Sword in the Stars (Once & Future #2) - Cori McCarthy Page 0,68

Administrator in front of the known universe if her brother hadn’t had the audacity to laugh in the man’s face? He knew what she had to do, and he knew how to make sure that she did it.

Gwen cried out all over again, breaking Ari’s vivid memory of Kay. Ari picked up Gwen and jogged the last stretch toward the gray, crystal water. “My gods, you’re a beast, Ari. How are you carrying me?”

“Constant training. Lots of pent-up energy from no sex. Diet of pretty much only red meat,” Ari said, smirking at Gwen in her arms. Gwen seemed faintish, and Ari didn’t like it. “We’re there, lady. Look.”

“I’m not going to make it to Avalon,” Gwen said, holding a low spot on her stomach when Ari put her down. “The mist doesn’t come until twilight. This baby is happening now.”

The water, Arthur said from inside her, startling Ari so much that she stepped backward, boot sinking into the gravelly shoreline. Trust me. Trust the water.

Gwen stared, sweat dripping from the sides of her face. “What is it?”

“King Arthur. He spoke to me.” Ari tossed a look at the water, a beautiful lake. A serene spot for new life to come into this world—or a treacherous place of no turning back. “Trust me.”

“Really? You know how to pull babies out of people? Ara, you’ve got many of the most badass skills in the universe, but this one might be beyond you.”

Ari couldn’t agree more. “No, Arthur wants you to go into the water. He wants us to trust him. The last time he told me something this clearly, this directly, I was on the ship with my parents… and Mercer was firing on us.”

Urgency, that’s what King Arthur’s voice had invoked. She began to gather up Gwen and step into the water with her, but Gwen bent over, her sweaty face pale.

“Promise me something that bad isn’t about to happen.”

Ari shook the darker fears away. “I think I know what he means. On Ketch, we had these birthing pools. It was supposed to be the gentlest way for the baby to enter the world.”

“Hell, no.” Gwen’s legs gave out, and Ari had to slowly lower her to the damp shore. The sun disappeared behind the forest line, and the sky began to darken.

“Just another hour, lady. Maybe less. You can do this.”

“There’s got to be another way,” Gwen said. “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want—” She worked her hand up under her skirt, feeling between her legs. “Oh gods, is that a head? How can it happen this fast?”

The water.

What about Nin? Ari shot back.

The water.

Gwen started to groan so low and endlessly that Ari flooded with panic. She lifted Gwen’s loose form and trudged into the water. Ari waited for something seismic to happen, but the water stayed just water, so clear that it bloomed with Gwen’s blood.

“I don’t know what to do,” Ari said. “What do I do?”

“Say something. Help me.”

“I love you.”

Gwen scowled. “So you just pull that out now whenever you want to surprise me?”

“Surprising you is my favorite pastime.”

“I hate your timing. I’ve always hated it,” Gwen said, suddenly laughing and crying and giving birth all at once.

Ari found the baby’s head with one hand, and then the shoulders, the curved back. The other hand held Gwen close in the chest-high water.

She tried not to notice the way the water chilled and turned black and swirled as she guided the baby toward the surface and Gwen’s outstretched arms. The way everything was different the moment Gwen raised the tiny curled body from the water. Perhaps Gwen and Ari were too tired or scared to cry. The moment slipped from fear, to wonder, over and over. The whole universe felt too cold all of a sudden. Too frozen and hard for such a tiny warm life. Ari clasped Gwen to her chest, the baby pressed between them, the rest of this universe shut out.

They trudged out of the water, waiting for the mist to appear, bearing a boat to Avalon. Somewhere the baby could be hidden and cared for, safe from the Arthurian story and Mercer and Nin.

Only the mist seemed hesitant tonight, even though Ari had called for it many times, just as Arthur had done. When that didn’t work, she built a fire because Gwen was shaking while she cradled the baby in a way that made Ari more nervous than she’d ever been. She tugged the blanket down from the