Aeromancist (Seven Forbidden Arts 3)

He pursed his lips. “I’m not leaving you.”

The support he offered was born from duty instead of care. It wasn’t the kind of support she needed.

“If it wasn’t for this pregnancy, you wouldn’t be here right now,” she said. “By choice, you would’ve never seen me again. That’s what the contract was for.”

“Katherine,” he said, palms spread to the ceiling.

“Tell me, Lann. The truth.”

He hung his head. “I didn’t plan on seeing you again, but only because I didn’t want to ruin your life.”

“Then don’t,” she said. “See yourself out.”

“No.”

She got to her feet. “It wasn’t a request.”

“Katherine—”

“I need time.” It was too much to absorb. “Please.”

When he didn’t budge, she walked to her room, and closed her door. She leaned on it until she heard a click followed by the fading sound of his footsteps on the landing.

After two days of isolating herself, ignoring Lann’s calls and messages, there was a soft knock on Kat’s bedroom door.

“Kat?” Diana called.

Kat hadn’t told her friend what Lann had said. She’d been thinking about her options. There really was only one decision to make. She’d researched for two days. There was no doubt in her mind what Lann said was true. The choice was her life or their child’s. Either way, someone had to die. By her conscious choice. By her hand. A shiver ran over her.

“Kat?” Diana’s persistent knocking pulled her back to the moment.

She closed the reports on forbidden arts on her laptop, and smoothed down her hair. “Come in.”

Her roommate entered, but she wasn’t alone. With her was a tall, slender woman with short hair, styled to look messy, dressed in a sleeveless black dress.

Diana’s shrug was apologetic. “I brought a visitor.”

“Hi, Kat,” the woman said in a melodic voice. “I’m Eve. I’d like to talk to you.”

Kat turned in her chair, her body tensing. “Who are you?”

Eve nodded at Diana, and when the latter left the room with a solemn face, Eve sat down on Kat’s bed.

“I’m Lann’s doctor.” Kat opened her mouth, but Eve lifted her hand. “Just listen before you make any judgment. Lann told me that you’re pregnant, and that you’re claiming the baby is his.”

“He still doesn’t believe me?”

“He does, and so do I, even if, from a medical perspective, it’s impossible to explain. I’ve personally conducted the fertility tests on Lann. This morning’s analysis shows a reversal, an abnormally high sperm count, and I want to do more tests to determine what’s going on. In the meantime, Lann told me you know what will happen?”

She couldn’t keep the bitterness from her tone. “So, he sent you here for the tests? To find out what went wrong?”

“He’s worried about you. He said you refuse to speak to him or see him. Lann called me just after you told him the news. I came as fast as I could. I’m based in Paris, so it took me a day to move appointments, and another to get here. I’m here because no other doctor will be able to help you.”

“Why not?”

“The vitals of a forbidden arts fetus are not the same as that of a normal baby. Any other gynecologist may mistake the higher heart rate as abnormal, and request treatments that will be harmful to both you and the baby.”

“And you specialize in this?”

“I do. I’d like to examine you, to make sure you’re healthy.”

“What about the baby?”

“I’ll check the baby too.” Her expression turned somber. “But you have to know that if you let the baby grow inside of you, you will die, Kat. We don’t know why yet, but there’s no cure. There’s nothing we can do for the mother.”

“I’ve been reading up. Why is there nothing, no theory, to explain the death occurrence?”

“No one has ever had the opportunity of doing tests on a pregnant mother or monitor an actual birth. All we know is that the baby’s body produces antibodies that attack those of the mother at birth, or at least that’s the theory. We’re still trying to work it out.”

“We can try, right?” Kat asked hopefully. “We can give it a chance?”

“I haven’t had any cases to work with. As you can appreciate, there aren’t women pregnant with forbidden babies. Those who gave birth were ignorant of their fate. Most of them didn’t know they were expecting special babies. All I’ve got to work with is theory.”

“So you need me as a kind of experiment?”

“Whatever data I can gather from your case study will help women like you in the future.” She added quickly, “Just until the abortion. I’m not asking you to sacrifice your life for science.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to work out why Lann could suddenly make me pregnant?”

“Yes. I’d like some blood, saliva, and vaginal samples to try and figure out what happened between you and Lann that reversed the infertility, but this isn’t only about research. I’d like to make sure you’re not in any immediate danger.”