bright illuminous pink and purple. Magic... pouring out of her.
"The Princess is with great magic" Cassiopeia confirmed "but my daughter is haemorrhaging badly..."
We all jumped onto the end of the bed and tried to assist, our gowns all covered in blood. The scene to any onlooker was an absolute blood bath. Andy, despite the healers great attempts, was dying. Her entire body became pale, like every ounce of her blood and magic was departing her, sending her to the after with such speed that the entire room went silent. Helpless. I had never felt such despair. I had all of this power and magic, and yet I didn't have the ability to save my beloved's life.
YOU ARE READING
Jupiter Rising
Fantasy*Completed (July 2024) The Sequel to Rowans Choice. Did it feel over?! No, of course it didn't, because it had only just begun. We've barely even started peeking into the world of Fae and that of the kingdom of Olamoore. Come back with me next tim...
