The labor pain intensifies, and even with the ancient mother tree taking some of the ache away, the contractions are debilitating. Adrian urges me to push and to take deep breaths, but all I can think about is how I wish Lucca were here.
“Vivi!” I hear his voice. I must be hallucinating. He can’t be here.
Adrian looks over his shoulder. “Oh my God.”
“What is it?”
“It’s Lucca and Raphael. They’ve come.”
Tears fill my eyes as my heart rejoices. But then a loud boom follows and I remember this is a battlefield, and that my mother will take great pleasure in killing Lucca and his uncle. I can’t just sit here and not assist them.
“Help me up.”
“The baby is coming, Vivi. You need to focus on that.”
“Help me up, please. I can do both.”
He finally gets me back onto my feet, and I see Lucca and King Raphael engaged in a fight to the death. Why they didn’t bring help is beyond me. Maybe they couldn’t.
I lift my right arm and bring forth the power of the wind, letting it concentrate on the palm of my hand while Adrian holds my left arm. As my power grows, I sense the Magna Vis blending with it, or maybe it’s the ancient mother tree. I’m not sure anymore where the foreign magic is coming from, nor do I care.
The magic bursts from my hand in the shape of a tornado that spirals at a hundred miles per hour, heading straight to my mother’s soldiers and sparing Lucca and King Raphael. But blasting them comes at a cost. I also destroyed the protectivedome Queen Merissa created, and now Adrian and I are vulnerable.
I sway on the spot, and Adrian has to lower me back to the ground. Black dots appear in my line of sight. I’m fading fast now.
“Vivi!” Lucca says, sounding much closer now. In another second, he’s next to me, holding my hand. “Vivi, my love. I’m here.”
“I knew you would come.” I smile, then scream when my body feels like it’s splitting in half.
“I see the head of the baby now. One more push, Vivi,” Adrian urges me on.
Grunting, I scrunch my face and push until I feel something give out, and the wailing of a newborn baby cuts through the noise of battle.
“It’s a beautiful baby girl.” Adrian cradles my baby for a second, and golden bands form around her, coming from his hands.
“What’s happening?” Lucca asks.
The bands of power also wrap around my body, and then I’m levitating off the ground. Lucca tries to tether me, but my hand slips from his grasp as I soar high into the sky. I feel it then—the power of the land enters me, mixing with my soul. I can hear and see everything that’s happening in the entire kingdom of Aquila. The land pulses inside my chest in sync with my own heart.
In the distance, someone shrieks, but it doesn’t matter anymore.
I’m the queen of Aquila.
Sixty-Four
LUCCA
Ican’t breathe or move as I stare at Vivi levitating from the ground, her white dress smeared in blood from the waist down. Her blue eyes glow white, and her hair dances violently with the wind around her face. She’s a force of nature, powerful and beautiful.
The battle still rages on, but it seems the wards Queen Maewe had put in place are down because I can sense King Ruel’s shadowbeasts instilling terror in everyone.
Still crackling with power, Vivi flies down the hill toward the battlefield to end the bloodshed. She has the power of the land now. I can see it as well as feel it in my bones. King Ruel’s insane plan worked.
The crying of a baby breaks me from the trance.Mybaby. Adrian’s attention is also transfixed on Vivi when I reach for my daughter. He blinks fast, at first holding her tight before he realizes it’s me trying to take the baby from his arms.
Undiluted joy fills my heart as I take in the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen. She stops crying and stares right back at me as if she knows I’m her dad. Her eyes are sapphire blue like Vivi’s.
Someone shrieks, and I turn in time to see Queen Maewe racing toward us so fast and disjointedly, she looks like a demon, and the spear she already threw in my direction. It’s going to hit me and the baby, but Adrian steps in front of us and acts as a shield.
