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“What? What is it?”

“Wait a minute...”

The doctor raised her free hand, indicating with a focused look and without looking at me that I should lie back down, and I obeyed, lying back down and letting her continue to move the ultrasound device over my abdomen.

Panic rushed through my entire body.

I felt Emely stroke my hand more intensely, but the worry in my stomach doubled, creeping suffocatingly up my throat.

“Do you see this?” She pointed to the screen again, but I couldn't see anything. “That explains the strange heartbeat.”

“Is there a problem?” Emely asked.

The doctor turned to us. She... smiled.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?!

“Quite the contrary.” She removed the ultrasound probe from my stomach, and the screen kept playing the recordings. “Congratulations, you’re expecting twins.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Larissa spin around to Bayla with wide eyes.

I blinked, staring at the screen in a daze.

Erik had not only given me one part of himself. I was carrying two of his children inside me. Two innocent souls who would wither in this city if I didn't find a way to protect them soon.

My breath caught in my throat.

“That can't be...” I whispered, but the gynecologist smiled as she wiped the gel from my stomach and turned back to the screen.

“Look, here...” She pointed to an area behind the fetus, but I still couldn't see anything. “The little girl is hiding.”

Now it was Bayla who smiled and nudged Larissa in the shoulder.

A girl... no...

My vision blurred completely.

I was sure that one of the babies in my belly was able to control water, probably the one bound to the ice curse, if there was any truth to Quentin's theories, because normally no Quatura, not even a male, could access their element so early on.

Chances were high that one of the two children had inherited the curse. The other child was either just as unlucky or... even more so. One of my children could be an Air Quatura. And if it was the girl...

My lungs refused to let air in.

“No... no, that's impossible...” I sighed, breathing shallowly.

It couldn't be a girl.

Couldn't she check again? What if it was just one baby? A boy...

“Fraternal twins are more common than you think,” the doctor laughed, pulling a handful of images from a printer, folding them, and handing them to me. “Sometimes the likelihood of fraternal twins runs in the family.”

I took the pictures dazedly, staring at the one where you could clearly see the second fetus.

“I'll get you a couple more brochures and run some blood tests with...”

I interrupted the doctor and sat up.

“I think I need some fresh air.”