Chapter 88 Goodbye Baby.
Theron's POV
I love the smell of darkness, the flow of the midnight wind and the smell of pine in the deep dark forest.
Such was this night, like the universe had arranged such a blissful atmosphere in this dark hour. How ironic.
The baby's cries filled the air. It's quite mysterious how much a tiny creature could make such loud noises. He threw his fist in the air vigorously, like he was fighting to get away from me and return to his mother.
"Mother is far from here, little one, you're with me now," I yawned. He suddenly went silent like he had heard me. His eyes widened as he watched me with awe.
Ah, he got his father's eyes. Ember and fierce.
He studied me as much as I studied him. "You seem to be ready to take me on like your father," I smirked. "He is always out to fight, that one."
The baby smiled and groaned blissfully like I had told a joke.
I stopped walking into the darkness and studied him a bit longer.
"You assume me a clown, little one." I puffed. "It's such a pity your mummy isn't here to see that wide little smile of yours. She will never see it because I told her you're dead."
The sound of the word 'dead' startled him, and he burst out crying again, throwing his fist in the air angrily.
"I know, I know. Nobody likes death." I rolled my eyes, patting him tenderly. He stopped crying, watching me again.
"Who would believe that sounds from your tiny mouth would make the great Theron dismayed?" I frowned. "No wonder your mother would have killed herself to save you. You're such a little wonder."
His eyes widened, and he giggled.
"Self-indulgent, aren't you? Well, at least you got something from me," I smiled.
The midnight owl hooted in the distant trees. A wind from the East followed. My eyes lowered to the boy again. "Its time for you to go, little wonder."
The darkness swallowed me as I entered the deepest recesses of the forest. It was here that my mother and I fled when Darian cast us out to starve.
She didn't deserve the fate I brought upon her. Despite working hard over the years, fighting for our survival and building a kingdom from scratch, a part of me still ached for the fate I had brought upon her.
A fate no woman ever has to go through for any man, be it her husband or son. My eyes lowered to the baby almost instinctively.
Such was Amarien's fate. The pain and disaster Darian brings to women seems to flow to his sons and grandsons. Amarien would have gone to an early grave to save her child.
The thought of it brought a dark anger in my heart. The father of the child could as well prance around the throne with his little crown and his fancy robes, yet he won't even look back at the woman he loves and the child he left behind.
I wondered if he even knew he had a child.
It's too bad. The child looks so much like him. One would think Daevir reincarnated just looking at this child.
That's why he can't live here in the South.
The baby must go.
My eyes caught the river ahead, and the sensuous wind of the East flowed pleasantly through my ears.
The baby cooed happily, as if he felt it too and loved the sensation just like I did.
"Copycat," I muttered beneath my breath as my boot ground into the soft sand of the beach.
"We are here," I announced, and the baby gave a delightful squeal.
The legends said my mother had brought me here once. To drown me.
I don't blame her.
She had cried to the gods for days to take the cursed child from her. A child who made her lose everything. She would have been the empress of the realm if Darian's seed hadn't produced in her this cursed fate.
Scoff.
She was a coward not to have done that, for the legends say that the moment she stepped into the river to throw the baby in, the gods of the Southern winds whispered the child's fate to her. She was appalled by it that she fell to her knees to worship the child.
I looked down at the baby, "I won't do that."
He, tucked in the wraps of clothes, acknowledged my decision with a short babble.
The child is very powerful. Too powerful, and he knows it.
The goddess of the South with blush at the extent of his power, and I need no foretelling to show me the things he will be if he has the chance to live.
The moment I saw the crescent moon mark on his chest, I knew this was the beginning of the end. The prophecies of old time, veiled and tucked in scrolls over the years, have come true.
This child holds the Blue Crescent seal. And even as I carried him, I could feel his power radiating through my bones. I could feel his pup clawing beneath his flesh, and I could tell his powers would only grow by the day.
That's why he would have killed Amarien at birth if I didn't stand over those midwives with a whip, threatening their lives and livelihood if they let Amarien slip away.
A baby can be reborn in time, but the vessel will never be recovered. Amarien must be saved at the cost of any life.
"Including yours…" I said to the baby. His lips gave a little yawn, and his eyes began blinking slowly.
"Too bad such a tiny little wonder is fated to kill his mother at birth." I spat as my gaze studied the river before me.
The legends have it that the one with the sign of the Blue Crescent comes into the world with a whirlwind force of power that will kill his mother.
It could be at birth or after their birth, before their mother loses their life. Amarien has endured enough suffering to end up with such a fate.
"If only the gods allow fathers to die in place of their children and not mothers," I smirked as I watched him drift off to sleep.
To save Amarien's life, I have to take the child away from her and make sure she never looks at him again. His powers will still haunt her, no matter how grown he is.
He is a danger to her.
Thunderclapped in the distance, and I would have sworn it was Alicia coming in to pay me a visit.
She would be happy to toss the baby into the water and watch the waves slap him off to the depths.
She won't be pleased with Amarien's presence here. Alicia has always been possessive. Too possessive.
Too bad no one can possess the Alpha of the South.
I stepped forward into the river, glad I was all by myself. It would be easier to make this decision without any drama or gloating from anyone around me.
I lowered the basket in my other hand to the sand and placed the sleeping monster in it. Seeing that he was separated from me, the baby's eyes stirred awake, and he began to cry again.
"Shhshh, little wonder. We are off for a sail." I walked further into the river and settled him carefully on the waves that bounced the basket steadily.
He cooed and sucked on his thumb, watching me, as if hoping I would pick him up again. Something in my heart stirred, but I quickly shut it off.
"You don't belong here, child. I'll see you on the other side." I shoved the basket further and watched it float onto the sea
I didn't look back, but I knew as I walked back into the pine forest.
The boy will live.
And he'd be back.