Chapter Twenty One
Thalia
“Ah! God, it hurts!” I grabbed onto my pillow and clenched my teeth. It had been two hours and the damn epidural had worn off about five minutes ago. I had really hoped that it last, but it didn’t.
“You’re only five centimeters dilated,” Doc said as he checked me. I groaned with the news. I was done. I was ready to have these babies, likenow.
“ You’re doing good, babe, just keep breathing.” Lacey was trying to help me but she didn’t really know what to say beyond that. I tried to control my breathing, knowing that it helped when I was calmer.
I could hear the swords clashing, and groans of rage and agony coming from outside. I knew it was a complete war zone out there. I only hoped we were winning. It seemed like this labor was not going to be a very quick one.
“Remember the time we stayed up all night watchingThe Vampire Diariesand pigged out on pizza?”
I looked at Lacey, trying to figure out why she was bringing this up now.
“Just talk to me.” She urged me with her eyes, and I tried to remember that night through the pain.
“Yeah, that was fun. We did each other’s makeup and hung out in our pajamas.” I smiled, thinking of that moment. We had fun together.
Thinking of something else was helping.
“When I first saw Tristan in my dream, I thought he looked like Damon from the show,” I laughed, thinking about it. Lacey started to giggle along with me.
“I guess he does, in that sort of bad boy, dark hair, dark eyes thing he’s got going on.” The laughter was easing my pain, and the next time the doctor check me it seemed like relaxing was helping to progress my dilation. Things were moving along much better.
Then we heard the sounds of fighting inside the house. All of us turned towards the open door. Lacey raced over and shut it forcefully, though I couldn’t see how that would help. There was no lock on the door. I guess Tristan never thought to add locks. We heard voices and cries of pain.
“That’s Leander!” Lacey yelped, frozen next to me. All good feelings fled us, and now all we had was worry, needing to know that our men were okay.
The door suddenly flew open, and Leander fell to the ground with a man on top of him, holding a blade to his neck.
“Leander!” Lacey cried out and the attacker looked up. His mistake. He lost his edge over Leander, who took advantage and struck with a knife he pulled out of his boot. Blood spurted everywhere until finally, he went limp, and Leander pushed him off his body.
Lacey left my bedside again, but this time to run into Leander’s arms. He was covered in red sand and blood.
“Is he?” I choked out, not willing to finish my sentence. Thankfully, he knew what I needed to hear.
“He’s alive. We’re going to win.” He smiled and I felt hope. The babies would be safe for now, and Tristan was alive and fighting. I looked at Lacey, and she met my smile with one of her own.
In that moment, time seemed to slow. Orion walked in, his face hard as stone as he noticed movement to my right. A man had crawled up onto the balcony and had thrown a black blade. Orion and Leander’s faces were twisted with fear. I saw the blade coming straight for me, and realized this was the end of my children—for I would survive, but they wouldn’t.
A hard force knocked me back into the mattress. When I looked up, Orion’s face hovered above mine.
“Orion.” His name was barely audible from my lips. Tears started to form as I looked down to see my swollen belly still smooth and unharmed. Oh no.
“No, no. Orion.” Blood started to drip from his lips, but he kept his eyes on mine. I heard a scuffle behind me and I knew Leander had taken down the man on the balcony. He reached up with a shaky arm and pulled the knife out of his back.
“Orion.” I couldn’t do anything but whisper his name. He tried to smile for me.
“I’ve come full circle.” He closed his eyes, accepting what was to come. I wasn’t though. Somehow this man, that was once the enemy, became a friend. He protected me and my family, literally willing to die for us. I could never repay him for that.
His body collapsed and his eyes opened, finding mine.
“You saved us,” I told him, hoping that he would find peace in that. My cheeks were covered by the tears that were running down, falling onto his chest as I covered his body with mine.
“Anything for you,” he whispered. I started to cry harder when his own tears started to leak out of the corners of his eyes. Doing the only thing I could for him that I knew, I leaned in and pressed my lips to his, mixing my tears with the blood coating them. I felt his pain, then a little flicker of love that he held for me. I burst into sobs as I felt him fade away. I couldn’t control the emotions that were running through me. I was devastated to lose him, and his sacrifice was overwhelming to me, making me clench his shirt as I tried so hard to will him back to life with my cries.
“Get out of the room!” the doctor yelled to the others, but I was so emotionally gone I didn’t understand why he told them that. As soon as they left, men that were not our allies rushed into the room, and I lost it.
Screaming so hard that the whole room vibrated, my body filled with immense power that was like a bomb, ready to explode. They did this. It was all because of them that this was happening to me. I cried so hard that I felt the power inside me snap, sending out a wave of energy that immediately turned all who surrounded me to ash. The machines all popped, and everything was gone. Powers from the babies that they gained from their father and my own had mixed. Now all electric and living objects around me were dusty piles on the floor. I looked down at Orion, eyes opened but lifeless.
“Thank you,” I told him, even though he would never hear me. My tears kept flowing and I couldn’t stop the emotions inside me from flowing out.
