Chapter 29

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

Cerran figured it was his job to panic. That's what Triton had said, anyway. One of them had to panic. One of them had to stay calm. He was trying to speak calmly, but Elowyn had been in labor for what seemed like a very long time.

He had no idea how long labor was supposed to last. He hadn't been there when Leilani was born, but it just seemed like it was taking forever, and Elowyn was being stalwart and brave, but he was clearly hurting, and it was time for the babies to come.

"Should I go get Rowan?" he finally asked. He had been putting off asking because Elowyn had been so adamant about his brother not coming. But he'd been pacing and panting and wanting to get in the bath and wanting to get out of the bath, and it just seemed like it was time.

Elowyn glared at him, but finally nodded. "Yes, I think it's probably time to get Rowan."

"Amazing. Fabulous. I'll be right back." Cerran would go get him personally instead of calling. He was sure Rowan was ready to come up anyway, so why not? That way he could get away for just a minute. He could breathe and not stare at poor Elowyn who was just—gods, why had they put them through this?

Triton gave him a slightly disapproving stare. "You could call."

"It'll just be faster if I run. I'll be back." He left the room, and he knew he was a coward, but he had to check on Leilani and then he would go get Rowan.

He found Leilani still sound asleep, which just didn't seem fair because if she had been awake, he could take care of her, feed her, change her, something, anything.

But he left her where she was, in her crib, and he went running. Running and running and running. And he finally found Rowan's apartment. He wasn't sure how, because he had just kind of been moving blindly. It would have been way easier if he could fly, but the halls just weren't big enough to do that.

Cerran knocked on Rowan's door.

Rowan answered, staring at him, looking vaguely surprised to see him there. "Is it time?"

"I think it's past time, Rowan. I think you need to come back with me now."

"Of course. Of course, I'll come. How's he doing?" Rowan grabbed a bag from beside the door.

"It's awful. It's awful," Cerran admitted. "He's hurting and he can't settle and this is terrible. Why does anybody do this? Why would anybody do this?"

It simply didn't make any logical sense.

Rowan patted his arm. "It's all right, Cerran. I swear to you, this is normal. I'm coming." He leaned forward, as if sharing his secret. "He's my brother after all. I would know if he was in distress."

Personally, Cerran thought that Rowan was full of shit.

This was not normal. This was not right.

He was not happy. He wanted his hailee to stop hurting and for those babies to come out right now.

"I just don't understand why they won't come out."

Rowan stared for a second, stopping from where he was gathering up all of his things. There were a lot of things, apparently, that one needed to birth babies.

"That's what they're trying to do, Cerran. Important things take effort."

He nodded like he understood, but he didn't. He simply wanted Rowan up in the apartment so that they could all make sure that Elowyn was all right.

I think perhaps it's time to hurry. That was Triton, and Cerran detected more than an edge of urgency in that normally rough but calm voice. I seem to have a baby's head in my hand.

Oh. Oh, fuck him.

"Now, Rowan, Now, right now." He grabbed Rowan up in a football hold and began to run, knowing that he could move faster through the keep than Rowan ever could. "Triton's holding one of the baby's heads. Now. Now. Now's good."

Rowan seemed remarkably calm given the situation—which was they were flying along the hallway, whacking things with his body which kept trying to grow while he held Rowan and?—

Triton had a baby's head in his hand.

Cerran thought Rowan was obviously either insane, used to this madness, or perhaps somewhere he'd whacked Rowan's head in the flight up to the apartment.

Hopefully not the latter.

He pushed through the door, running straight to their bedroom, where indeed Triton was standing, one baby wrapped in a towel, expression utterly panicked. "Hey. We still have one to go."

"Cerran, dear," Rowan said. "Would you mind terribly putting me down?"

"Oh right. Sorry. I didn't?—"

Cerran sat Rowan on his feet, trying not to look sheepish.

"What took you so long?" Elowyn snapped, staring at Rowan, a great light seeming to emanate from him, a glow that matched his red scales. "I need your help."

Rowan just smiled in his serene way and propped himself up so that he could see what was going on, which Cerran really didn't want to see. He really, really didn't.

"Sorry, brother. However, I came rather quickly, and my ears are still ringing from where Cerran whacked my head on a doorknob."

His cheeks heated. "Sorry. I was in a hurry."

"No real damage done. Okay, brother. You're ready to push again."

What on earth possessed dragons to do this? Cerran knew he'd said that before, but he meant it. He stared at Triton. "We're never, ever doing this again."

Triton laughed and held out the baby, hand cradling her head. "Would you like to hold her?"

"I can't." Cerran absolutely couldn't do it. He stepped back, his heart racing. "No. What if I break her?"

"Trust me, mate, you're not going to break her. They're way more resilient than you think. You know that from Leilani."

"No, you know this is different. This is still… Bloody."

"Cerran. You must get a hold of yourself. This is war, soldier, and I need you to be present."

Cerran's eyes widened, and he took a deep breath. "All right, tell me what you need me to do."

"I need more towels. And Rowan is going to need that hot water to wash his hands."

Cerran kind of chuckled, because he knew that hot water was the way to make somebody busy when they were freaking out. Rowan had explained that to them.

But that was okay, because he was freaking out, so it seemed like hot water was his job now. And that was great. He ran for the kitchen, making sure the pot was on and heating the water, then moved to the hall closet to get more towels.

He just needed something to do.