Free Web NovelChapter 19: Episode 019: Penalty Given
Rue pulled Caius out of the water with all her strength.
The heavy, soaked fabric of his dark pants weighed him down like a solid iron anchor. Her tiny hands slipped repeatedly on his wet, cold skin. She dug her bare heels into the muddy bank, gritted her teeth, and pulled again.
Her pregnant body screamed in protest, her muscles burning with the intense, sudden effort. She finally dragged his massive, dead-weight torso onto the flat, jagged rocks near the edge of the deep pool.
She scrambled over him, her chest heaving violently. Water dripped from her silver hair directly onto his pale, still face. She slapped his cheek. Hard. The loud smack echoed over the rushing waterfall. He didn’t move.
[What are you doing? Will slapping him wake him up?]
Is this not how you do it?
[...]
Panic, raw and entirely unfamiliar, clawed at her throat. She pressed her hands flat against the centre of his broad chest and pushed down with her entire body weight.
Oh fuck it! Since it has come to this! ƒгeewebnovёl.com
She pinched his nose, covered his cold mouth with hers, and blew a desperate breath of air into his lungs.
Nothing happened.
She pushed on his chest again. One. Two. Three.
"Breathe," she sobbed out.
Her vision blurred heavily with hot tears. She hit his thick chest with a closed fist, abandoning all her previous actions and behaviour.
"Wake up, you stupid snake."
She sat back on her heels. The water roared loudly behind them. He remained perfectly still. She wiped her nose — a complete, miserable crying mess, and started cursing him. She cursed his tail, his damp cave, and his unfairly handsome face. She cursed him for leaving her alone. freeweɓnovel.cøm
Then, Caius jerked. He coughed out a mouthful of river water.
Rue froze completely. Her shaking hands hung suspended in the air.
Caius wiped his mouth. He looked up at her from the wet rocks. His golden eyes perfectly clear and highly alert. A slow, deeply amused smile spread across his sharp jaw. Then, he actually started laughing. The dark sound vibrated in his chest.
"Still trying to deny your feelings?" Caius asked smoothly.
Rue stared down at him. The sheer, suffocating panic in her chest flatlined instantly. Her racing heart stopped pounding. The realisation hit her straight to the skull.
He faked it.
He faked drowning just to test her. He risked her stress and the baby’s safety just to prove a point about her emotions. Her face fell. The warm, terrifying emotions vanished, instantly replaced by anger and disappointment.
Caius stopped laughing immediately, as soon as he saw the violent shift in her expression. He knew that maybe this time, he had taken things a little bit too far.
"You think it’s funny?" she coldly asked.
A thick, hot drop of liquid fell from her nose and hit her white dress. Then another. Right before his very eyes, she started bleeding heavily from her nose. The bright red blood poured down her chin and stained her collarbone.
Caius sat up fast. The smug confidence was wiped clean off his face.
"No. No, no, no," he begged, reaching for her.
The last thing Rue saw was his absolutely panicked face before her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed onto the wet stones.
Caius cursed himself loudly.
He cursed the water, his own arrogance, and his desperate need for validation. He scooped her limp, fragile body into his arms and ran. He moved faster than he had ever moved in his entire life, completely ignoring the sharp branches whipping against his skin.
The dark trees of the Ironwood territory blurred past him.
He burst through the front door of their wooden cabin and placed her gently on the massive bed. He didn’t mean to call anyone for help. He just let out a desperate, roaring pulse of distress through the mate bond that rippled across the entire swamp. It was a general’s distress call, loud and undeniable.
The palace heard it.
Within minutes, Queen Tanith, Iris, and Gianna rushed through the cabin door. Caius absolutely hated crowds in his territory, but he didn’t stop them. He stepped back against the wall. He was dripping wet and visibly shaking.
Not because of the cold but out of fear.
Iris moved first. She placed her hands gently over Rue’s hand to diagnose the issue. "She is burning up from the inside," Iris said quietly.
"Tanith, hold her for me." Tanith moved to do what she was told without question.
Iris cut her palm with a blade before anyone could stop her and pushed it into Rue’s parted lips. It stabilised the violent, raging anger tearing through Rue’s nervous system. The bleeding from her nose finally stopped. Her breathing evened out into a shallow rhythm. But her pink eyes remained firmly shut. She did not wake up.
Tanith turned to Caius and stepped directly into his personal space. She pointed a single, sharp finger at his chest.
"You took a pregnant rabbit to the deep waters?" Tanith hissed, her green eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. "How could you be so foolish? Are you the Left General of my army, or are you a foolish hatchling?"
Caius looked at the floorboards. He had absolutely no defence. He had acted out of pure, selfish desperation, and it broke her.
Gianna stood quietly in the corner of the room. The normally loud, energetic princess was completely silent. She watched Rue’s chest slowly rise and fall. Gianna twisted a strand of her green hair. She hoped the rabbit would get better soon.
There was nothing more the royal sisters could do. They had done everything they could. Now they just had to wait. The three ladies left the cabin to give them space.
Rue did not wake up for another week.
Inside her mind, it was completely dark.
Rue floated in an empty black void. She couldn’t move her arms or her legs. She could only watch the massive glowing blue screen hovering directly in front of her face.
She had made a highly specific deal with the Baby System back in the cave. She agreed to give birth, as long as it provided comfort, gave her a no-falling-in-love skill, and absolutely never took her memories.
She broke the primary rule. She fell in love, and now the skill deactivated. The penalty was due.
What Rue feared would happen actually happened.
The screen flickered. A video started playing. It was a memory. Her mother was standing in a bright kitchen on Earth, laughing as she stirred a pot of soup. It was the warmest, safest memory Rue owned. It was the anchor to her humanity.
Then, static crawled across the image. The sound of her mother’s laugh distorted into a robotic screech. The face blurred out entirely. The bright colours drained away into dead grey pixels.
Stop, Rue tried to scream in her mind.
The screen shifted indifferently. Another memory played. The day her father taught her how to ride a bicycle in the park. The feeling of the warm wind. The proud, smiling look on his face.
Static ate that memory too. It wiped the green park grass. It deleted her father’s face permanently. The memory dissolved into complete blackness.
"No..." Rue spoke in a strained whisper, her eyes wide and her heart hurting.
The system was actively clearing her most cherished memories. The only two anchors she had left to her past human life were being actively destroyed. And Rue could only watch it happen. She couldn’t look away. She couldn’t fight back.
The screen turned a bright, solid red.
[PENALTY GIVEN]
Rue felt a hollow, gaping hole tear open in her chest. The anger flared so hot it physically burned. She cursed at the system. She threw every vile, hateful word she knew at the glowing text.
The system didn’t care.
[You brought this upon yourself, Host.]
Rue woke up with a massive gasp. Her eyes flew open. She sucked in a huge breath of air like she was drowning. The first person she saw was Caius.
She didn’t ask to be here...
He was sitting in a wooden chair pulled right up to the edge of the bed. He looked terrible. His dark hair was a tangled mess. He had deep, dark circles under his golden eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days.
But when he saw her open her eyes, his entire face lit up. He was so incredibly happy that he jumped out of the chair and leaned over the mattress. He showered her face with desperate, gentle kisses, her forehead, her cheeks, her jaw. He looked at her with so much pure, unfiltered love that her heart ached.
"I am so sorry, Rue..." Caius whispered against her skin, his voice thick with relief. "I was a fool."
Rue lay perfectly still on the pillows. She felt completely empty inside. Those memories were permanently gone. And it was entirely his fault. If he hadn’t played that stupid trick, she wouldn’t have panicked. She wouldn’t have broken the rule.
She refused to look at him. She stared straight up at the wooden ceiling. Her face was completely blank. Her voice was dead.
"Get out. I don’t want to see your face."
