Oszin

“Himika!” I ran to her side as the guards came in to take care of Merrick. She was limp when I picked her up, and I felt something warm on my hand—blood.

“She’s bleeding. If you all hadn’t had too much to drink someone could have caught her!”

“Well, she was running around like a…a…cat,” Rin said, obviously looking for a better metaphor and failing.

“I told her to stay in bed,” Aurek said. “Is she—” He put his hands on her. “Himika?”

“She’s unconscious. I have to get her to bed. If she loses the babies…”

“They did say twins are usually early,” Phoebe said. “How early is too early?”

I rushed Himika to bed. Blood was trickling out of her. I felt completely panicked. What did I know about babies? I’d spent my life protecting her. I never thought she would even have a baby. Now I couldn’t stand how vulnerable she looked, her small body so heavy with two children. How could my delicate girl manage such a task as this?

I looked frantically for some sort of medicine—towels—

“Moth…” I just wanted her to wake up. If she woke up, I felt like she’d be fine. She had enough will to live. I’d seen that in a battle. If a fallen man just stayed awake…the chances were much better.

“Moth! Why were you running around up and down stairs carrying a knife around anyway? Fighting isn’t your job.” Her eyelids didn’t even flutter. “Don’t leave me. I’ll never forgive them.”

“So…you know…,” she whispered.

I clutched her hand. “There you are. Look at me.”

“Oszin…you were such…an ass…leaving me. Just to prove…something. You could’ve come back without a tongue. I wouldn’t like that.”

I still didn’t like how dreamy her smile was.

There was a healer in the room now, a crystal dragon, and a human midwife as well. They seemed to be moving around in shadows, in another world. All I saw was Himika, trying to will her to stay with me.

“I am sorry,” I said. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have left. I wanted you to see me as useful. And strong. Around Seron and Ezeru, all the skills I was once praised for seemed like nothing. But when I saw Seron under the influence of the mist, I realized that he can still be hurt too. There were moments when I was so terrified—I just wanted to be home with you. We’re all strong in our own ways. I understand that.”

She sighed softly.

“Moth…” I clenched her hand hard. “Come on. Keep talking to me.”

The crystal dragon healer had her other hand. A slight frown tugged at his mouth.

“Is she okay? What’s happening? Can you tell?”

“This could be serious,” he said. “I don’t have as much crystal magic as I would have underground. She shouldn’t have been running around stressing herself.”

“I tried to tell her…” Aurekdel walked up next to me. I realized he’d been standing by the door, listening. He brushed my arm and followed it to my hand, and folded his over both of ours. I would have found this weird, once. Now it actually calmed me down, and I thought, If Himika died, I would lose them too.

I was struck by how hard this hit me. I loved my parents, but I had always quested for more than they had, until I was Himika’s guard. I had such a high position for a Kamiri, I felt somewhere in between worlds.

I had missed the sun. I had struggled with being a mere human among dragons. But one thing I had found was equal footing with kings. Even Himika herself had never treated me quite like that.

“Seron could have helped her,” he said. Then, “Let me have her hand for a moment.”

I drew away. Aurek’s hand clutched hers. His other hand moved to the swell of her belly.

“Do you have any healing abilities?” I asked him.

“Every crystal dragon has a little. My magic has always been better at connection. But we’ve already seen the children heal once.” He took a crystal from his pocket and placed it on her stomach. “Come on, little ones. Rescue your mother from her own hubris.”

We were all silent with tension as Aurek concentrated.

The crystal glowed so bright I squinted, and I heard Aurek’s breath catch with anticipation as he sensed something working. Light seemed to spread through Himika’s veins, spiderwebs of blue racing along her skin before they faded, and she opened her eyes again.

“Ah!” the healer said. “I felt that!”

“Mm…” Himika looked at us. “I feel so warm all of a sudden.” She held up her hand. It was glowing with the mark that bonded Aurek and Himika when they married.

Aurek exhaled with deep relief.

“What happened?” Himika said.

“Your babies saved your ass again,” Aurek said. He clutched his head. “All this and I’m still so damn drunk…”