Adrian Silvercrest's Arc

Chapter 13 of 23

Morning came and Elara did not get up. She had bled through the night. Aldric changed the sheets while Adrian held Hope in the crook of his arm and tried not to shake. The baby's small hand glowed faint blue against his wrist. He did not know what that meant. He did not know if she was hungry, or too warm, or pulling something from him that he could not spare. Eric stood in the doorway in his star-print shirt, thumb in his mouth, watching. Adrian remembered he had not fed him. He remembered he had not fed himself. "Aldric," he said. His voice cracked. "I don't know what she needs." Aldric came out of the bedroom with the soiled linen bundled under one arm. He was pale, but his hands were steady. The month of the birth had emptied him. He looked at Hope, then at Adrian, then at Eric. "Give her here," Aldric said. Adrian passed the baby over. Aldric sat in the kitchen chair and laid Hope across his forearm, her head in his palm. He pressed two fingers against her chest. The blue light in her hand dimmed. "She's pulling because she's frightened," Aldric said. "Not hungry. Frightened. Hold her against skin. Not cloth. Skin. She'll settle." "How do you know that." "Because I did the same at her age. My mother told me." He handed Hope back. "Open your shirt." Adrian did. He held Hope against his chest. The glow faded. She made a small sound and slept. Aldric was already moving. He put bread and butter on a plate for Eric. He set water to boil. He carried a bowl of broth to the bedroom and came back for a second one. Adrian watched him from the chair, Hope warm against his skin, and felt something in his ribs loosen for the first time in a week. He carried Hope in to Elara. Aldric was spooning broth to her mouth. She had washed her face. Her hair was still damp at the temples. She saw them in the doorway and her face broke. "I'm sorry," she said. She started to cry, holding the spoon away so she wouldn't spill. "I'm sorry. I should be up. I should be feeding him. I should be holding her. I can't even sit without the wall." Adrian sat on the edge of the bed. Aldric set the bowl down. "You gave us her," Adrian said. "That's the work. We'll do the rest." "Both of us," Aldric said. "For as long as it takes." Elara covered her face with her hand. Eric climbed onto the bed and patted her knee. Hope slept against Adrian's chest. Aldric picked up the spoon again. The house held. It would hold tomorrow too. But the village would come knocking by week's end, and the girl in Adrian's arms had white hair and blue eyes and light in her palm.