Richelle Mead - Iron Crowned

A knock sounded at the door, and the nurse I’d seen earlier stuck her head in. “I’m sorry to interrupt you,” she said. Her eyes fell on me. “There’s a man here who says he’s your boyfriend and that he was running late for the exam.”

My mouth went dry. “Kiyo?” I managed.

“That’s him. I’ll go get him.”

She’d taken my ID of Kiyo as confirmation and acceptance. I opened my mouth to protest, but she was gone. I started to tell one of the others to go stop her, but by that point, Ruth’s paddle had made contact. The screen again showed shadowy forms, and the sound of those rapid heartbeats filled the room.

“There they are,” said Dr. Sartori. “We can wait for your boyfriend before getting to the results.”

“No, we—”

The nurse returned with Kiyo, who was all charm and smiles as he introduced himself. “Sorry I’m late. I had the time wrong. Lara corrected me.” That last part was to me, and despite the pleasant expression on his face, I saw a hard look in his eyes. He didn’t like the deception. I had kept this from him, lying about when I’d get the results.

How had he found me? Lara had known the time but not the place. For a moment, I thought Jasmine might be playing a game, but her face showed shock and wariness at his arrival. She was as surprised as me. The referral, I realized. He’d read it before and knew which doctor I was seeing.

“Well, then,” continued Dr. Sartori. “Now that we’re all here, we can go over everything. You can rest easy about your family history. No trace of anything abnormal in either one. Both of the fetuses’ genetic tests came back fine.”

It was a sign of Kiyo’s self-control that he said nothing because I could have sworn the word both? was on his lips. His only reaction was another sharp look at me, his expression growing darker as he realized what I’d been hiding. The doctor and tech were watching the monitor, so they didn’t see what Jasmine and I did.

“And you know … you know the gender?” I asked.

Dr. Sartori nodded. “You can’t actually see it on the ultrasound now, but the one Ruth’s got a close-up of now … that’s a girl.” I exhaled in relief, and yet … somehow, I knew what his next words would be as Ruth shifted to the other amorphous blob. “And this one’s a boy.”

Silence so cold and so heavy fell that I couldn’t believe neither of the office’s staff noticed the lack of joy this news was receiving.

“A girl,” said Kiyo. “And a boy.”

Dr. Sartori nodded, flipping through a few more pages. “Based on what you’ve told us and what we can see, we’re putting your due date around the end of October. Although, with twins, you’re at a higher risk for early delivery, so we’ll be seeing you more often than in a normal pregnancy. And while this test gives us a lot of info, it doesn’t tell everything, so you’ll have others soon. You haven’t had any pain since the CVS, have you? Any reactions?”

“No,” I said flatly. My eyes were on those images, my world dominated by those heartbeats.

“Good. You’ll still want to take it easy to avoid any miscarriage risk.”

He went over a few more issues, told me when to come back, and then asked if we had any questions. I half-expected Kiyo to ask for an abortion then and there, but he was still biting back his words. It was going to be a for later conversation, I knew.

Ruth cleaned me up and then retreated with the doctor. They gestured Kiyo along with them. “It’s crowded,” said Dr. Sartori good-naturedly. “You can meet up in the waiting room to schedule your next appointment.”

“Yes,” said Kiyo, eyes boring into me. “We’ll talk out there.”

I forced a pained smile, and Jasmine turned anxiously toward me the second the door shut. “He is pissed,” she said.

“I know. You don’t have to tell me.”

I pulled on my clothes, my limbs feeling leaden. “Oh God. I can’t believe this is happening. Why? Why did I defy the odds? It was a one in three chance. One in three!” My voice was turning hysterical, as I begged this teen girl for answers. “All girls. All boys. Either was more likely than this. Why couldn’t it have been one of those? Why couldn’t we have had an easy fix?”

Jasmine’s face was solemn. “But you do. You said if one was a boy, you’d still have an abortion. You said you’d do it.” There was a challenge in her voice.

I finished putting on my shoes and looked away from her. The monitor was black, the room silent, but I could still hear the heartbeats in my head. If I had an abortion to ensure the prophecy wasn’t fulfilled, I’d be taking an innocent life. My daughter—that concept was still crazy to me—had no part in this. It wasn’t her fault her brother was destined for blood and destruction. Really, was it even his fault? There was hardly anything to him yet. Just a shadow. And a heartbeat. How could you dictate the future of someone not even born? How could you know what he would turn into? Was anyone’s potential really set in stone?

And how could I be the one to kill that potential?

How could I silence that heartbeat?

Either of them.

“Eugenie?” Jasmine’s voice was puzzled. “You’re going to do it, right?”

I lifted my eyes from my feet. “I—I don’t know.”

“You have to.”

A new voice spoke in the room. My skin tingled, and suddenly, Deanna materialized before us. I jumped. In light of everything else that had been happening in my life, she’d kind of gone off my radar. I’d left her in Enrique’s hands and assumed that everything was settled with her when she hadn’t answered my summoning.

“What the hell?” I demanded. “What are you doing here?” So much for her moving on.

Deanna looked like she always did, wearing that desolate look ghosts so often had.

“You have to,” she repeated, ignoring my questions. Her expression grew bleaker. “If you don’t get rid of your children, Kiyo will kill you.”

“What?” exclaimed Jasmine.

I didn’t share her concern. “Damn it. I should have banished you the first time I saw you. I don’t have time for this, not with everything else. You should be in the Underworld by now. Kiyo isn’t going to kill me.”

“I’m serious!” said Deanna, as frantic as a ghost could get. “You’re in danger!”

I shook my head. “Look, I’m sorry about your husband … really, I am. But not every guy is homicidal. Don’t transfer this to me.”

“I’m not! This is real. I was going to move on after … after … well, after my husband was arrested….” There was a mournful pause. Her story had come to a close, but it hadn’t had a happy ending. “I wanted to say good-bye formally and went looking for you … but found Kiyo instead …”

I put my hands on my hips, wishing I’d brought my wand. I did not need a delusional ghost, not with everything else right now. “And then he said he was going to kill me?”

“No. He told that other queen he would.”

That cut off my snark, leaving me speechless for a moment.

“What other queen?” demanded Jasmine.

“The blond one. The Willow Queen.”

Jasmine and I exchanged looks. Suddenly, Deanna’s crazy statements had become slightly less crazy.

“What exactly did you overhear?” I asked quietly.

“He told her you were pregnant and that you’d have an abortion if it was a boy … but that he was concerned. He was worried because you hadn’t just done it already.” Deanna looked back and forth between our faces, desperate for either of us to believe her. “He said it was probably just shock and that you’d ‘do the right thing,’ but that if you didn’t … well, Maiwenn said they’d have to make you lose the baby. Or … if that didn’t work … that Kiyo would kill you.”