“Fine,” Caris agreed. She glanced at the stone behind her, decided that her dress was already dirty, and leaned against it. “We’re all concerned, Mira. She’s bearing and—”
“No, you don’t understand.” Mira shook her head. “I’m doing what I can, what I know. But Caris, my training was solid, but my experience…” After a breath, the words tumbled out of her. “I have basic healing skills, yes and I’ve birthed some babes on my own, and nothing’s gone wrong during those times, but—
“She won’t hear of another midwife. I fear that—” she gulped in air and tears filled her eyes. “I can’t even ease her nausea. What if she starts to lose the child, or the babe comes out wrong, or—”
“Mira,” Caris pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve and handed it to her. She glanced over to see that Nora was starting to drop parts into the privy. The muffled screams had dropped to moans.
Mira sniffled. “She gets so worked up about the mages and Tarwain’s daughter and that sculpture that the King wants and the money worries.” Mira blew her nose. “She’s becoming more and more irritated and irrational, and she won’t listen to me, and I am so afraid for her.” She dropped her voice to the barest whisper. “And for us.”
Caris tightened her grip, then released it. “A very real fear,” she said.
“What is?” Nora asked absently, staring down at the wreckage that was left. She prodded the body with her toe, inducing a whimper.
“Fear of the Bonded’s wrath,” Caris said.
“Fear of failing her,” Mira spoke loudly, as if afraid to hear her own words. “Fear of what happens if the child dies.” She shivered. “Fear of what happens if she dies.”
Instinctively, they all looked at their brands. Caris rubbed hers, frowning.
“I only speak to protect the Bonded,” Mira said.
“Nothing is going to happen,” Avice said firmly. She thrust her dagger into the man’s belly and sawed down. The stink of guts and bowels rose as his back arched and his legs thrashed weakly.
“If Iris were here, she’d listen to her,” Mira pouted. “She always listens to Iris.”
“She doesn’talwayslisten to her,” Avice was put out; she always wanted to be the one in charge.
“Iris is not here and we don’t know when she will return,” Nora said.
“Still, we can’t ignore Mira’s concerns,” Caris said. “We will have to try to talk the Bonded into thinking it’s her own idea.”
“That might work,” Mira said, though she looked doubtful. She plucked at a piece of invisible lint on one of the dresses. “It’s just that…” she sighed. “Nothing is right without Iris. We’ve never been apart this long before.”
There was a final gurgle. Nora knelt down and poked. “Dead.”
“Perhaps we didn’t quite think this through,” Avice said, cutting the soiled clothing they’d taken off him into strips. “We are not going to get the large bones through that grate.”
“Leave them,” Nora said. “They’ll make quite the impression.”
“The Queen will want the head on a spike,” Mira reminded them.
“We’ll take it to her, after we get you cleaned up.” Caris said as Avice kicked the remains over to a corner. Caris looked over at Nora. Her once-wild eyes were calm and clear. “Feel better?”
“Much.” Nora stood and stretched with a languid smile. Then her eyes sharpened. “Mira is right, you know. Iris—”
“Iris does the Bonded’s will,” Avice said sharply. “Nothing more need be said.”
Caris felt it then, the familiar tightening, the pulse through her flesh that started at her wrist. She nodded in obedience.
They all did.
Iris crouched underthe shelter of a pine and watched as the icy rain coated the needles. Her armor was sodden, her boots squished, she was cold and wet and none of that mattered.
She was close, so close.
She had to admire the vore and the marcus. She’d caught a glimpse or two, outlines on a ridge at sunset.
How was the babe being fed? She’d no experience with babies, perhaps the marcus was female and had brought milk to its breasts? For all she knew newborns didn’t need to eat that often. But this hunt had taken days so far.
