I Ran Away With the King's Monster Baby

Ten months of carrying him, the child I delivered was not human, not entirely. The midwife's voice rose with delight. My lady. She never finished. Her eyes rolled back. She dropped straight to the floor and didn't move. Wren hit her knees beside me, shaking so hard her teeth clicked together. My lady. I wanted to know too, I forced myself upright and looked the top half was a baby, perfect, round cheeked and howling, the bottom half was a tail, slick and scaled, deep teal, thrashing in the air. How is this possible? I pressed both hands into my hair and pulled. I'm done, completely utterly done. King Kael had ruled for five years without an heir. Three years ago, when the first of his consorts delivered a stillborn, he'd had her executed on the spot. I did not want to be executed; I did not want my child burned alive on an altar as a monster too. A servant's voice called out in that flat. practiced tone"Lady Lyra? "As the birth concluded, His Majesty is waiting for word. The fire moved fast. I pressed a wet cloth over my mouth and climbed out the side window, behind me, screaming, footsteps, the alarm going up. Fire! These chambers are on fire! Someone get inside! My lady is still in there! I didn't stop, didn't look back. Under cover of dark, I found Ren beneath the oak. Zio was quiet in her arms, watching the shadows with enormous black eyes. We ran. The cart rattled through the night, Zao didn't cry once. How does a person end up with a tail? He blinked at me; I had no answer.

The sea wind was brutal. It cut straight through my coat and didn't apologize. The reef rocks were wet and black, giving no warning before they sent you down. I fell three times. I was nearly ready to give up when I found it tucked in a crevice between two rocks, glowing a faint, steady blueone stalk of seagrass. I grabbed it and ran. My lady, he's getting worse. He's barely breathing. I pushed inside, crushed the grass, and fed it to Zio bit by bit. By the time the sky started to lighten, the fever broke. Mama, Zio... my Zio... but relief never lasts. A few days later, Ren came to me holding the empty grain jar. My lady, if we don't find money soon, there's nothing left to eat. I looked at Zio asleep on the bed. watch him, I'll be back. I went to the largest pawnshop in town. I had one item worth sellinga pendant carved with a serpent. Kale had given it to me once, some minor reward I hadn't paid attention to. I'd thrown it in my bag the night I fled without thinking. The pawnbroker was a sharpfaced man who knew his business. He picked up the pendant, looked at it once. His expression changed. Too valuable to my shop. My stomach dropped. I pocketed it and left. I made it half a block before I noticed the two men behind me. They weren't browsing. They weren't walking somewhere. They were following. I turned down a side street, dead end. I spun around. A figure dropped from above. Three seconds. Both men were on the ground and not getting up. I looked up at my rescuer, heart hammering. The face I saw made my blood go cold. Quinn. Kael's head of personal guard. He went down on one knee in the mud. Lady Lyra, his Majesty has been looking for you. For a very long time.

The king sent search parties across the entire kingdom, we only just found this place. Come back with us Go back. Back to that palace so you can find out what my child looks like and put him on a pile mean what he looks like My son is not human I'm not going as an inhuman with you if you're gonna take someone take me don't touch my child. Let go of me! Forgive me, my lady. Well, if it isn't little Lyra all the way out here in the middle of nowhere. You have no idea how long I've been looking. for Princess Merin, the foreign princess who had spent years trailing after Kael like a shadow, ignored by him at every turn and. refusing to care. Lyra, darling, why put yourself through all this? You sleep with some man behind the king's back. Get yourself with child and then think you can burn the evidence and disappear. I'm curious actually, what kind of man was worth giving up everything for? Go get the child, bring it out here.

We went south, a thousand miles and then some, until we hit the coast. A small town, rough around the edges. Nobody cared who you were or where you came from. I bought a crumbling house on the eastern edge of town. It had a courtyard. It would do. Zio grew fast, and he needed water. The moment his tail dried out, the scales went dull, and he began to make a low, miserable sound that broke something in my chest every time I heard it. I kept a large basin in the main room, changed the water every day. He spent most of his time in it, tail flicking. Splashing the walls, deeply pleased with himself. One afternoon I was out in the yard hanging nets to dry. The neighbor Mrs. Greer leaned over the fence with the look of someone who had been waiting for an excuse. Lyra, love, why does that baby of yours never come outside? Not a peep out of him. Is something wrong with him? He's always been delicate. Doesn't do well in the wind. Delicate. He's nearly a year old; you're babying him too much, that's what it is. Children need sun, they need air. You're absolutely right, I said, when he's a little stronger. Wren came out of the house with a basin of water, caught her foot on the step, and threw the entire thing across. Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't see the step. It took 10 minutes to get Mrs. Greer calmed down and moving again. When the gate finally closed, Wren sagged against it and pressed a hand to her chest. I thought she was going to push past me and walk straight in. We need to be more careful. That night, Zio ran a fever. The scales lost their color. He cried and cried, and every tear that fell hit the water as a pearl. Ren paced in circles, barely holding herself together. My lady, we have to get a physician. We have to. We can't. The moment a physician sees that tail, we're all three dead. I thought hard. The old fisherman in town talked sometimes about a kind of seagrass that grew deep in the rocks at the eastern reef. Good for anything, they said. Yours what you can't name. It was desperate. It was the only thing I had. I left Zio with Wren, took a lantern and went out into the dark.

No! I fought, two guards grabbed my arms and held. I could only watch as Quinn kicked open my gate and went inside. "Get off me! Get all of you! Let go! " My voice cracked. I didn't stop. Princess Marion covered her smile with one hand. "Lia, you're finished. " The king does not forgive betrayal. You know this. And you didn't just betray him. You brought some other man's bastard into the palace. I closed my eyes. "Do you know what they do to traitors here? Do you want me to list the options? " Quinn came back out. "My lady. "The house is empty. Empty? That's not possible. A woman and an infant don't vanish. Search every house on this street, pull up the floors if you have to. Find them! My heart was in my throat. Where had Wren taken him? Princess Merin drifted over to me unhurried and smiled. Don't worry, Lyra. The best part is still coming. When we find that child, I'm gonna make you watch him die. I snapped my eyes open and stared at her. You wouldn't dare. Her smile didn't waver. Wouldn't I? A guard came running back. My lady, we found them, abandoned chapel on the west road. Bring them. Princess Marren straightened. I felt the bottom fall out of everything. Two guards came through the crowd with Ren between them, her hair loose, a cut on her face, Zio bundled tight in her arms. Then saw me and started crying Princess Merin crossed to her and snatched the bundle out of her arms "Let me see this child" She pulled back the blanket. then she screamed.