Chapter Ninety-Nine: Time and Place
1849 Words
Rheyes Kerhid Norvig Yarez
“That’s…that’s not possible.”
Rheyes was the first to deny what was presented before them. The reason for that was simple.
He could only sense one child.
From the day they had met to now.
‘Is the other not mine? Had she been with another so quickly after they had entwined in each other?’
‘Is such biology possible?’
If he were to voice his questions, he would only garner looks of incredulity from Sharon, the doctor.
“I can only sense one child!”
He said instead when a slight squeeze from the Countess reminded him that she still held his hand…that he still held her shoulder.
‘Were her shoulders always this small?’
The was something about the paleness spreading across her face.
“Hmm, that must be….”
The doctor began moving the crystal on the Countess’s belly.
“This one, right?”
She pointed to the foetus that looked as though it had a tail?
“I don’t know which one it is with specificity. I just- I only sense one child. Does that mean the other is not mine?”
The doctor laughed.
But the Countess, on the other hand, understanding what he insinuated, dropped the hold on his hand and pushed it off her shoulder as though she were brushing dirt away.
It was odd.
He was not the least bit remorseful for his question, but his hand missed her warmth.
“No, it simply means the other is of another species entirely. Dragons can only recognise their own, but the biological reproductive system holds its integrity. My only concern is human genes cannot give you a tailed child. So, I believe there may have been some embellishments on the forms I asked you to fill.”
“What are you saying?”
The Countess was the one to ask the next question.
‘Is she trying to brush off the embellishment part?’
“To clarify, I mean to say, humans do not give birth to purebloods.”
It was his turn to still.
“But…I am not a pure-blooded hydra. Nor is she a dragon?”
‘Was that the part she lied about on the forms? Is the Countess a dragon?’
‘But…but he would have sensed it if she was.’
“I know that, darling,”
Sharon responded quickly and drew his attention to the screen.
“But this child is. I have delivered plenty of interspecies and pure births. I can tell with a glance that one is purely a dragon, which is odd considering its parental pairings, while the other is completely devoid of any other dominant gene that I know of. They look…well, they look human.”
“What is the gender of the one that looks ‘human’, can you tell?”
The Countess’s questions were dissimilar to the ones he asked.
She did not seem to care if the gene inheritance was distorted, meaning only one thing.
‘She knows more than I do.’
An uncomfortable feeling settled in his belly.
‘Should I request a paternity test?’
“Just one second.”
The doctor moved the crystal around in search of something, so he used the opportunity to bend to the Countess’s ear.
“What are you?”
It was not what he wanted to ask, he wanted to ask, what she was hiding, but somehow that also felt appropriate.
‘What could you be now that the doctor has ascertained on my behalf that you are not human?’
“I am Pregnant; why?”
“I am serious, Countess. I am in no mood for your quipped tongue.”
“Oh, boo! I rehearsed my act just for you.”
Despite the effortless way she answered, her tone was shakey.
“It’s a girl!”
Sharon interrupted his following retort with her announcement.
“Both genders on your first pregnancy! Isn’t that something!!”
A low hum settled in his stomach; perhaps it wasn’t the best time to celebrate when he wanted to ask for paternity..but the tiny bundles of mass on the screen, moving and wriggling around, somehow looked…warm.
The Countess, on the other hand, looked anything but settled.
She took an audible breath, brought her hand to her mouth and clenched her balled fists to whiteness.
“Doctor, can you give us the room?”
He found himself asking.
He had not been with her long, but for some reason, an image of her in the auction hall flashed in his mind.
‘Would she try to run from me again?’
“In a few moments.”
She answered quickly, putting away the crystal and handing the Countess wipes to clean the fluid on her stomach before continuing.
“To determine the best means of birth and medication to prescribe because, in your form, you cannot birth or gestate a full dragon; their scales could kill you; I need mummy’s race: the real one, this time. You noted down ‘human’ on the form, but human genetic coding does not behave in this manner. If anything, both foetuses would have been closer to humans than a dragon.”
The Countess fiddled with her hands and swallowed.
She paused for a moment too long as though she was debating giving the doctor the information she sought after.
After reaching a conclusion, she finally answered.
“I am a nymph.”
“A nymph?”
The doctor’s shocked expression could not be contained as she repeated the Countess’s words.
“I thought those were mythical.”
The doctor’s remarks took the sentiments right from his tongue.
“That is not in the least bit reassuring.”
“I am sorry, I only know one nymph, and she is on a different continent. Plus, she…well, you cannot mistake her for anything else. She is green and has leaves sprouting from her body. Whereas you…”
“Is it possible to get in touch with her professional team?”
“It certainly is, but it would be easier if you were to hold council before that. I am certain she would be eager to meet one much like herself.”
The Countess turned to him for the first time since they entered the room.
Gods, he had almost forgotten how green her eyes were.
“What do you think? Should we invite them to Kranis or visit them?”
“I will inquire from Stanley what my current schedule allows. With the current political situation, I don’t have breathing room.”
“I could always go to the continent with my aide? Breca, you know…maroon hair?”
“I know who she is. No, ‘Breca’ is not the father.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Fine. But I also have someone you can work with, she is headed to Cursix, but they should be in Kranis by mid-winter.”
“Is this the same one that told you the gender of one child as though that was the only one you would birth? The one without qualifications?”
He questioned.
“If you must specify that crudely, then…yes. They may have told me the gender of one, but were they wrong?”
“They could have been right either way! There was no way they would have been wrong!”
“You are not helping the situation; they know more about nymphs than you do!”
“Oh…without proper education? I doubt they even know how to spell the word!”
“Alright, mummy and daddy, no more arguments.”
The doctor interjected.
“Daddy, you are stressing mummy; mummy, you cannot afford to heighten your blood pressure! So if you converse, I want you to use only statements beginning with ‘I feel’. If your partner does not use that phrase, disregard their words.”
Before the doctor’s words settled, Arusei turned to him.
“I feel like…I feel… Rheyes…I can’t- I feel as though I cannot do this.”
The room suddenly turned silent.
“I will prescribe some prenatal vitamins, do some research, and look into the Nymph in Cursix. They are nobility, so I will need company from either of you or someone with a suitable standing. For now, I will excuse myself. I shall see both of you next in Kranis.”
Without another word, the door clicked shut, and they were alone.
“What do you mean you cannot do this? I thought I told you past two weeks abortion becomes near impossible!”
“Eh, calm down. You are not speaking to an undisciplined child. You are talking to a woman who is five seconds away from erasing everything and restarting at the ball!”
Before he could question the meaning of her response, a tear fell from her eyes, and his heart tugged most oddly.
“So.”
She wiped the tear from her face roughly and then stood from the hospital bed.
“You’d better use ‘I feel’ sentences henceforth. If I panic and feel more frightened than I do now, there is a chance that….”
She did not complete her sentence.
He wanted to laugh, to ask if that was her version of a threat when he could damn well scour the continent to find what was his. It would be time consuming, but she should know his level of dedication through his proposal.
He would sooner tear apart her land to watch her crawl from where she would hide.
He opened his mouth.
But… a particular uncertainty he couldn’t get rid of gnawed at him. So he closed his mouth once more and thought more clearly of what to say.
“I feel as though you did not comprehend what I meant when I said that eliminating a child at this stage is-”
“That was when it was one!”
She responded quickly.
“That was when we thought I had one child! Do you not get it! We would be ruining two lives!”
“ ‘Ruining?’ where is this coming from? I feel like there is something you are not telling me.”
“And I fear that you are correct, but that is not the point! Rheyes, I feel that we can’t get married. We can’t do this! I do not want to drag them into a political mess!”
“I don’t understand.”
He responded.
“Rheyes, we are just kids ourselves; we had a one night stand! It shouldn’t change our lives; it shouldn’t lead to this! None of this is planned or wanted! This… isn’t it! It was just a mistake! It shouldn’t…ruin our lives!”
She pressed her hand to her belly.
“It should not ruin their lives either!!”
He had never seen her in this light.
The Oakwood Hero. Whitmore’s Green Angel. The devils’ ivy. The war hero countess. The Belladonna of Clay.
None of the nicknames she had garnered from the locals suited the wildness of her vulnerability.
A vulnerability that only he could see. One that was entirely his…
- Writer
