<b>Chapter </b><b>224 </b>


    I felt a pang shoot through me, but I couldn’t respond before another contraction took hold of me. <b>With </b>another yell, I pitched forward. This time, both Lilith and Sophia caught me by one <b>arm </b>each.


    <b>“</b>Take her to your home,” Lilithmanded Sophia with a fire in her eyes that would have stolen my breath away had I any left to steal. <b>“</b><b>If </b>you try anything funny, I’ll slit your throat.”


    Sophia gulped but nodded. I wanted to protest, but the pain was too great, so I let them carefully lead <b>me </b>out of the forest and out to the road, where Sophia’s car was parked.


    “An ambnce or going to the hospital would just alert Alexander to the birth,” Sophia exined as she helped me into the backseat of the car and began to peel away from the side of the road. “There’s no telling what he’ll do then. You’ll have to give birth secretly at my house, then figure it out from there. <b>My </b>family will help you stay safe as long as you need.”


    I still wasn’t sure if she was right about Alexander, but by now, thebor was bing too intense to think straight. The drive to Sophia’s home was a blur, and before I knew it, I was being rushed into one of the guest rooms andid down on therge bed with several nkets and a bucket of warm water.


    What happened next was indescribable. The pain was so intense that I couldn’t speak, couldn’t think,


    could only scream and grip the nkets and pray that it would be over soon.


    And it was over quickly. Too quickly.


    First there was a series of waves of blinding pain, each one longer and more intense than thest, as figures who I didn’t even recognize moved around me in a frantic blur.


    Then came the final push.


    Something warm and thick spurted out between my legs, and I looked up to see Lilith’s face go pale.” Keep pushing, dear. You’re almost there,” she whispered with a reassuring smile, but her voice was


    trembling.


    66


    I pushed with one final cry of agony. My entire body felt like it was ripping in half, but then the pressure released, and I felt my child slip out of me.


    Then… silence.


    No lusty cry of a newborn. No tiny bundle being lifted into my arms. Just silence that was only, finally broken by a small choked sounding from Lilith beside me.


    “Lilith…?” My voice sounded faraway even to my own ears as I turned to her imploringly. <b>“</b>Is my baby…”


    “They’re working on him,” she croaked out, reaching over with a shaking hand to push the sweat–soaked hair out of my forehead. “Don’t worry, E. Your little boy will be just fine…”


    +15 <b>BONUS </b>


    A boy. I’d had a boy.


    I should have been ted. My child had made it into the world. But all I felt was anguish and… <b>pain</b>. <b>And </b>more of that warmth seeping from between my legs.


    <b>My </b>head was spinning as I managed a small, “Lilith…? What about me…<b>?</b><b>” </b>


    <b>“</b>It’s alright, E… I’m right here… You’ll be alright…”


    She didn’t sound so certain. In fact, the tears in her eyes should have indicated to me that she waspletely lying. But I was rapidly growing warm, and everything suddenly felt fuzzy and pleasant and insignificant, and soon the room began to grow dark around the edges.


    Thest thing I heard before I lost consciousnesspletely was the first cry of a newborn child.