Between Shadow & Ruin (Fangs & Fae Saga Book 2)

forty-one.

When we got home, we all showered, and I threw the blankets and clothes in the wash. Val and Zane opened a portal to the fae realm and Val ran through to get Celia. I sat on the couch, wringing my hands together, nervous. She emerged about twenty minutes later with Celia at her heels. They closed the portal, and Celia looked around our living room, bewildered.

"Hey, Celia," Chris said. His voice was calm and I needed that energy. He knew I was high strung about this moment.

"Chris. Hi!" she said. "Liz, how are you Madame Magister?" She took my hand in hers.

"Nervous. And Liz is fine, Celia. You don't have to refer to me as Magister..."

"I'm sorry. It's still hard for me to get used to you all not wanting to be called by your formal titles."

"Please, Celia. Sit," Zane said. She took her bag off her shoulder and sat down on the armchair. I could see her looking around at things like the TV and the microwave.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I haven't seen Earth in many Earth years... so I'm just taking it all in, I guess." I nodded. "So... Val tells me you made a tentative decision? On the implantation of the fertilized eggs?"

"Right down to business, here, huh?" I said, trying to crack a joke. I wiped my hands on my legs even though they weren't actually sweaty. I was so nervous. "Y-yeah. I want to know what's going to happen. And how it will work?"

"Well... there will be quite a bit of magic involved. But the procedure itself is pretty easy. After a spell or two, I will place the remaining eggs into your uterus and use magic to help them attach." I could feel my stomach flipping. "If they attach... I'm not sure what will happen. There is one thing working in your favor however that is what even led me to believe this as a possibility."

"What's that?" Chris asked.

"Liz's blood was used in the spell that made Val and Zane immortal, and these eggs were fertilized after the immortality spell was completed. That helps. I think." Celia looked unsure and it didn't help ease any of my nerves, but what she said made sense.

"How?" Zane asked.

"If my blood is already there... they're familiar with me, my blood runs through them, too. It raises the chances it could work, right?" I said.

"Yes, that's pretty much exactly it."

"I've thought about this all night, Celia..."

"It is a lot to think about."

"How – how many eggs are there?"

"Three."

"And – and what are the chances they attach and continue to grow?"

"About forty percent."

"And the chances that I actually give birth to a baby?"

"About fifty percent."

"Those are high possibilities for something that's never been done before," I said. "I'm not trying to be negative, but I want to be realistic. I don't want to get our hopes up..."

"Those numbers are based on normal surrogacy between fae, so maybe not that high. But I can't give you a number as it's never been attempted to my knowledge." None of that helped – I was still on the fence, but ready to jump on the side to go for it. The worst that would happen is that it wouldn't work, and we'd be in no different of a place than we were now. Right?

"Okay. So, I'm a guinea pig. Awesome."

"Liz... you don't have to do this," Val said again.