The Song Of The Wolf (Unedited)

Chapter Twenty-Three

The delivery had been a learning curve, one that had nearly cost the baby's life. He had been breech and would have surely died, had he been left to his own devices. When Maebh told Benjamin and his soulbond, Zahra, the bad news; family members and others present started throwing around the term natural selection like a demonic mantra.

After reassuring the completely panic-stricken parents-to-be that everything was going to be alright, Maebh had banned every protesting witness to the hallway and promptly locked the door to bar them from reentering.

Unfortunately, she did not possess the equipment to perform a caesarean section, let alone the knowledge to do it safely. So instead, Maebh spent more than an hour trying to massage the baby back into the right position. And did so successfully.

Considering Zahra was nearly 8 centimetres dilated when Maebh arrived, it was a gods sent miracle the soulbond ignored the near-to unstoppable urge to start pushing. In the end, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy –who they named Ghaleb, meaning victorious in Zahra's native Arabic.

As soon as Maebh exited the chambers after delivering the placenta and stitching Zahra's torn skin, a horde of guards took her to see Maccon. She already knew what their talk would entail, or rather what it would revolve around. Maebh found herself in the front room of what she assumed was the king and queen's private apartment. Richly decorated in reds and golds and opulent materials, with Maccon himself stood in its midst –dressed in a heavy bathrobe. No sooner than the door had closed, the king who had grown somewhat fond of her; raged, droning on and on about traditions and again, natural selection. Maebh took the figurative beating without protest. As the childbearer, she knew that the royal family couldn't truly punish her, and so she fully took the blame –out of fear of what might befall Benjamin and Zahra. Mentally, she was rolling her eyes at all the bullshit Maccon was spewing. However intimidating the king may be, she stood by her point.

The ridiculous ban on maternity help would be the first thing to change once she became queen. It took a second for the Freudian slip to click and when it did, Maebh recoiled in horror. She tried to banish the image of her as queen to the furthest hollows of her mind but the damage had already been done.

"This will not be happening again."

Maebh blinked, having momentarily forgotten she was still getting lectured. "I don't expect there will be a next time, but if there is, I am not willing to have the weight of a dead baby on my conscience."

The king pinched the bridge of his nose. "Save your blabbering for my wife. Warin!" He called to the only remaining guard by the door. "Escort the Childbearer to her chambers."

The guard gestured for her to exit but Maebh wasn't about to leave without emphasising her attitude to the issue.

"I read in the archives that the number of lycans have been declining over the past three centuries. There's no doubt you're aware of this so I do wonder why you would latch on to such a barbaric custom when you're a dying race."

The king's hunched form exuded an animosity that was like acid. "Mind your tone, girl."

Reading his monarch's face as hostile, the guard became a little more persistent in attempting to steer her out of the room.

"Please consider changing the law." Maebh knew she was pressing her luck.

"Warin!" That was all the permission the guard needed to guide her out of the room with a determined hand pressing at her back.

"Wait! Will you-"

The slamming of the door rudely announced the end of their discussion.

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