“We’ll name it later. The point is that this is the closest thing I have to a cure. It’snota cure, but it can combat the effects of the curse temporarily. It was too late for the others. Maybe it’s not too late for Irina.”
“Why don’t you administer it then?”
“I don’t think it’s my place.” Lily’s gaze flicked to Silas, like they shared a secret. She shoved the vial into my hands. “This now belongs to you.”
Before I could question her, Silas said, “Alessia, a word?”
I strode out of the room after him, into the kitchen, which Millie evacuated with one look at the two of us.
“You’re wondering why you’re here.” The way Silas spoke was a statement. “Well, this is why.”
Silas handed over a piece of paper to me. It was browned at the edges, stiff cardstock that was more like a business-card than a scrap of paper as I’d first thought.
I read, my forehead furrowing as I struggled to understand the script.
When all feels lost,
She will emerge.
“This doesn’t mean anything to me,” I said. “What is it?”
“A prophecy,” Silas said hoarsely.
“You think I’m...” My finger pointed at the wordShe. “That’s ridiculous.”
“All feels pretty damn lost,” he said. “The wards won’t hold much longer. And if they lapse, it is the end of us. All of us.”
Silas paused, and almost as if to punctuate the point, Irina screamed from one room over.
“Turn it over,” he said. “There’s more.”
Her powers will activate upon belief.
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“You need to believe. In yourself. In this island. In your place here.”
“But—”
“Do you feel like you belong?” Silas demanded an answer of me, his voice bordering on harsh.
“Yes,” I said without thinking. “Yes, I do.”
Silas put his fingers under my chin, tipped my head up. “Then believe. For Irina, and her baby. For yourself.”
I rushed back into the other room, tucking the card into the pocket of my dress. Irina had regained consciousness.
“What a relief,” I said. “Her color is better.”
But Lily’s lips were stiff. I followed her gaze.
The black lines were spreading. Down the pearly-white skin of Irina’s legs, up her arms, onto her neck.
I swallowed hard, then talked my way calmly through a set of standard checks to make sure that Irina was actually in labor. She most definitely was, which was a good thing. We didn’t have long to save both the baby and Irina, and the sooner we could get the baby out, the better.
“It’s time to deliver the baby.”
Lily nodded, looking like she was fighting back tears.
