Chapter Ten – Sofia
The thing she was most aware of was Aaron's arms around her. His strong body cradling her, easing the panic that threatened to overwhelm her. She had Aaron. She had saved him. Whatever happened next… it would work out. He was with her, and that was all that mattered.
"Hold on," he whispered into her ear. "Hold on, my love. I love you. Stay with me."
"I love you, too," Sofia murmured back. Her eyes felt heavy, too heavy. The darkness of the swamp swirled around her. There was an awful smell, and everything felt like she was wrapped in cotton batting. When she tried to move her arms, she couldn't.
Her eyes drifted closed as she remembered the day that she introduced Aaron to her parents. Her father had actually got a gun and brandished it at the vampire, threatening him with (non-existent) silver bullets. Sofia had been so angry and frightened… but Aaron kept his cool.
"Sir, I understand your desire to protect your daughter," he said. "Because from the moment I laid eyes on her, I wanted to do the same. I know that some people don't consider vampires to have lives, but that's not true. Sofia is my life now, and I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe and happy."
It had taken a couple of months after that for her parents to come around, but in the end, they had been happy that Sofia had found someone who loved her as much as she loved him. Well, at least her father was. Her mother still wasn't thrilled that her daughter was going to be a vampire's wife.
A bright light shone in her eyes. She flinched back from it, a small squeak coming from her throat. Was that the moon, or something else? Whatever it was, Sofia hated it. She batted at it, trying to make it go away. But before her hand could strike it, there was a soft poking in her stomach. She gasped.
"Turn off the light, it's too bright," said a voice.
The bright light disappeared. Sofia blinked a few times as splotches of white danced before her eyes. As her surroundings came into focus, she saw that she was back in the palace, lying in the extra-large king bed that Aaron had custom made for the two of them. The rich red silk sheets clung to her body, though there wasn't anything else covering her except her old flannels.
A woman sat at the side of her bed. Sofia blinked again. "Mama?"
The bed shifted beside her and Aaron's arm wrapped around her shoulders. "You're awake?"
Sofia cried out in delight, throwing her arms around her husband. She kissed him passionately, not stopping until her mother cleared her throat and shoved a hand between their faces. "There will be none of that, not until you are back to your full strength."
Aaron chuckled, helping Sofia to sit. "Can you blame her for getting excited? She passed out while we were still in the swamp. Being attacked by a gorgon was one of the last things she saw."
Sofia remembered Gloria transforming into that hideous creature and shuddered. More movement came from inside her and she put a hand on her belly, shoulders relaxing. "The baby is okay?"
"Yes. You are very lucky, you know. With the amount of blood loss you suffered, not to mention the poison in your system!" Her mother narrowed her eyes at Sofia. "I don't want you to take any more of those unnecessary risks. You are to stay in the palace. Or better yet, come home where I can look after you."
Sofia smothered a smile. "We can talk about that, Mama. But right now can I be alone with Aaron?"
"I don't think so. You'll go back to kissing and you're still far too weak for that."
"No kissing, I promise Mama. I just need to ask him about a few things."
Her mother frowned suspiciously, but nodded and slipped from the room. Sofia noted that she left the door open and rolled her eyes before turning to Aaron. Anxiety spiked through her as she pressed a hand to his chest. His skin was cool and smooth as always.
"Did it work? Are you a vampire again?"
Aaron nodded. "Yes. I'm fully vampire once more. Your mother is right. We were very lucky. I nearly lost you."
She shuddered. "That thing that Gloria turned into. What was it?"
"A gorgon. It's an ancient magical creature. You've heard of Medusa, from Greek legend? She was a gorgon. Representations of her aren't exactly accurate, but they're close enough. Gorgons can take many different forms, but their eggs must be fostered inside human bodies. I'm sorry about your friend, but she was dead the moment she was infested. She took it willingly. That much is clear."
Sofia ducked her head. Tears pricked her eyes. Gloria might not have been the best friend or even a good friend, but she had been a friend. And it made her so angry that she had made such a stupid, stupid mistake.
"What about the rest of the radical witches?"
"They seem to have fled. Haven't heard anything from them. I doubt that they're done, but I'm certain that this was their big secret weapon. As long as we stay vigilant and work harder to improve relations between witches and everybody else, I don't expect that we'll end up in a similar situation again."
Sofia nodded. She pressed a hand to her stomach and shivered. "Am I a horrible person? A terrible mother? I put our child at risk, I–"
"Shhh." Aaron pressed his finger to her lips. "Don't. It's the past, and if you hadn't chosen the way you did, we may not be here together. I have no immune system, if I was human right now, a cold would wipe me out. Our child is safe, and you are safe. That's all that matters."
"You took that thing on, even though you were still recovering from my stupid mistake. I nearly killed you for this child—"
Aaron cut her off with a kiss. "Don't. I don't care what horrible things you're thinking, it was all worth it for the outcome. I love you, Sofia, and I love this child. I would gladly die for either one of you, let alone both together."
"I don't want you to die at all." Sofia laid her head on his chest, shivering yet again. This incident had just been too close… but if there was something good that came from it, it reaffirmed how much they loved one another.
"So I was thinking…" Aaron pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Now that we know how this works, and how to reverse the effects, we could have more children. I know we agreed to adopt, and I still want to, but maybe we can think about being pregnant again sometime in the future."
Sofia smiled. "Well, it's something to talk about, anyway. I think in the future we should have more knowledge about how exactly it works. But I like the idea. I want lots and lots of children."
"I know. I believe you said twelve when I first asked you."
"No, you did." Sofia lightly pushed him, thought she relaxed against him quickly again. "I think I'm still a little too tired to discuss it right now. Everything that happened... Well, we can talk about it later."
Aaron stroked her hair. "You're right. We don't have to decide right away. After all, we still have four months until this little guy is born."
He gently prodded her belly, and she felt a kick from inside her in response. A grin crossed her face. "Or girl."
"Right. Of course. Or girl." Aaron glanced away. "And I know you just woke up, but you did suffer a significant blood loss and you should rest."
Sofia's eyes narrowed. Aaron was acting very elusive… What was he hiding? She pulled away from him, swinging her legs out of bed. Aaron wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back, his brow furrowing. He nestled into her neck.
"Where do you think you're going? I just said you needed to rest."
"You're holding something from me."
"So you're going to go out and walk around when you ought to be in bed?"
Sofia shrugged. "I was just going to get some water."
Aaron swung her around, tucking her feet back into the bed. He plumped the pillows behind her, making her smile. She always enjoyed it when he was this attentive to her. Although she was suspicious that he was just going to try to deflect her attention again, she was going to let him take care of her.
He was wearing a tight pair of pants, and she admired the way his ass looked in them as he got her a glass of water. When he caught her looking, he grinned and undid a couple buttons on his shirt before returning to her.
"Careful, I have to rest," she teased. "And I think my mother is just outside the door making sure that we don't… you know."
The king cocked his head. His nostrils flared and he nodded. "You're right. I can smell her out here."
Sofia accepted the water, watching him. "Okay. So spill."
"Spill?"
"When I said the baby might be a girl, you looked shifty."
Aaron dropped his head but grinned at her all the same. "When the physician was examining you, I saw something on the ultrasound. I know we agreed that it was going to be a surprise—"
"Not fair for you to know and not me!"
"We're having a boy." Aaron's grin was so big it could have split his face.
"A boy?" Sofia placed both her hands on her stomach. "A boy. He's going to be a little hell raiser, isn't it?"
Aaron laughed and kissed her. "If he's anything like you, then yes. But who would want it any other way?"
*****
THE END