Caelix Serpienne's Arc

Chapter 7 of 10

Caelix carried the egg himself. He laid it in a woven cradle lined with soft cushions and would not let anyone else touch the handle. Inbella walked beside him. The egg still chilled at its edges, and neither of them knew why. Warm the wrong part, treat the wrong cause, and their heir would die inside the shell. So Caelix did not guess. He took the cradle to the one place that might know. They went first to the general store. Aldric Scaleson ran it, Inbella's father, an older snake kin with a yellow tail and quiet eyes. He looked at the egg a long time, then set his palm on the cold edge. "I don't stock a warmer for this," he said. "But I can find one." He wrote the order out by hand. "It'll take a day to reach the palace. An egg like this doesn't have a day." He met Caelix's eyes. "Take her to the nursery. Seraphine will know what the cold is. I'll send the warmer after." Caelix hated needing anyone. But he trusted the old man, and he lifted the cradle again. The nursery rose in pale marble, flowers crowding its doors, mothers moving in and out with newborns coiled against them. Seraphine Coilheart met them at the entrance. She wore a white robe and did not waste a greeting. She looked at Caelix, at the crown he did not need here, and then only at the egg. "Bring it in." She pressed two fingers to the shell. She turned it. She held it to the light. Caelix watched her face and could read nothing. "It's not sick," she said. "The cold isn't a fever fighting back. It's the shell." She set it in a padded bowl. "The edges thinned when it formed. Heat leaks out there. Treat it like an illness and you'd poison a healthy egg." She looked up. "You almost did the wrong thing." Caelix felt his tail go still. "Then what does it need?" "Even heat, held steady, until the shell hardens." She wrapped the egg in warm cloth and cupped it in her hands. "I can hold it now. A warmer holds it after." "One is coming," Caelix said. "Her father sent for it." Seraphine nodded once. "Then it lives." Inbella let out a breath she'd held since the throne room. She pressed her hand flat against Caelix's arm. He did not pull away. By dusk the warmer arrived from the store, a small enchanted nest that glowed a steady gold. Seraphine settled the egg inside and watched the cold edges take the heat. The shell warmed through, even at last. "Keep it in this," she said. "Don't let it cool. It has weeks yet before it hatches." Caelix had his answer and his heir was safe. But it would not stay under Seraphine's eye. He had to carry it home, and keep it warm himself, every hour, until it broke.