Page 46 of The Arcane God

Ena nodded blankly. That sounded reasonable, though not exactly what she wanted.

“Get some rest,” Kaya said, her tone motherly. “It’s been an eventful day.”

The woman gathered her things and left Turner and Ena alone in the tent. Ena heard Turner lay down on his bed again, and she lay down on her own, too, but it took her a long time to fall asleep.

Her mind wouldn’t quiet down after all she had learned, all she was still processing—the revelations about Ty, and herself, and the stryx.

But underneath all that, there was a constant question in the back of her mind, one she tried hard to suppress, but which kept coming back all the same: where had Kaya taken that jug of blood? Because she wanted more.

Chapter Seventeen

Ena

Ena awoke to the feeling of her tiny passenger squirming around in her belly. Unconsciously, she reached down to caress her lower stomach—feeling the parts of her and Ty that were growing there. A person who would one day emerge and be hers to love and cherish.

The idea of being a mom was still foreign to her, but amidst all the chaos of the last several weeks since they’d lost Ty, she was so grateful for the baby. It had begun to feel like an anchor—keeping her moored amongst the chaos. Without it, and its reliance on her…she didn’t know where she’d be.

She rolled over to see Turner readying himself to leave the tent. The sun was up fully outside, and she guessed it was about midmorning, but there wasn’t much activity. Though she supposed it made sense—who knew how late the stryx had been up after the Change ceremony last night.

“How are you feeling?” Turner asked, noticing she was awake.

“Okay,” she answered truthfully. Physically, she felt fine. She’d rested enough and eaten enough. But mentally…

“There were a lot of revelations last night,” Turner said kindly. “And then the whole…blood-drinking thing. It would be entirely reasonable for you to be freaking out, you know.”

Ena huffed a small laugh, and it felt good to do so. “I know. Thanks for the permission. I’ll let you know if a freak-out seems imminent.”

Turner smiled at her, but he didn’t look away. He continued to stare at her, studying her.

“What?” she asked, feeling self-conscious under his gaze.

“Dunno,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Just trying to see the stryx in you.”

Ena rolled her eyes at him. “There’s nothing new to see,” she said. “I guess…I guess I’ve just always been this way and never knew.”

A surge of anger, confusion, and sadness swelled up in her at the thought, but she shoved it down. She’d had enough of those feelings, and she couldn’t handle any more.

“It makes a lot of things make more sense, you know,” he said. “How pale you are…your Gift…why you and Ty were so perfect.”

The mention of Ty’s name seemed to sit like a stone between them. It still hurt to think of him. To talk about him. To breathe without him.

“What do you mean?” she asked, trying to ignore that feeling too.

“You’re both half-breeds,” Turner said, smiling teasingly. “A perfect balance…a match made by Gaia. Or Iblis. Or Omnis, maybe, I don’t know. But you know what I mean.”

Ena paused at that. She’d never thought of it that way before…both she and Ty represented all three races of magic, in a way. She didn’t know that much about Omnis yet, but she did know how to interpret Gaia’s will. And something inside her told her…yes. There was something special about their union. A part of her had always Known that. And now…

Her hand went to her lower stomach. What would their baby be like?

Kaya interrupted this new, troublesome thought as she opened the tent flap and poked her head in, carrying what Ena immediately recognized as another jug of blood.

“Good morning, Ena. How are you feeling?” Kaya asked.

Ena could barely take her eyes off of what she held to greet her, but she managed it. “Alright,” she answered. She didn’t mean to sound cranky. She really was so grateful for all of Kaya’s help, but she couldn’t help the general sense of malaise that had seemed to permanently settle over her the last few weeks. She knew she was still grieving, and that was okay, but she wished she had the energy to get to know Kaya better.

“And…the baby?” Kaya asked, looking pointedly down at her midsection.

“It seems good too,” Ena said, touched at her concern.