<h4>Chapter 492: SURGERY II</h4>
Marie climbed back onto the bed, her expression unreadable, jaw tight as she knelt beside Jasmine’s still, broken body. Blood soaked the sheets, the scent thick and metallic, mingling with sweat and the sharp sting of herbal salves that hadn’t even been used yet.
She exhaled, settling both hands on Jasmine’s womb.
"Keep the towels ready," she said without looking back. Her voice was low, grim. "This won’t be clean."
Ned stood frozen for a moment, but Loren, flinched him back to life.
"You have to be firm Ned." Loren reprimanded.
He grabbed one of the steaming bowls and began soaking the fresh cloths brought by the maids, his fingers trembling.
Marie’s lips moved, and with each word, the air around her shimmered.
The old tongue. Ancient magic.
Her eyes flickered silver as her hands glowed faintly blue.
Then—Jasmine’s body arched.
Not violently, but like something inside her stirred and jerked in protest.
A dull pulse of light rippled beneath Marie’s hands, as if the magic itself was searching, trying to locate the root of what needed to be expelled.
Blood poured again.
Thicker this time. Heavier.
Jasmine didn’t scream. She couldn’t. She was too far gone. Her lips were slightly parted, her breath shallow and ragged.
But she wasn’t conscious.
Marie gritted her teeth, sweat now lining her brow.
"It’s noting out whole," she muttered. "It’s already dead."
Nanny closed her eyes and wept heartbroken.
"The body’s trying to reject it in pieces." Marie exined
Loren stepped closer, his face pale, eyes stricken.
"We’ll stop the bleeding after," he whispered. "Goddess help us..."
The first piece emerged.
Small. Red.
A curled limb—no longer fully formed. It slid out slowly, coated in dark, clotted blood.
Ned turned away, eyes wide with horror, but his hands kept working.
He handed Marie clean towels without needing to be asked.
Marie didn’t flinch.
She took the towel and gently wrapped the first piece, cing it into a cloth-lined basin beside the bed.
Another pulse.
More blood.
Another piece.
A fragment of a spine. A tiny, half-formed ribcage. The umbilical cord, barely attached.
The pieces were too small and were mainly mixed with blood and extremely tiny bone fragments.
Nanny Nia gasped softly behind them, her breath catching in her throat.
She had stood frozen near the foot of the bed until now, eyes locked on Jasmine’s face.
But the sight, what was slipping from Jasmine’s womb, was too much.
She turned away, pressing a hand to the wall to steady herself as her knees weakened.
"She was going to name her," she whispered, barely audible. "She always wanted a girl..."
Her voice cracked. "I should have.... This is all my fault. I should have stayed with her."
A single sob escaped, and then another, though she fought them back with all the strength she had left.
Marie kept going.
Her hands were steady, her magic constant.
She moved as though on instinct, whispering words older than time, her face nk save for the lines of exhaustion and anger.
The basin filled slowly, horror upon horrorid in careful, reverent folds of linen. The air grew colder, denser.
Then came thest piece.
The skull.
Small. Fragile. Barely fused. It slipped out with a sickening squelch, and Marie caught it with both hands.
Her breath caught in her throat—just for a moment.
She looked down at it with eyes that burned silver.
"I’m sorry," she whispered—not to Nanny Nia, not to Loren, but to the broken child who’d never see the world.
She ced it gently into the basin and murmured a preserving spell. The cloth shimmered slightly and then dulled.
"We need to stop the bleeding," Loren said urgently, snapping out of his daze.
He stepped in beside Marie, already pulling open his satchel of herbs and supplies.
"Her uterus is torn. Deep," he said grimly. "Help me elevate her legs."
Ned obeyed instantly. Together, they lifted Jasmine’s lower half with cushions and propped her legs carefully.
Loren reached for strips of cloth already soaked in a golden salve.
"What’s that?" Marie asked.
"Moonroot blend," he answered quickly. "With silverweed and healing runes. It’s the strongest I have. Should encourage clotting."
"I think I underestimated you herbal healers." Marieplemented. "You’re not as bad as I thought."
Loren shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
The scent filled the room, iron, bitter herbs, the sharp tang of blood.
He pressed the cloth into Jasmine’s womb, deep enough that even Nanny Nia winced.
Jasmine didn’t stir.
"She’s ice cold," Loren murmured. "Her pulse is faint."
Marie didn’t respond right away. She climbed higher on the bed and ced her hand over Jasmine’s heart.
"Her soul’s slipping," she said.
Nanny Nia sobbed softly into her sleeve. "Don’t say that. Please..."
"I can stop her body from dying," Marie whispered. "But I might not bring her soul back. Not fully. Jasmine is unshifted. Using magic on her can be ....unpredictable."
Loren looked down at Jasmine, at her pale face, her bloodless lips, her body now still save for the faintest rise and fall of her chest.
"Goddess." he murmured.
Silence filled the room.
Nanny Nia moved forward finally, one hand outstretched toward the basin. Her fingers trembled.
"Let me..." she whispered.
Marie stepped aside.
Nanny Nia gathered the remains into the cloth, wrapping the pieces gently, reverently, as though they might still breathe if held with enough love.
She tucked the broken skullst, folding it into the center.
She pressed the bundle to her chest and closed her eyes.
"It was a girl." Marie said. "I can tell that?
Nanny Nia whimpered more.
"Blessed be the daughter who was never born. May the moon cradle her, may the stars sing her name."
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
"A girl." Nanny Nia said. she said in a broken voice. "She was always right."
No one spoke.
Ned had backed into the corner, his face wet, though he wasn’t crying loudly.
Loren turned away for a moment, his hands still pressed over Jasmine’s lower belly, keeping pressure steady.
Marie remained still, her glowing hand hovering over Jasmine’s heart.
The glow faded, slowly.
"She’s stabilized," Marie finally said. "But she’s not awake."
"When will she be?" Nanny Nia asked.
Marie hesitated.
"I don’t know. What I want to know is how the fuck this happened?" Marie demanded through seething teeth.