Chapter 155: Your father is here.

Chapter 155: Your father is here.
~Lyra's POV~

Ever since Hades came to my room six or ten days ago, I have been unable to sleep properly.

I went to Cael and told him everything he told me and Cael told me to consider something that could trigger my powers so I could destroy the crystal which held his power source.

So I went to the garden, the humidity of the weather was a little cold and warm and I kept hearing unnecessary roaring sounds and clashing but I ignored since it's nothing weird here.

I sat in the garden, reading a book that Cael gave me, to while away time when suddenly the pain started.

I ignored the pain but as the second ticked by, the pain got worse. I have been having something, Cael called practice contractions for some days but this was different.

This particular pain or contraction took my breath away.

I pressed my hand against my stomach and felt her moving, as if she was responding to the pain and she knew what was coming.

What's happening? I have never done this? No, calm down Lyra. Panicking won't help. Another round of pain and goddess above or wherever she is, was the pain mind blowing.

My lower abdomen hurts like hell and liquid slid down my thighs. “ Really? You mean I had to urinate right now? Way to go Lyra!”

I tried to stand but I couldn't, I was shaking. "Lauren?" I called out to my wolf in my mind, hoping she might hear me. "Lauren, are you there?"

I got nothing. Just the empty space where her voice used to be. “ Please Lauren, I need you. I don't know what I am doing.”

I still got nothing, I had toughen up myself as I dragged myself to chambers.

Just as I got there, another round contraction hit me that had me resting on the wall, to myself from falling.

My eyes went to black cord of the bell closeby, I quickly pulled on it and the ghost-servants appeared like they had been waiting outside the door the whole time, ready for this moment.

"Get me Hades," I breathe out, as I count numbers in my mind while trying to breathe and not black out. "T-tell him, my baby is coming… it's starting."

They disappeared without speaking.

For a moment I was alone with the pain and the terror. Alone with the knowledge that a god was going to watch me give birth.

That he was going to see this moment that was supposed to be private and sacred and completely mine.

Hades appeared before I could spiral too far into my panic.

He wasn't in his traveling clothes like he always is or even his divine form. He was just there, looking down at me with pitch white eyes.

He looked like he had roughly thrown on clothes with how disheveled he looked.

He leaned down a little to my level. "How long?" he asked.

"I don't know," I said, as another contraction hit, I staggered to the bed and grabbed the sheets, holding on like they could save me from this pain.

I am never having a pup again after this one. Never again, this pain is too much.

Hades looked at me, there was genuine confusion in his eyes which irked me. Why was he just standing there? "I've never done this before,” I hissed out, frustrated that he wasn't doing anything.

"Neither have I," he shot back.

He pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down. He didn't sit like he normally does, in an arrogant stance like he was doing me a favour.

No, he freaking looked as scared as I was and his hands were shaking. I screamed as another contraction ripped through me.

“ F-fuccccccckkkk…” I screamed as tears streamed down my face.

He wiped my face with a wash cloth that I didn't know where it came from. “ Stop cursing, I thought cursing was bad around children.”

I don't know if he meant well or not but his words irritated me badly. “ Shut the fuck, you mother fucking monstrous egostical god! I won't be here suffering this if you didn't drag me away from people that truly know what they are doing!”

He didn't respond, which was weird, I couldn't say anything again as the pain became overwhelming and kept encouraging me to push.

I grabbed onto and made sure to draw blood with my fingers. The labor was long.

Hours of pain that didn't make sense. My body was trying to do something that felt impossible.

Every contraction brought me closer to death that I couldn't stop. I screamed until I lost my voice.

I cried for Lauren, Ragel, and everyone my muddled mind could remember. I cursed at him again but he never said anything.

Between contractions, when I could breathe, I asked him questions for the reasons why he was wicked but instead of answering.

"What's her name?" he asked instead during one of my contraction breaks.

"I don't know yet," I growled. My whole body was shaking from exhaustion and pain. "I've never thought about this before. I never thought I would be here. Ragel would have had the perfect name."

His jaw tightened but he didn't say anything to that. "You should decide before she comes," he mumbles. "So she's real from the moment she exists. It's good to have a name waiting for her."

I thought about that while the pain built again. About the fact that my daughter was going to be born in this place.

Born to an Underworldlian and a werewolf. Born under a blood moon in a realm that didn't follow rules.

Three and a half years ago, I thought I would be having happy morning tea with my ex-husband, Lewis and my family that loves me but look at me now.

If I was going to name her, then I would name her after the innocent woman whose life was cut short at fifty five.

"Arianna," I gasped out. "Her name is Arianna."

"Like your mother," Hades said, nodding.

I looked at him. "How do you know…"

"I know everything about you," he shot back. "I've known everything since the moment I decided you were going to be mine."

Before I could respond to that, another contraction hit and this one felt different.

I could tell, it was the final one. This one felt like my body was ready to open up.

"She's coming," I screamed.

"I know," Hades replies. He stood up and moved to the foot of the bed. "We are going to push again, Lyra. On the next contraction, you must push."

I didn't argue. I didn't have the strength to argue with a god about how to birth his child.

The contraction came and I pushed with everything I had. I felt my body do something I never thought it was capable of.

I felt the tearing and pressure and then suddenly relief and then a loud baby cry as my eyes slowly began to shut.

No, I must stay awake! I do not trust this god. A small baby's cry, filled with outrage and the most beautiful sound I had ever heard in my entire life filled the room.

Hades caught her before she could fall.

His hands, which I had seen do terrible things in my imagination, were surprisingly gentle.

He held her like he understood exactly how delicate she was. Like she mattered more than anything else in the universe.

He placed her on my chest.

The moment she touched me, something in my chest broke open.

I looked down at her and she was red and covered in blood and absolutely perfect.

Red hair. Real red hair like mine. And when she opened her eyes, they were pure gold. Not green like mine. Not black like Ragel. But pure gold like something divine lived inside her.

"Arianna," I whispered. Her name felt right. It felt like naming her made her real in a way she hadn't been before.

She was so tiny. Her fists were tiny and perfect. Her fingers were complete even though she was only minutes old.

She was breathing and crying and looking for something that only I could give her.

I adjusted her and she patched onto what she was looking for and suddenly nothing else mattered.

Not where I was. Not who her father was. Not the blood moon or the ritual or any of it.

Just this. Just her and the fact that she existed and she was whole and she was mine.

Hades was still standing at the foot of the bed.

He was looking at Arianna with an expression I couldn't read. Something between wonder and hunger and something I didn't have a name for.

His hands were still trembling when he reached out like he wanted to touch her.

I pulled her closer to me.

He stopped, he didn't push. He just withdrew his hand and stepped back.

"Blood moon born," he mumbles. His voice sounded different with a reverent tone. "Like her mother and even stronger. I can feel it already. The power is already there."

I didn't respond. I was too busy holding my daughter and looking at her face.

I was trying to understand that she was real and she was mine and nothing could change that.

I was so focused on her that I almost missed it.

A distant roaring sound. But growing closer with the sound of fighting. The sound of people running. The sound of violence approaching my locked chamber.

Hades' entire body went very stiff.

His head turned toward the door like he was listening to something I couldn't hear.

His expression hardened. The almost-gentle god became wild looking.

"They're here," he said.

His eyes went full black. His power gathered around him like a storm preparing to break.

He moved toward the door with the strides of someone about to go to war.

"Lock the door," he said to me. "Don't open it for anyone but me. The palace won't let them reach you, but don't open it."

"Hades, you can't…" I started.

"Don't," he said. His voice was sharp. "Not now. I am trying to protect you and her. But while I go fight, you must protect her."

He left before I could say anything else.

The door locked behind him. I sat in the bed with Arianna on my chest and listened to the sounds of fighting get closer.

Explosions of power and shouting. I held my daughter tighter.

"It's okay," I whispered to her even though it wasn't. "Your father's coming. He's coming to get us."