Silence Reigns

Epilogue

Five Months Later

A scream pierced the night, and Erielle realized it was her own.

"Breathe, milady, just breathe."

It was cold in the room, but she felt as if she were on fire.

"Where's Ransom? Where is my husband?" Her body was tearing itself apart.

"Right outside the door," the midwife replied. "Do you want him to come in?"

"No—no. Aaaaaah!" She bore down as another contraction seized her.

"They're coming faster. Get me more cloths and hot water." The midwife leaned toward Erielle as her assistant hurried off. "I need you to breathe, and when I say push, push. Got it?"

Gritting her teeth, Erielle nodded. She tried to breathe. Gods, how could they expect her to breathe when there was a monster cutting off all her oxygen?

"You're doing great," the midwife said. She thanked her assistant when she brought more supplies. "Ready?"

Erielle nodded.

"Push!"

She pushed, screaming as another searing pain ripped through her.

"Push!"

Again she pushed. The pain released, and she fell back against the pillows. She didn't care what happened next. It was over.

"I never want to do that again," she gasped.

Then her ears picked up the sound of tiny crying, and she lifted her head, drenched with sweat. There was a tiny life form in the arms of the midwife, and it was wriggling and colored red. As the midwife handed it to her, a smile spread over her face. It was so ugly, yet so beautiful.

"You have a son," the midwife said with pride. "An heir."

A son. An heir. A son.

"Tell the king he can come in now," said the midwife to her assistant.

Erielle broke out of her reverie when Ransom burst through the door of the midwifery, face etched with worry. But once he saw the child in her arms, his face softened, and his eyes lit up with unshed tears.

As the midwife and her assistant tended to her, she lifted her head and smiled weakly at him. "You have a son, Ransom."

A grin broke his face as he approached almost warily, and as if he were afraid to break him, Ransom tentatively reached out a hand. Erielle placed the baby in his arms.

Ransom's strong, well-built figure made the baby seem like a child's toy, as the baby was smaller than his large forearm, lost amid his broad torso. Weary from the exertion, Erielle laid a hand on his arm. He tenderly stroked the child's face, but there was something fierce in his expression. One would never suspect that the child was not biologically his. The way he claimed him as his own was warming.

"He has your hair," Ransom murmured.

"And your eyes and nose," she said.

He met her gaze and they shared a small smile.

Someone cleared her throat beside them. Erielle noticed the midwife in what seemed to be an eternity.

"What will you name the child?"

Erielle gazed down at her son, tracing the lines of his face with her eyes, stroking his soft ruddy hair. Then, looking at Ransom, she smiled; they seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Bernard. We'll name him Bernard."  

Ransom nodded as he looked at her with everything she had ever seen in his soul.  "Prince Bernard."