Page 186 of The Incendiary

He carefully set down his book of spells and closed it. He didn’t even have the courage to look me in the eyes as he quietly answered, “I think you already know.”

My knees crumpled beneath me, I collapsed into a chair, and a low, mournful cry escaped from those agonized depths I’d kept sealed away. Before the will to speak could wither and die, I croaked out, “What did you do with my baby?”

His head dropped between his shoulders. “I did exactly what you begged me to. You begged me to keep it safe from everyone, even you. At all costs.”

Dread twisted in my chest. And rage. And sadness. My hands rested shakily over my chest as I struggled to breathe. “What happened?”

Simeon crossed his arms and looked right past me. “Your labor stopped progressing. The infant got stuck. I’d known midwives to try different methods to encourage stalled labor to continue, but I was no midwife. I had, however, once witnessed a child being cut out of its mother. Both lived, and I knew, given Viridian’s power in your veins, that you would, too. You begged me to act quickly to save it, and that’s exactly what I did.” My uncle shook off a shudder. The uncontrolled emotion was so out of character for him. “You were awake, and you felt everything.”

The ache in my chest slithered down to the base of my torso, biting at my spine the way it always did. A part of me remembered.

“It lived?”

Simeon gave a single, firm nod.

“And you won’t tell me what you did with my own child.”

“Do you think I should?” he retorted.

“Yes!” I cried.

“No.” Cruel. Cold. Heartless. That was truly all he was. “No, Aryella, I should not.”

“How could you⁠—”

“What would have happened to the child of the Butcher and the queen if they knew?” He closed the distance between us and bent down, peering into my watery eyes. “Think, girl! You are smarter than this. Tell me what would have happened to Molochai’s grandchild if the world knew! If Molochai knew!”

“But you kept it—the baby—with me,” I objected. “In whatever coffin you kept me in. I dreamt about it, more than once.”

“Yes.”

“Why?” I begged. “And how long were we together, asleep?”

Simeon stood up straight. “A while.”

I was going to vomit. “You’re sick.” I rose from my chair and staggered away from him. Shera followed, lingering like she might have to catch me at any time. “You’re no better than Molochai.”

“I was protecting you both.”

Even if that had been his true intent, he was wrong. He was so wrong.

“Tell me where my baby is,” I demanded.

“It’s not safe for you to know.”

Flames burned the surface of my skin, threatening to erupt. I wanted, more than nearly anything, to burn him alive right here, in his study. But Simeon was the only one who knew so many things. With this, I was at his mercy.

“Was it a boy or a girl?” I cried weakly.

Simeon sighed. “Do you really want to know these things, Aryella?”

I pictured it with Gavin’s brown eyes but my silver-blond hair. Or maybe the other way around—green eyes and thick brown hair so dark it was nearly black.

Or maybe, hopefully, the child had looked just like him. Maybe there was a part of him—of us—that still existed, generations later, free and unburdened by all of this.

“Did you make sure it was safe?”

“Yes,” my uncle promised.