Hannah cuddled the crying baby, rubbed her back as she smiled at Fallon. “Welcome to the happiest spot in the clinic. Are you looking for Rachel?”
“And you.”
“I just need to get this little darling to her mother. We’re giving our moms a rest, but somebody’s hungry. If you give me a couple minutes, I’ll track down Rachel once I get Jasmine settled.”
“Sure. I’ll walk with you.”
“Fallon Swift.” In the rocking chair, Lissandra Ye carefully shifted the baby to her other breast. “Could I speak with you?”
“All right.”
“I won’t be long,” Hannah said, and carried the baby out.
“He can only be out for short times,” Lissandra said, and glanced at the incubator. “He’s still very small. My milk wasn’t enough to help him grow, but your mother helped me, and now … he’s nearly five pounds. Rachel says he won’t need the incubator when he’s just a little bigger.”
“That’s good.” She moved closer. “He’s really pretty.”
At her words, Lissandra’s eyes filled. Tears spilled.
“I’m sorry.” Fallon pulled over a second chair, laid a hand on Lissandra’s arm. “You’re worried, but he’s in good hands here.”
“I know that. I trust that. At first, I didn’t believe he’d live. He was so tiny. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to. I’m ashamed of that.”
“You shouldn’t be.”
“He’s mine, you see? He’s mine, but … It wasn’t only one who raped me, and it wasn’t only once. I couldn’t fight back. They gave us drugs so we couldn’t fight, but I could feel, and see. They let the guards have us when they wanted.”
Fallon had heard similar stories before, too many times before. But those stories never lost the ability to shock and enrage.
“You’re safe now. Do you talk to the counselors here?”
“Yes, yes. It wasn’t just the guards. The Torturer. The Dark Uncanny in the lab. He…”
Understanding now, Fallon sat back. “You’re worried he might be the one, that his blood is in your son.”
“He’s mine.” Even through the tears she said it fiercely. “I named him for the man who died trying to save me. Brennan. He’s my child, and no matter what, I love him. I thought I wouldn’t, I couldn’t, but he’s my son. But I have to know. If he carries the dark in him, I have to know so I can help him fight it. Please, you can see. You can see and know, and tell me.”
“The dark’s a choice, Lissandra, just as the light’s a choice.”
“Please.” The child lay quiet, his mouth slack as the milk and warmth lulled him to sleep. With eyes filled with hope and tears, Lissandra held him out to Fallon. “Please.”
What torment had the woman endured already? And how much more would she endure without answers, without the comfort of them?
So Fallon took the child. Her brothers, she recalled, had seemed so tiny to her at their births. But compared to Lissandra’s son, they’d been robust.
“Brennan,” she whispered, “son of Lissandra. I see you.”
She looked at him, looked into him, laid a hand on his chest where his heart beat under her palm.
“I see the light in you.” Lowering her head, she brushed her lips over his downy head. “I see you.”
With a smile, she looked back at Lissandra. “This is your son, and he holds light.”
“Do you swear it?”
“I swear it. He’s innocent, as you are. Innocent, and he’s your son. He’s your cub.”
Now joy glimmered through the tears. “He’s … like me?”
“Yes.”
“Would you bless him?”
“I don’t—”
“Please.”
“Ah…” Following instinct, Fallon touched her fingers to the baby’s head, his lips, and again his heart. “Bright blessings on you, Brennan, son of Lissandra.” She repeated the words in Mandarin.
Now Lissandra smiled. “I haven’t heard anyone speak Mandarin since my grandmother died. Thank you, more than I can say.” Lissandra took the child back, rocked. “More than I can say. You’ve been blessed by The One,” she murmured.
As Fallon rose, Rachel stepped in. “Give him a little skin-to-skin time, Lissandra, then you can change him before we put him back.”
“He nursed really well.”
“We’ll weigh him a little later, but I think maybe tomorrow he can go into a regular crib.”
“Did you hear that, baby? You’re going to graduate.”
“One of the nurses will be in to help you.”
Lissandra nodded, but looked at Fallon. “I can fight. I’ll fight for you. I’ll fight for him.”
“I’ll fight for him,” Fallon told her. “He needs you to tend to him. I’ll see you both again.”
She walked out with Rachel to where Hannah waited in the doorway.