It’s over.
“No, moonlight, you did it,”Nalena says and though she tries to hide it, tiredness seeps into her voice.
She’s so weak.
I waited too long.
In an instant, Claire appears beside Hera, wiping away the crimson traces of birth from the creature’s face as it continues to pierce my ears with its shrill cry.
“A daughter,” Hera says, her brows creasing.
Propping myself up onto my elbows, I stare daggers at the birthing maid.
“What do you meandaughter?” I snarl the question.
Hera shifts, her long, gnarled fingers curling around the infant’s chest as she thrusts the creature toward me. I shy away with a grimace.
She speaks truth.
I’ve delivereda daughter.
My bewilderment swiftly slides into the darkest pits of dread.
A damp, curled mass of silver sits atop her head. The same shade as mine. No horns. No scales. No glistening skin harder than obsidian. The infant balls her fists, clutching them near her pinched face as she continues to scream. Tiny fingers. Not tiny talons.
Hera continues to hold the creature on display.
“Turn her over,” I demand, unwilling to believe what I’m seeing.
Hera listens, bearing the newborn’s backside.
No tail.
Instead, two tiny, featherless wings. She has wings…
She’s not a demon.
Or at least… she doesn’tlooklike a demon.
Shelookslikeme.I’ve given birth to a tiny replica… I don’t understand… what kind of cursed magic is this? Netharis must have known—he must have influenced this, he—
“She is your mirror,” Hera says, her voice so soft it’s almost a whisper.
Resentment crushes my dread as she wraps the creature in white, and sways her gently to soothe the screams. Silent, hot tears stream down my cheeks as I stare at the impossible thing that’s been pulled from my flesh.
“Would you like to hold her?” Claire asks, forcing a smile onto her face.
“No,” I answer, and her brows raise with my acidic tone. “You invite me to hold a monster—a demon—athingthat shouldn’t walk among the living.”
She’s an abomination that shouldn’t exist.
Concerned shock sears across Claire and Tessa’s faces as they step back, cradling the monstrosity between them. They don’t know. They don’t understand what I’ve done. How I’ve likelydamnedthe realms.
But Hera… Hera knows.
This changes everything.
And yet changes nothing.
