I slept and dreamed, but the dream wasn’t gentle. Voices tugged me awake — a man and a woman arguing so close I felt the heat of their fight though I couldn’t see them.
“I don’t want it! Get rid of it!” the man snarled. “I chose you — not that disgusting thing growing inside you! Either you lose it, or we’re done!”
The woman’s sobs were raw and small. “I will leave,” she whispered through her tears. “No one will ever bring this back to you. I’ll make sure of it myself.”
Pain ripped through the dream as a scream cut the night. Then, after unbearable silence, a baby began to cry — a thin, urgent sound that split something open inside me. A voice, ancient and familiar as my own blood, echoed around me.
“Wake up, child of mine. I have been waiting for you.”
When my eyes opened, I wasn’t i
