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I parked near the entrance to the gynecological clinic, part of the large modern university hospital, turned off the engine, and turned to the three girls.

“I need to know my baby’s gender.”

Until now, I hadn’t cared, because whether this child was a girl or a boy, I would sacrifice everything for it, because it was a part of Erik. Something I wanted to protect at all costs.

However, I couldn't shake the thought that there was a possibility my baby could be a boy because Quentin was a male Water Quatura. If the baby turned out to be a boy, Gloria wouldn't be able to hurt him the way she had hurt me...

My chest trembled with fear.

“You want to have an ultrasound?” Bayla blurted out.

I nodded silently.

Emely... smiled.

“Oh my God! Shall we bet on whether it's a girl or a boy?” Larissa said euphorically, turning to look at Bay.

“Girl,” she replied with a grin directed at Larissa before looking at me.

I returned the smile to hide the pain in my chest.

It was predictable that it would be a girl. Boys were a rarity. And it was wiser to expect the worst.

“Boy,” Larissa declared.

“Larissa, you should back out of this bet, because almost exclusively girls are born to the Quatura,” Emely commented. “That’s why I’m going for the same bet as Bayla.”

Larissa just snorted. “You’ll see.”

“If it’s a boy without magic… will you then...” Bayla began, but paused, and it threw me completely off track.

The probability of it being an ungifted boy was almost zero, since both parents were Quatura and I descended from two powerful bloodlines. But if that were the case and I gave birth to a little human...

“Yes,” I replied without hesitation.

Almost anything out there was better than the Circle, the Councils, or even Blairville. And since I couldn't run away – the way Diana Adams had somehow managed to do with Bayla back then – because I was already being monitored around the clock by countless Quatura, I would have to play by the rules and give my child away.

The thought hurt, and, with growing panic, I put a hand on my stomach.

“What's going on?” Larissa asked, confused.

Emely also sat up attentively in her seat.

“What I explained to you the other day. Boys don't usually carry an element within them. There are exceptions, but they are very rare. You know, my father,” I explained, although my thoughts were already back with Quentin. “After a certain ritual, which determines whether infants without an elemental aura carry an element within them, they are sorted out and eventually taken to orphanages or directly to human foster families.”

Larissa's expression stiffened.

“So, you'd be willing to give your baby away?”

I sighed. “Don't get me wrong, but this world we live in is too dangerous for ordinary mortals.”

Larissa hesitated before slowly nodding.

I knew she had grown up as an orphan. And I didn't want to know how hard that must have been for her. But she didn't know how it was to grow up in the Circle.

“I want to get it over with,” I finally sighed, staring out at the hospital's electric glass door.

“We can't go in there together,” Emely suddenly said.