Cruel Empathy ✓

Chapter 20

***Anna***

The room was different. She was in some sort of hut or cottage made of mud rather than the stone room where she had fallen asleep. She was standing near the door, and she could hardly see anything because it was too dark. The rain could be heard pounding on the roof and the wind rattled the trees outside.

She felt a painful stomach cramp in her pelvis that caused her to double over.

She wasn't alone. She heard a woman crying.

There was a shadowy figure near the bed. Fear. She felt an awful wave of fear. Desperation. Another strong cramp hit Anna. The woman cried out.

When the cramp stopped, Anna walked toward her. "What is wrong? Can I help you?" Anna called out. The woman didn't answer.

Anna and the woman both cried out in pain again as the cramp overtook them.

She reached her. She was holding her large pregnant belly. Oh. Anna couldn't identify all of her features. She had long dark hair, maybe? Another cramp overtook her, this one was more severe than before. Alone. She was all alone.

Anna woke with a start. Her head was pounding, her throat was dry, and her body felt weak.

Sera. She had to tell Sera of her dream. Rye was lying next to her in the bed asleep.

Anna pushed roughly on his shoulder. "Rye! Wake up!"

Rye practically jumped. It would have been funny under different circumstances. "What is it? Are you alright?"

"I need to see Sera. Quickly!" Anna said urgently.

Surprisingly, Rye didn't question her. Instead, he jolted out of bed and said, "She is in the room next to us. I will fetch her for you."

A few moments later Rye returned with an exhausted Sera. Anna felt a little guilty, but that poor woman and baby needed her.

"You asked for me, my lady?"

"Umm..." Anna looked anxiously at Rye. Shit. He didn't seem too concerned earlier if Sera suspected she was a mage, but now she would all but confirm it. She swallowed down her uncertainty. "I had a dream...a woman was in labor, but all alone. She was very scared. I think you need to go to her and help her. Would you know who I am talking about?"

Sera gasped in surprise. "It must be Fayla, but she still had time yet. What did the woman look like?"

"It was hard to see her in the dark, but long dark hair, I think. Slender."

"Yes. I think that is her. I'll go to her at once. Thank you, Anna."

"No," Rye growled. Anna and Sera startled in surprise.

"What do you mean, 'no?' I had a dream. This woman, Fayla, needs help," Anna rationalized.

"You need Sera's help. You are not well yet," Rye said sternly.

"Oh my God, Rye! A woman is in labor, scared and alone. Stop being an idiot and let Sera go take care of her. It's not like we are sending her to Jupiter. I'm sure if I need her again she won't be all that hard to find. Besides, I'm feeling better." Better. She felt like roadkill, but Rye didn't need to know that.

Rye paused in contemplation. "Rye! I had a dream for a reason. I don't ignore dreams like this. Ever. Let her go. She needs to hurry," Anna pleaded.

Sera felt bewildered by Anna's tirade, but she also felt profound respect. "I will go. I do not need the warlord's permission on who I treat. The fates have spoken."

"One of my men will escort you. The storm still rages." Rye finally saw the light and lent her his consent. Not that Sera needed it. Anna gave her a mental high-five, Rye could use more people standing up to him.

Rye rushed Sera out so she could make it to Fayla. When he returned he stared intently at her. "Do you need anything?"

"Water." Rye nodded and poured water into a cup and handed it to her. Anna gulped it down quickly and he filled it again.

"Have you had dreams like that before?" Rye inquired. 

"Only two. The last one was several years ago."

"The fates have been known to speak to mages through dreams."

"I never knew it as the fates, but I always assumed it was something divine, like God. I have these intuitions too. I knew about Kalo because I had an intense urge to check in on him. It is almost always to help someone." It felt weird to her that she could finally speak openly about these things.

"You never ignore these intuitions?" How could her conscience ever allow her to ignore it?

"Never. Only once have I regretted it."

"Why?"

"It led me here."

***Ryevin***

To you. Anna didn't say it aloud, but Rye felt the words inside his soul.

Anna had incredible faith. His mother had been known to hear the fates as well, but she had her moments when she ignored them. It was only human to do so. Everyone had selfish wants and desires that would take precedence over a strange inclination.

He did not deserve this woman, and he was starting to question if the fates truly had given her to him.

Thad's words resonated within him. "Just because it has been foretold doesn't mean it will be easy, Rye. You do not want to anger the fates with your callousness." He had been callous. He had believed he could gain her allegiance by doing nothing to earn it.

"Will you ever forgive me?" Rye asked her softly as he sunk into bed next to her. Her eyes were closed, but he knew she was still awake.

"I don't know. Right now I don't want to forgive you. I like hating you. The feeling is new for me."

"You hate me?" Of course she did. He had almost killed her.

She gave a heavy sigh, "I don't know. Sometimes I think I do, sometimes I don't. Right now you are clearly in the 'hate' column."

"How can I change your mind?" He beseeched her, his voice filled with emotion.

"I don't know. It's on you to figure it out. You hurt me, Rye. It isn't even just the poisoning and tricking me. I hate how you act like I'm just supposed to accept you because you say so. Well, I don't. You have given me no reason to. Honestly, we were doomed from the start. You killed Fin. You took me against my will. How am I supposed to ever get over that?"

Rye knew. He knew with absolute certainty what he should do. He had been rebelling against it from the start. He swallowed down his regrets and his pride. He closed his eyes and asked the fates to forgive his obtuseness. He would make it right.

He wasn't sure how his men will react to his decision. They would follow him, or they wouldn't. He didn't care. 

He loved her. She said he couldn't, but she was wrong. He did, and he always would.

He told her he would think on what she had said and bid her goodnight.  He turned and tried not to dwell on his heartbreak before he drifted off to sleep.