AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I have no idea if that’s true or not, but I don’t need it to be true; I just need Cian to believe it can be.
He closes his eyes for a moment and swears through his teeth again in Gaelic. “Fuck.” His eyelids pop back open. “Alright. Alright, fuck. I’ll take you to see your damn doctor. But I’m staying with you the entire time, is that understood?”
He eyes me suspiciously. I swallow hard, trying not to let my relief ruin my performance. “Hurry please.” I wince. “I feel… strange…”
A low, anguished hiss escapes Cian’s lips as he wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Put your weight on me. Let me know if you’re feeling faint.”
He’s surprisingly gentle as he leads me through the house. Fresh blood trickles down my leg with the motion. But I embrace the pain; I welcome it.
When it comes to my son, I’ll do whatever it takes.
I’ll cut myself a thousand times over if I have to.
4
WREN
He helps me into the backseat of his truck, going so far as to prop up a pillow underneath my head. Pillow or no pillow, though, I’m thirty-two weeks pregnant—“comfort” is a thing of the distant past.
Cian gets into the driver’s seat and rolls down his window. “Follow us,” he orders someone I can’t see. “Stay outside the hospital the entire time. If you see any funny business, alert me immediately and move in. We’re going to make this a fast visit.”
As he starts up the engine, I meet his eyes through the rearview mirror. “That’s optimistic of you.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“Wishful thinking?”
“You’ve been stressed,” he dismisses. “That can’t have helped your preeclampsia. I’m sure once your doctor gives you the right medication, you’ll be fine.”
“And back in captivity, huh?”
He glares at me. “Don’t make me regret this, Wren.”
I hold up a hand. “Sorry, sorry. I’m just… scared.” It’s not even a lie; I am scared. Not specifically for my baby’s life necessarily, but for the situation surrounding his birth.
My baby can’t be born in a cage.
I rest my head against the pillow and stare up at the truck’s shiny ceiling. It feels good to be out of that room. At least things move and change here. In the room, the walls stood stony and still all the time and my mind was starting to invent hallucinations to cast into the blank spaces. This, as small of a change as it is, is better.
Weird, the things you appreciate when you get to experience a little freedom.
“Cian, can I ask you something?”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Come on. Distract me.”
He sighs. “You can ask the question. I can’t promise I’ll answer.”
“It’s about Rose.”
He frowns. “Why ask me about your sister? You knew her better than anyone else.”
“Yeah, I thought I did, too. Turns out, there was a lot about her that I didn’t know. She hid a lot from me.”
“I wouldn’t take it personally,” he advises cautiously. His hands grip and regrip the steering wheel and his free leg pistons up and down.
“How can I not?”
