*Isla*
I’m not sure if my eyes are open or shut. I don’t know if the tapestry above the bed–the rich fabric woven with florals amongst a blanket of stars–is actually what I’m seeing, or if I’m now laying outside, looking up into the endless, moonless night.
I don’t feel the maids clutching my arms. I don’t feel the cool rag Poppy has draped over my forehead. I don’t feel Maddox’s large, calloused hand retreat from my bare, heated thigh.
I just feel myself slipping away with each ragged, forced breath.
“The baby is stuck. It’s been hours.”
“We need your decision, Alpha.”
“There is a way, but it means losing the mother.”
“You will need to choose.”
“The prince–or the Luna?”
Choose our son. Choose our son. Maddox, if you can hear me, choose our son!
“Isla, please,” Poppy’s terrified voice breaks through the haze, and I feel her shaking hands cup my cheeks.
I can’t tell who’s talking. I can’t differentiate the voices of my loved ones from the voices of several strangers.
But I can feel Maddox’s fury suffocating the room.
“No,” his voice rips through the air, a thundering declaration.
A male voice answers after a moment, telling him that we will both die if something isn’t done right away.
Save our son, I beg wordlessly, soundlessly. I’m too weak to even plead to Maddox over our bond now.
There isn’t time for this.
I squeeze whoever’s hand is gripping my own, but the feeling must have only been a flutter against their skin.
Am I already gone?
“Please!” Poppy begs somewhere in the distance, then her scream of pure, unadulterated panic tears the room into pieces. I hear Antony begging her to stop, to come with him, to let him comfort her. His voice cracks, and somewhere in the inky blackness I hear someone fall to their knees.
But then I feel Maddox’s hand on my forehead, his finger gently brushing the hair from my face. I fight for breath, not even to give myself a single second of life but to say that I love him, and to say that I am sorry for failing him, but it’s useless.
“Everyone leave the room, right now,” he growls, the sound like talons in my mind.
I hear the sound of footsteps retreating, some murmurings laced with final goodbyes.
“I can’t make this decision,” Maddox says to himself. “Goddess, how do I decide between my mate and our child?”
Choose him. Choose our son. Please, Maddox.
He’s praying. I can sense him kneeling at the side of the bed. I can barely feel his hands splayed wide and flat against my chest, his forehead pressed against the mattress.
The darkness I’m suspended in breaks, shattering around me into nothing but light and sound and chaos. Maybe the Goddess heard his prayer, and in all of her wisdom and mercy granted me a sliver of time to prevent Maddox from carrying this impossible decision in his soul for the rest of his life.
“Choose him,” I say, my voice a gravely whisper as a flash of the room fills my eyes. Maddox looks up, shocked, his face stained with tears. “Let me go.”
* * *
*Poppy*
“What are they doing to her, Antony!?” I scream, beating my fists against his chest. He’s standing by the door of the little sitting room he forced me into twenty minutes ago, Ben pacing along the far side of the room.
Ben’s heavy footsteps on the floorboards are grating into my fucking soul. I claw at Antony’s chest, screaming in frustration and utter grief as he just stands there, stoic, expressionless and unmoved.
“I will reject you!” I scream. “I will, Antony! Don’t you think for a moment that I won’t–”
“I can’t let you go back in there,” Antony says without a shred of emotion, but his eyes give away his pain. “I can’t, Poppy. I’m so sorry.”
“What are they going to do to her?” I plead, scrunched his shirt between my fists. “What are you doing to her?”
“You know what they’re doing to her, Poppy. You heart what the healer said–”
Not Mystica, no. Mystica had fought against Isla being sliced open like a pig meant for the spit. Mystica had slapped the healer, someone brought in from a neighboring allied pack whose warriors were currently battling outside the castle walls, for even suggesting such a thing.
But Isla had been beyond being able to move at that point.
I close my eyes and back away from Antony before he can wrap his arms around me.
“This is Maddox’s fault,” I hear Ben say. I whirl around to face him, seeing that he’s staring out the window. It’s just past dawn, but the clouds are so dark and thick with rain that it’s impossible to tell night from day. Lightning flashes as he turns to face me, his face shadowed in grief. “This is his fault.”
“How the hell is this Maddox’s fault?” Antony spits, seething as he snarls at Ben. “Because he was out trying to save his fucking title and all of our lives while Isla labored in the safety of the castle? Ben–”
“She doesn’t listen to anyone but him!” Ben shouts, then punches the wall so hard his fist goes through the wallpaper and drywall behind it. “I shouldn’t have let her heal those wolves. If Maddox had just come here… if he had just talked to her, talked her out of–”
“The baby is stuck, Ben,” I cry, hugging myself with my arms. “I was in there with her the entire time. She started out so strong, but that was hours ago. She pushed and pushed and lost more and more strength until she–until she–” I can’t finish the sentence. I walk forward, holding onto the back of an armchair for support.
Isla had given it her all, she truly had. But when Maddox came in… covered in blood and gore… that had been a turning point in the labor.
I’d watched the life start to drain from her eyes with each push. Her body–her powers–trying to right the damage that was being done with each strained breath. She’d exhausted herself, and now she was dying, if she wasn’t already dead.
They are going to cut her open to save the life of the child inside her womb, the prince. The heir Maddox so desperately needed.
I find myself suddenly siding with Ben, but I say nothing.
A heavy knock on the door breaks me from the spell of grief rushing through my body. I turn to the door as Antony moves to the side to let whoever is on the other side enter.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Ben seethes as Seth walks into the room. Seth looks around at the three of us, standing in the doorway without making any moves to shut the door behind him.
“Where is the diamond? I’ve been asked to retrieve it.”
Unease ripples through me as I look from Seth to Antony.
“By who?”
“The Alpha King,” Seth says flatly.
“Do you not know what’s happening right now?” I say, scoffing as Seth turns his cold, exhausted gaze to my face.
“That half a dozen Alphas and their warriors are trying to break down the front gate as we speak? Yes, I am aware.”
Ben and Antony don’t break from Seth’s gaze, but Ben runs his tongue along his lower lip, his mouth widening into a sneer.
“Get out,” Antony snarls.
“I’ve been asked–”
“Not by Maddox,” Ben cuts in, and Seth stiffens, narrowing his eyes.
“The Alphas don’t know he has the diamond and until they do, this will continue–”
“Get. Out.”
“You stupid bastards,” Seth says heavily, chuckling as he turns on his heel and walks out of the room. He leaves the door open, and I notice the corridor is quiet. Much too quiet.
“Poppy, don’t–” Antony leaps forward and grabs my arm before I can make a break to freedom.
“What the fuck was that about?” Ben asks, walking past us and slamming the door shut. “Why would Maddox tell Seth to get the diamond–”
“He didn’t. Seth is up to something.” Antony says coldly, forcing me to sit down in the armchair near the hearth. “Maddox has the diamond–”
“Isla has it,” I interrupt. “She’s been holding it the entire time–”
A muffled cry echoes through the room, coming from under the door. My voice catches in my throat, and I look to Ben and Antony, who are frozen in place as we listen, and listen, and listen.
A baby’s cry, quiet at first, then louder and undeniably strong.
“Oh,” I say, choking on the word as a sob escapes my throat.
No one stops me as I rise from the chair and go to the door. My hand trembles as I wrap my finger around the doorknob, my heart in my throat as I slowly pull it open.
“Poppy, please don’t,” Antony says behind me, but I step into the corridor and look down into the darkness at the other end. The cry gets louder, then the baby’s sobs are shushed.
I stand still as a statue, frozen in shock, pain, and grief as I wait for Isla’s voice to follow the cries… but it’s silent.
“No,” I whisper, tears streaming down my cheeks. “No, no, no, no–”
A door opens, heavy footsteps echoing down the hallway as a shadow breaks through the darkness. I know it’s Alpha Maddox. My entire body ripples with gooseflesh as he steps out of the darkness, his eyes darkened and downcast on the bundle in his arms. He passes me without a word, without looking up at me or at Ben or Antony who are standing in the doorway.
And then he’s gone, turning the corner into the foyer.
“Poppy–” Antony says, but I’m already running, tripping over the marble tiles and steadying myself as I break into a full sprint.
I count the doors, sobbing frantically and choking as I skid to a stop in front of the door to Maddox’s room.
I reach for the handle, then stop, squeezing my eyes shut.
I’m not ready to say goodbye. I’ll never be ready to say goodbye to Isla. She has been my friend, my best friend, the sister I’d always wanted.
She’d dreamed of this life. This child, and her mate.
She wouldn’t know this child. She wouldn’t get to see Maddox as a father.
Because she was dead.
I feel the handle against my palm. It’s cold to the touch. I’m not ready for this. I don’t know a future without Isla in it. I’m not ready. I’ll never be ready.
I feel Antony’s touch on my back, his hand spread wide and comforting as he stands behind me.
“I can’t,” I whisper, and he takes a step forward, closing the distance between us. “Antony–”
“I’m right here,” he whispers, his hand wrapping around mine as he helps me turn the handle and slowly push the door open.
I nearly fall to the ground in shock.
“Did you see him?” Isla says from the window, tossing the diamond up into the air and catching it. “I told Maddox to stop and show you the baby.”
“Isla,” I squeak, unable to say anything else.
She turns her head to look at us over her shoulder, a smile twitching across her mouth. She looks… fine. Better than fine. She has a glow about her, and as Antony practically carries me into the room, I realize that she is, in fact, glowing.
So is the diamond.