CHAPTER FIFTY TWO

The connection cut suddenly.

No. Please, no more.

This had to have been the fortieth time, but it never got easier. Only harder.

I could feel the twins kicking against my stomach walls. They could sense it coming, too.

I closed my eyes, waiting for what I presumed was the slut undressing for my mate.

She was beautiful. Maybe he was enjoying it.

No.

I shook my head, ashamed of my thoughts. Each time we spoke, I heard it. He was just as miserable as I was. I had been brought under excruciating pain forty times, but he had been raped forty times, knowing that it was hurting me.

My Bastion was so loving and sensitive. He would have been dying inside each and every time.

But sometimes I thought it would be easier if he was doing it on purpose. At least that way I could be angry at him for it. But instead I felt pity. Deep sorrow combined with concern for my mate. My love.

Suddenly, I picked up on a faint but familiar scent. My eyes shot open and I leaned forward on my elbows.

"Lysander?" I breathed out.

Neither Jesse nor I had been able to reach either god since his warning on the terrace.

I wanted to be angry, to shout at him for his absence, but something stopped me.

He stood perfectly still, dressed in all black instead of the usual white linen and blue trousers. His eyes were sunken, and he had his hands clasped in front of him.

Our eyes met and he didn't bother attempting a smile. No.

"Rory," I choked, my eyes still fixed on Lysander as my hand clumsily sought out my royal. He jumped as soon as I touched him, drowsily turning to face me.

"Love, are you okay?"

"He's here." His eyes flickered to where I was staring, and to my utter shock, they found something.

"That's him. Lord Lysander," he uttered in disbelief, rubbing his eyes as if he was hallucinating.

Lysander revealed himself to Rory.

Shit.

The feeling of dread seemingly passed from me to Rory, and he darted for his phone.

"Doctor, room now!" He shouted.

And then, it started.

Wails of agony filled the room before I could even feel the pain. It didn't take long for it to surface, though, and I cried as my body thrashed against the sheets, mussing them.

Throbbing yet searing pain tore at my insides, and I could feel my lungs shrivel.

Within seconds, I was surrounded.

My mind was blurring, and all I could focus on was trying to breathe through the pain. An oxygen mask was pulled over my face and an IV was quickly inserted into my arm to deliver heavy doses of morphine and antiarrhythmics.

Rory pulled me against him, holding me tenderly as the doctor worked.

My pulse sped up before beginning to drop quickly.

"Doctor!" Rory shouted.

"She's not breathing, King. She's suffocating!" She replied, already preparing to resuscitate me.

Not again. I couldn't die now. Not yet. My babies. I needed to protect them.

Suddenly, Lysander's voice broke through. My eyes focused in on him standing beside the bed, his form distorting each time the doctor stepped into his space. "Surrender the bond," he demanded solemnly.

What?

"If you want to save them, surrender your bond to Bastion." My bloodshot eyes blinked rapidly.

"Are you fucking crazy?!" Rory shouted for me. Sella was already howling and thrashing at the suggestion.

"Now, Aria."

How?

"Focus on your love for him, and deny it. It will break the bond and free your body."

I was going under. I had seconds to decide before it was too late.

What else could I do? If I died now, so would our children. Would Bastion be able to survive losing all three of us permanently? No. It almost killed him last time.

But what would he think if I cut my ties to him? Our mating bond? The source of our love? Would he feel it? Would it hurt him?

I had to do what was best for our babies, what was best for everyone. I had to believe that Bastion's love for me would persist beyond the bond. I had to believe that he would still want to come back to me.

With tears flowing down my cheeks, I turned to Rory.

He was crying silently as well. He knew my choice.

"I'll find him," he whispered to me, one last promise before I singlehandedly destroyed our love.

I closed my eyes. They were so heavy. With my last ounce of air, I focused on my Bastion.

My dark-haired, hazel-eyed love. The one who kept me safe. The one who completed me.

"Bastion. I don't love you." The words echoed in my head, crushing my heart and spirit into tiny pieces and making me question if the physical pain had truly been worse.

"Are you sure?" Luna's detached voice responded.

Why did she need to ask? I swallowed, choking it out one last time.

"I don't love you, Bastion Davis!"

A massive rush of electricity flowed through my every limb, numbing me to the core.

Image after image followed, shaking my soul with each and every memory. The day we met, our swims at the oasis, the day we found out I was pregnant, the picnic at his father's memorial... They were all there, playing like a silent film in my head, going up in smoke before my eyes.

Then, all went silent.

I felt it. The emptiness. The void.

I was mateless.

My eyes sprang open. Rory was holding me, sobbing into my hair and rocking me gently. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," he whispered. I blinked, realizing that I had stained his lap with my tears.

They kept flowing, even though the pain had ceased, as if my body knew what my spirit had already forgotten.

My only love was holding me. I gripped onto him tightly.

I wouldn't lose him, too.

He grasped my face in his large, trembling hands, pulling me in for a passionate and apologetic kiss.

I returned it as much as my body would allow, allowing myself to melt into him.

Then, I felt a small trickle of liquid between my legs.

Rory heard it, and apparently, so did Dr. Michaels.

"Her water broke." The woman spoke almost inaudibly, stunned.

"What?" Rory's shining blue eyes flickered to mine.

"She's going into labor."

Then, more pain racked my body. Why was there always pain? I couldn't handle any more. I felt as if my spine were snapping in two, causing me to cry out into the vaulted ceiling.

"Sleep, Aria." Lysander's smooth and calming voice beckoned to me, and I followed.