ALMOST
BELLA
"Bella, the call came through. Karline." Carmen said from the door. "It's time."
I rose from where I had been crouching to rearrange the bottles and went to get my satchel and the things I'd kept ready for Karline's delivery. We were prepared for this, the ruptured vessel had been the warning and an early birth had been likelier than not.
Carmen and I notified the Guard where we'd be and made for Karline's as swiftly as we could. Damian and their parents were waiting for us, the latter looking anxious, the former trying not to but failing. I smiled at him and squeezed his arm as we went into Karline's room.
"Hey Kals." I said softly to my friend, who was lying back against the pillows looking flushed and a little tired but otherwise healthy. "Ready?" She nodded, looking at me, her eyes a little fearful but resolute. I'd worked to reassure her for the past weeks, sharing techniques to keep her calm and centred for this very time.
I set my satchel down on the same table I recognised from that awful night over a month ago now. This time, they were ready for us, sheets, hot water, towels, everything we needed. Carmen looked over at me and nodded.
"Let's get this show on the road."
OOOOOOOOOO
5 hours later, as we came into night, I had a tiny but healthy and very vocal babe in my arms.
"Well done, Karline." Carmen said as she removed the afterbirth and changed Karline, smiling.
"And?" Karline said weakly, looking over at me where I was cleaning up the babe.
"She's a darn sight prettier than you." I said as I smiled gently at her.
"She." Karline swallowed, tears in her eyes. "A daughter."
"A beautiful one." I said softly, looking down at the solemn blue eyes, so like Karline's, a lump in my throat. I swaddled her and brought her over to her mother. Karline was entranced from the moment I placed the newest Clan member into her arms.
"Damian." Karline said suddenly, looking up at me.
"I'll get him." I touched her hair gently and went out of the room into the corridor where they were all waiting.
"Your mate and daughter are ready for you, Damian." I said smiling at him. His eyes widened at my words and for a moment he was motionless. Then he caught me up in a bear hug, squashed the life out of me before setting me down and rushing into the room. I chuckled as I watched him go and turned back to congratulate their parents and reassure them that both babe and mother were well and the delivery had gone as expected, no complications.
It was quiet when Carmen and I made our way back to Clanholding, having left instructions with the many carers who remained with Karline and the babe. I was planning to return in the morning.
As I lay in my bed, tired but satisfied, I felt a sense of sadness. I would not see this child grow up.
I had been careful since the attempted abduction two weeks ago. On my next visit back to my hiding place, I had scanned and kept scanning the area and had gone in and out quickly, moving my travel pack to an area that had multiple access routes and was still hidden. I doubted I'd see my captors again - no one would be stupid enough to linger, surely, but I couldn't take the risk.
And all along, I had continued behaving as normal, running the surgeries, attending to the patients we had, tending the herb garden and creating what we needed in the stillroom. As if I wasn't about to leave it all behind me.
Karline's delivery. I'd promised I'd stay to see her through it, my last thanks for her friendship over the years. When I'd looked down at that tiny face, I had blessed it with all my heart and been glad I'd seen her before I went.
And now, I let myself think of all the people, the friends, that I would be leaving behind. I would miss them but I knew I lived on the edges of their lives anyway and while they might miss me, they had their own lives and families. I was the one without family, the child found wandering and abandoned in the forest. The Clan couple who had fostered me for 7 years had died of old age when I was still a child. I had no ties left and no reason to stay. The Clan had done their best to embrace me, but I had always felt different, apart, aware that I wasn't born in the Clan. There was a bigger world out there. And maybe somewhere, I'd find where I belonged.
I was ready to go.
I'd wondered if I'd be more afraid, nervous, the closer I got to departure. I'd wondered if I'd change my mind. But nothing had changed. Not even knowing about Edward had tempted me to do that.
I won't deny I felt guilty about Edward. It had been so much easier when I hadn't known who my mate was. Putting a face on him, getting to know him, had made me feel awful. The weariness on his face when I'd last seen him caused me to toss in my bed every night.
But not enough to stay.
OOOOOOOOOO
"You're doing just fine, Karline." I said, lowering her robe after checking her the next morning. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I pushed a female out of me." She said, grinning. She looked well rested and recovered to my eye. I smiled.
"Did you have the broth I left?" She made a face and then held her hands up in surrender as I gave her a warning look. "No wisecracks. I was so tempted to add horse semen to it."
Damian laughed from behind me.
"I'd pay to see that." He said, amused, as he gently rocked his daughter in his arms.
"Whose side are you on anyway?" Karline groused as they grinned at each other and my heart clenched seeing them, glad to see them so happy.
"I think you two need a room." I said as I took the babe from Damian to check her up.
"Not for a long time." Karline snorted. "I've just spent time pushing out the result of the last time we were in a room." I chuckled as I unwrapped the swaddled child, running my hands gently over her as she watched me with those solemn blue eyes.
"What are your parents like, little one?" I murmured. "You're going to have to teach them how to behave." I chucked her on the chin and she sneezed at me. I chuckled again. "Glad you agree with me." I wrapped her up and looked up to see Damian and Karline looking at me, their eyes gentle and loving. "What?" I picked her up and rocked her as I came to sit down on the bed next to Karline.
They looked at each other and then Damian nodded at Karline.
"Tell her."
"Tell me what?" I looked from one to the other enquiringly.
"We're naming her Belle." Karline said softly.
It took me a moment to find my voice.
"And you agreed to this?" I looked at Damian.
"He's the one who suggested it." Karline said, placing her hand on my knee. I shook my head.
"We decided on the name weeks ago." Damian said
"Besides, it suits her." Karline stroked her daughter's head as the tiny one looked up at me from my arms. "Belle, the blessed one."
OOOOOOOOOO
When I returned to Healer's, I noticed that the treatment room was in use so I went directly to the stillroom. As I unpacked my satchel, I heard Carmen and Leader Ephraim's voices. I was about to leave to avoid eavesdropping - and then I heard something that made my stomach drop.
"...aronel? That's such an obscure and rare herb, Ephraim. I'd remember if anyone had asked me for it or asked about it. Not that we could help, we don't even have it."
"What about Bella?"
"It would be more natural to ask her, she's the Herbalist after all. I can check with her."
My blood ran cold.
I slipped into my chambers and leaned against the door. Just in time, there was a knock and I heard Carmen's voice.
"Bella, are you in there?" I took a deep breath before I opened the door.
"Just got back from Karline's. Leader Ephraim." I greeted him with a nod, concentrating on keeping my hands steady.
"Bella, random question. Has anyone every approached you for or asked you about aronel?" Carmen raised an eyebrow. I frowned.
"Aronel? That's pretty obscure. Mauve flowers?" I pretended to give it thought. "No, I can't say anyone has. I'd remember, it's not a common one. We don't grow it in our garden or keep any stock. Why?"
"Where would someone get it if they wanted to find it?" Leader Ephraim ignored my question and asked one of his own.
"Well, it doesn't grow wild in our forest or I'd have come across it. And I don't know of any herbalists in town that stock it but I can ask."
"Oh, Leader Ephraim has already sent Guard to do that." Carmen said.
"What's this about?"
"Volterra are asking." She said, exchanging a look with Ephraim.
I knew then. Healer Charis. She'd sent word.
"Come with me, you two. You need to hear this." Leader Ephraim said suddenly. With legs that felt weak and nausea rising in me, I followed them to the Council chambers, where the rest of the senior Council were gathered.
"Be seated, my Lords." Leader Ephraim said, and the others took their seats while Carmen and I stayed standing by the back of the room.
"I have summoned you hear because Volterra has sent word and it is rather urgent. It concerns Edward, Clan Leader's son. He has a mate-" He held his hand up as some of the Council began to applaud, "-but the mate is hiding."
A stunned silence greeted his words, while I tried not to throw up.
"What do you mean 'hiding'?" One Council member asked faintly. Multiple members began speaking at once.
"That's not possible."
"They must be mistaken."
"How did they find this-"
Leader Ephraim gestured for silence, waiting for them to quieten before he spoke again.
"It's a long story, but there is no mistake. It has been verified by Healer Charis, from Clan Petral, the wisest and most senior Healer alive. Edward's mate is hiding. It is imperative we find whoever it is. Volterra are notifying us so we can help."
"I mean, of-course, we will, we are bound by loyalty to do so, but I'm curious as to why?" Someone asked. "What's the urgency?"
"What I'm about to share doesn't leave this room." Leader Ephraim looked intently around the table. "The news of Edward having a mate is no longer a secret. Intelligence has indicated that there are those who are looking for his mate to use as leverage against Clan Leader Carlisle and Edward. Threaten the mate's life and you threaten the Clan."
That's what they'd been doing. Abducting potential mates and checking for their mate marks. That's what they'd been looking for. It made sense now. Although I had no idea why they'd picked whom they'd picked to abduct.
"There is a security risk, not to mention the safety of Edward and his mate." Leader Ephraim was saying, "We, the Clan leadership, have to find his mate before anyone else does."
Oh God, NO.
Several Council members were nodding, while others looked troubled. Leader Ephraim took a breath.
"There is another, even more urgent concern. While we don't know why the mate hides, Healer Charis was able to tell us a possible how they're doing it." He glanced at Carmen. "A herbal mixture, whose recipe she has not yet determined, but which would definitely contain one herb - a rare one called aronel. Aronel is a poison. We have no idea what Edward's mate is doing with this, there is a risk to their health."
All my nightmares had come true.
Healer Charis had almost figured it out. Aronel was the first step to the truth.
I tuned back into the conversation around me, realising suddenly that one of the Council was asking me something.
"...Healer Isabella?" They all looked at me.
"Sorry, I didn't hear you."
"I wondered whether you've prepared this mixture for someone, you're the herb expert."
"I definitely haven't prepared it for anyone," else, "And where the hell would I even get aronel? It's not like it grows in the middle of the cabbage patch, Councillor." I said, shaking my head.
"Bella." Carmen nudged me. I raised my hands in apology.
"Where would anyone find it?"
"Not around here. It's not native to Forks, at least." I said.
"They must be growing it in a private garden." Carmen said thoughtfully. My stomach lurched again.
"How would they even know about aronel? Don't you have to know about herbs for that?"
"Yes, how would anyone know enough herb lore to prepare something like that, something even the most experienced Healer hasn't heard about?"
"They must have learned it from a tome somewhere."
"I assure you that no such tomes exist." Carmen said firmly, glaring at the Council member who had spoken. "Every Healer would want to discourage anyone with such an idea."
"Oh I doubt anyone would follow in this mate's footsteps. Who would deny their mate? Especially when it turns out to be the Clan Leader's son? The mate must be mad." Another Council member laughed in disbelief.
"That's our future Clan Leader's mate, so careful what you say." Leader Ephraim said quietly.
"Whoever it is probably has a good reason." Carmen said evenly. "We cannot jump to any conclusions."
"Quite right, Healer." A senior Council member said drily. "Ephraim, what happens now?"
"Carmen and Bella will be combing the gardens and forest for any signs of this herb." He looked at Carmen who nodded, "The Guard have been instructed to go dwelling to dwelling to do the same and we are checking with the herbalists in town. That is where we start. We have nothing else to go on."
"Will this not alert the mate or those who are looking for the mate?" Someone asked, frowning.
"I don't think this will change much. On the contrary, this might give us a headstart on those who are looking for the mate. As for alerting the mate - they've been clever enough to hide and cover their tracks. Tightening things might force them out into the open." Leader Ephraim said gravely.
I couldn't breathe.