Our Fatal Failings (Twisted book two)

Chapter Twenty Two

"Heavy is the head that bears the crown."

Heavy? Heavy is the hand that holds it maybe. Heavier the hand that forms it. Heaviest the hand that bends it into shape. I cannot fail. --Jonah

Heavy? Heavy is my burden. Heavier still my fate. Heaviest the hand that guides the stars into the future. For friends, for family, for everything I ever knew and will know. I cannot fail. --Imani

⚜Part Two⚜

“Heavy is the head that lies the crown.” 

After a tumultuous car ride, I’m ushered into an underground bunker. Women move about, dressed either in long dark robes or military camo. Blood stains on more than a few and multiple are carried in on stretchers. From the cries of pain that come from the distance, it sounds like it’s been a bruising defeat. 

‘What happened here,” I ask.

Iris glances at Nia. “Believe it or not, we won that battle. You should see the other side.”

“Yeah,” a passing witch says. Her pointy hat droops to the side. She would be a stereotypical witch with her red hair and dark hat if it weren’t for her black trench coat and ripped cargo pants. “We have more mutt blood on our hands than they have witch blood on theirs.”

Iris gives her a bruising glare before looking back at me. “We don’t call them mutts. We’re trying to restore balance and give ourselves rights, not exterminate them.”

She shrugs and walks away. Iris turns to me. “I’m sorry about that-”

“I don’t really care. It never bothered me, I was raised thinking I was human.”

“Right, right.” She rubs her temples. “I have to go train newbies. Nia can show you to where you’ll be staying.”

“Thanks.”

I walk with Nia, marveling at the base they’ve built for themselves. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is a fighting chance. And then I think back to his face. 

Jonah’s smug, knowing face. 

What was it that he knew?

Weeks go by and I settle into my life at the base. I watch them go through morning drills, I help out in the kitchens...anything I can do to support their war effort in the little ways I can. When I watch them do their workouts, I’m prevented from joining in because of the pain in my stomach. All I know since I got here, there’s been pain in my stomach, one strong and sharp enough to keep me on my toes. And even when I drink Wolfsbane, I end up expelling it all out. Maybe I’ve developed an allergy. Maybe their wretched goddess has cursed me to this. 

My stomach problems only grow worse, until I can’t keep down my food, my water. My head is light in the morning and it gets to the point where I can’t see, but the pain keeps marching on, creeping in, slowly taking more and more control of my life. 

Only then do I learn it’s not an illness at all. 

No, no, staring down at the pink liquid in my hand, I learn what’s been ailing me isn’t any type of illness. It’s a new life.

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“You’re pregnant.” When they asked me to take a potion test, I was skeptical. But after I let a drop of blood fall into the clear liquid and it turned pink, positive, my heart sunk to the floor. 

I’m pregnant. 

I’m pregnant. 

“Is he the father?” Iris asks with a cool expression on her face.