she could do. He had to make this decision for himself.
I will come back as soon as I can, he promised.
Eva nodded even though he wasn't really speaking to her.
With one last look at the mare, Sebastian flared his wings and called to his small herd. They answered.
He waited as the first took flight and then the second.
Unlike the Kyren Eva had seen in her dreams, these were not graceful, their heavy pregnancies making their ascent difficult.
Eva watched with her heart in her throat as the last made it into the air.
She looked down to find the remaining mare's gaze on her, her eyes clouded with pain but her neck still held at a noble angle.
If she'd been human, Eva would have named her queen, because that's what she looked like.
"Well, my friend, it looks like it's just you and me now," Eva said softly.
*
The first order of business was to lead the mare as far away from where she'd been imprisoned as possible.
It sounded easy, but the mare was slow, having to stop every few steps to pant. Her sides heaved and her coat was flecked with sweat.
Eva kept one hand on her side to let the mare know she wasn't alone.
They came to a slight rise, the ancient trees closing in all around them. They'd made their slow laborious way to the opposite end of the cenote where the branches were thick and heavily interwoven, blocking the sky from view.
"Wait here, I'm going to see if I can find a better spot," Eva said.
The mare's only response was a high, sharp whinny.
Eva slipped through the vegetation, her senses poised and alert for any signs their enemy had neared.
She found a small grove, the surrounding trees silent sentinels. Their bark was black and the leaves on their crowns the lightest green Eva had ever seen. The grove was filled with a soft carpet of long grass. It'd be the perfect place for a birth, not easily seen even if you knew what to look for.
To be discovered here, the enemy would have to search long and hard for them.
Good enough.
Eva slipped back to the mare. She pulled aside bushes and branches to allow the mare to slip easily through, before pushing them back into place so no sign of their passage would be visible.
Finally, the mare stood in the small grove, her head down, her breathing labored.
She paced, making low grunts of pain as her contractions tightened and loosened.
Eva kept up a steady commentary of soothing noises, all the while cognizant that every sound the mare made might draw the enemy to them.
The mare was agitated, her need for escape and her need to deliver the foal almost in direct contrast.
She whirled on Eva and it was only because of her practices with Caden and her own long history with animals she managed to evade the sharp teeth as they closed inches from where her face was.
Eva's heart thundered but she didn't show weakness, keeping up the soothing croon.
The mare pawed at the ground, tearing out the grass and piling it into a small bed. She settled down and Eva knelt beside her, careful to keep one eye on the tricky Kyren as she felt along the mare’s belly.
Concern made Eva's movements quick and efficient. The birth was taking too long.
The foal should have come by now.
Eva moved around the mare, checking to see if she could spot the foal's hooves.
There was nothing.
She waited until the Kyren's latest contraction had ended before reaching in and feeling around. The two tiny hooves were easy to find.
Eva waited as another contraction started, controlling the small sound of pain that wanted to escape. A mare's contractions were strong, necessary given the size of the foal they needed to push from their bodies, but they weren't exactly comfortable to sit through when your arm was stuck inside the birthing canal.
Eva ignored the discomfort, worry starting to build. The hooves were properly aligned. There shouldn’t have been any problems. It should be a smooth birth.
Yet, the mare was in obvious distress that was growing deeper by the moment.
What was preventing the little foal from sliding free?
Eva leaned closer, pushing her arm up to her bicep as she carefully investigated, making sure to keep her movements smooth and slow so she didn’t distress the mare further.
There. Something that didn't belong.
She felt along it, learning the shape with her hands. It wasn't another hoof. A wing perhaps? One that felt like it was pinned up against