Carti shook her head, grimacing at the motion. "But I still have the rest of my water bottle. It's in the car."
"Go get it," Lian told the husband.
Without a question, the man tore off out of the lab.
"I think you've been poisoned. Your child isn't big enough to be born yet so we're going to change its mind," Lian said, using his best bedside voice.
Lian talked the woman into relaxing as they waited for her husband.
Keeping his hand on her stomach he monitored the baby's progress. "I think she's willing to listen to reason," he said with a smile.
"We're having a girl?" The man had quickly returned with the bottle and handed it over to Lian.
Lian grimaced. "Sorry, I didn't know you weren't aware it's a girl. What's your name?"
"Davin." He clumsily shook Lian's hand.
"Nice to meet you." Davin's DNA had showed up as one hundred percent human.
It only took a second for Lian to determine the water as the source of Carti's contamination. His inner eye saw hundreds of the poisonous droplets spinning around in the bottle. "Where did you get this bottle from?" It was a clear glass bottle, the kind people refilled.
"F-from the d-delivery service," Davin stuttered, stress causing him to stumble across his words. "Please, can you help my wife?"
"Yes." Lian set the bottle down. The source could be investigated after he purged Carti of the poison.
He lifted her shirt up just enough to expose her rounded midriff. "I'm going to heal you and then I want you to tell me everything you know about this water."
Carti nodded. Lian figured she would probably agree to anything to save her child. If it were his, he knew he'd want to. Lian placed his fingers on Carti's stomach. The procedure would take more finesse than he generally used. Too much magic could kill the fetus and possibly ruin any chance of Carti getting pregnant again. Too little, and the poison would succeed in killing the child. From what he could tell, the toxin only affected dragonkin because if Davin drank the same water it didn't show in his body.
"This might hurt a bit," Lian warned.
"I don't care, fix me!" Carti's voice, her terror stark and sharp, stabbed at Lian's heart.
"I'll do my best," he promised.
Closing his eyes, Lian focused a pinpoint of power across Carti's stomach destroying the poison droplets with surgical precision. It was almost like playing a retro video game where little beams of light annihilated the intruders, except in this case, the possibility of failure could lead to the death of two living beings.
Sweat beaded on Lian's forehead and dripped down his cheeks as he concentrated.
Carti gasped at the heat from his touch.
"It's too much," she whimpered.
"Hang in there," Lian whispered. "I'm doing this as fast as I can."
An eternity strung across a few short minutes and Lian's body trembled as the collection of muscles in his spine protested their stillness. In one breath-stealing moment, the small fetus's heart stopped beating. Fortunately, a gentle push from Lian had it speeding along again. When he finally opened his eyes he felt like he'd aged ten years.
"You're poison free," he finally got out.
Tears filled Carti's eyes. "And the baby?"
"She's fine." He didn't mention that second of heart failure, the mother didn't need to know that.
A hard grip on his shoulder turned his attention to Davin. "Thank you. My family owes you a debt I know we'll never be able to pay."
Lian wondered how many times he'd have to relive this scene. The dragonkin were a grateful bunch, but he didn't want anyone to feel they should pay him back. "The goddess gave me a gift, I'm happy to return the favor."
Relief and joy crossed both their faces. "She might have given you the gift but I know many who'd be happy to take advantage of people in order to use it," Davin said.
