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Vienne
Waking up had never felt so strange before.
I swear, my mind had been blanketed with cotton and every sense was working desperately to make its way through the thick fluffy layer. Voices sounded muffled, thoughts felt muffled, even the lights behind my closed eyelids seemed dimmer than usual.
But then I heard the cry, the sweet yearning wail of a hungry infant—my infant—and reality slammed back into me with a vengeance.
My baby.
My baby needed me.
I woke wholly, eyes springing open and senses zinging back to full working order with a ferociousness that made me wince, for what had been muffled before, suddenly seemed doubled in intensity. The light from a nearby burning hearth made me wince from how brightly it flamed, and the voices of at least four people hovering around me made my ears want to bleed for peace. A searing pain in my abdomen caused me to gnash my teeth, not to mention, it smelled right foul in here, like blood and human remains.
Through it all, the crying child is what captured my attention.
“My baby,” I tried to say, but for some reason my throat felt shredded and my voice was a weak croak.
“She’s awake,” someone exclaimed. It sounded like Nicolette, but why anyone would let the teen into my birthing room, I didn’t know. She was much too young to be involved in such a matter.
A second later, three faces appeared in front of me: two strangers and then my sister.
“Vienne?” Yasmin’s voice trembled. “Are you okay? Can you talk?”
Of course I could talk. I’d just asked for my baby, hadn’t I? Why wasn’t anyone handing me my baby?
The two strangers were older, healers from the look of them.
“She should get more rest,” one said, while the other shook her head.
“We need to examine her fully. This is completely unprecedented. We need to take note of her vitals and record the phenomenon.”
What phenomenon? Certainly one more woman in the realm birthing yet another baby wasn’t that phenomenal.
I started to sit up, figuring if no one was going to bring me my baby I’d just have to go fetch the child myself.
But that move sent the entire room into a tizzy. “No!”
I swear, ten different sets of hands reached out to strap me back to the bed, and there were only four other people in the room. Weren’t there? I glanced around to count. Two healers, my sister, and Nicolette who was approaching with a swaddled bundle in her arms.
Oh, thank God. Someone was bringing me my baby.
“Here you go, Vienne. I have her for you.”
“Bless you,” I said, already reaching toward the young princess, eager to get my hands full.
Once the wiggling warmth was secure in my arms, the restless anxiety inside me calmed. I looked upon the face of my child, and tears filled my eyes.
“My God, what a precious little bundle. Isn’t this the most perfect baby you’ve ever seen? She’s astonishing.”
I looked up to share my joy with anyone willing to smile with me, but I was surprised to find Yasmin, Nicolette, and both healers staring at me as if I were mad.
“What’s wrong?” I asked with a slight frown, only to look back at the
baby.
She was okay.
Wasn’t she?
