Chapter 254 What Is She Doing? Does Anyone Know?

"Aella?" said Precious in her head. "Calm down so the tree can deliver the baby."

"Precious?" she gasped, stopping her struggling against the confines of her prison. "What's going on?"

"The realm suffered something like a stroke when you killed Jozef's brother. He had tied himself to the realm magically, so that if anything happened to him, it would backfire and destroy the whole realm. Thankfully the world tree had taken over some of the more important tasks in running the realm, so that didn't happen."

Aella blinked in the darkness, the pain she had been feeling was gone, but she hated not being able to move.

"That's not what I meant," she said, trying to turn her head to look around. "What's happening to me!?"

"Aella, you're giving birth to a child, can't you tell?" asked Precious in the same sarcastic tone of voice she was familiar with.

"But, why am I wrapped up by the tree?" she asked, trying to move again, but not being able to.

"I've taken your powers for the moment, and the tree needs you to be completely still while it gets the baby out. It's making sure the child survives, since it's still a little young and the realm needs it to survive, as a gargoyle. Don't worry, it's almost over, and then you will be free from all of the extra weight that was throwing off your balance and the baby can go to Frederik."

Licking her lips, Aella tried to nod, finally understanding why she couldn't teleport or change her body to an element in order to escape. Sure enough, after only a few moments, the limb around her started to loosen and she was set back down on her feet. Turning towards Frederik, she instinctively reached for her belly, and found it healed back to normal.

Frederik was standing with his back to her, holding something and whispering to it.

"You are such a lovely little thing, aren't you? My very own! I will take care of you, don't worry. You just sleep for now, and I will get you something to eat in a little while."

Aella stepped forward and touched his shoulder, trying to see the baby he was obviously talking to. Frederik glanced at her, over his shoulder, keeping the baby out of her sight and frowned slightly.

"You won't hurt her, will you?" he asked, giving her a worried look.

"It's my child, even if I didn't want it," growled Aella.

"Fair enough," he nodded uncomfortably, turning to show her the small baby wrapped in a large leaf.

Her skin was the same dark tone as Aella's and a slight tuft of fuzz on the top of her head was the same dark color as Aella's. For a moment, Aella fully understood how someone could love such an ugly thing as a newborn baby, as this daughter of hers opened her eyes and looked around with that blank unseeing look of a newborn. Furrowing her brow, Aella's daughter took a breath and started to cry. At the sound of the child, Aella felt a pang in her breasts respond, and glanced down to see milk stains forming around her nipples. Was this her bodies way of telling her this child really was hers?

"I think she's hungry," said Frederik, holding her closer to him and glancing quickly at Aella before back to the baby.

"The urge to feed the baby should pass in a short while," said the tree.

Aella stood there, knowing she wanted nothing to do with this child, and yet… she wanted nothing more than to take it and feed it, care for it, and teach it the things her father had taught her. She now understood why her mother was so willing to die for her to be born. She wished she could ask her father if her mother got to see her before she died.

"I should get you and her back to the castle," said Aella, touching his arm and teleporting them to his room.

"Aella," he said before she could leave him and their new daughter.

"Yes?" she asked, feeling weird.

"Ok, let's see," he said, moving over to a chair to sit down. "I am under no obligation to make sense to you, alright?"

��What are you getting at, Frederik?" she growled, starting to get angry.

"I thought you wanted to make a better world for everyone?" he asked.

"What? I do!" she exclaimed, becoming more confused than angry. What was he getting at?

"Aren't you the one who said that everything is difficult at first?" he asked.

"I… yes, I did say that," she admitted, wondering why she hadn't been hearing any advice from her earrings of wisdom. They had been quiet for so long; she had almost forgotten about them.

"Well, I think you are still living in the pits," he said, pulling the leaf back from their daughter to expose the beautiful black wings she had growing out of her back. They fluttered a little, and Aella could see them sort of glitter in the light.

"What?" she sputtered, stepping back.

"Everything you do, you bring up your past, as if you were still stuck down there like a prisoner."

"I worked hard to get out of that place!" she spat.

"Then why is it so bad to help raise your daughter? You are depriving her of a fantastic mother, who could teach her so much… I thought you would want to move on after such a horrible childhood," he said softly, looking down at their daughter as she chewed enthusiastically on her fist.

"I am the King of the Realm!" she demanded, stomping her foot. "I don't have time to care for a baby! I never wanted kids!"

"How do I explain that to her?" he asked, looking up at Aella. "Name one thing, as king of the realm, that you have to do, that no one else can."

She opened her mouth to start listing off everything she still needed to get done and stopped herself. Nothing came to mind. They weren't at risk of being invaded. There wasn't any great calamity going on. All of the various races were currently running smoothly.

"I fell in love with a demoness who wasn't afraid of anything, and yet, for some reason, you're terrified of this."

"I'll survive," she whispered, feeling a pit form in her stomach. Everything he had said was true. "I always do."

"You told me quitting wasn't acceptable," he said.

"I'm not quitting! I never agreed to this, to begin with!" she shouted, throwing her hands into the air. "This is the realms fault! I was supposed to be sterile! There must have been pheromones controlling me, to agree to go to bed with you!"

Their daughter started crying from Aella's shouting, so she stopped.

"Aella," said Precious in her head. "There weren't any pheromones that night. It was all you and him. These things happen. When the realm made you sterile, it was only during the full moon, when the pheromones were raging. The rest of the time you are fertile, just like every other demoness, or gargoyle."

"But that's not what it said!" she cried out loud, making Frederik furrow his brow.

"I'm done trying to convince you," Frederik said, standing back up. "You've made up your mind. I will raise our daughter the best I can."

Aella nodded and teleported to her home. Everywhere she looked, though, reminded her of Precious.

"I'm still here, Aella," he said in her head.

"But it's not the same thing. This place is empty," she said.

"No, it's the same as it's ever been. You're just not happy."

"How can I be happy? I never wanted kids and here I am with one!"

"No, you don't have one, Frederik does. You left, remember?"

"But I do have one!" she snapped.

"Aella, how many times did you miss your mom?" asked Precious after a moment of silence. "I never knew my mom, but I like to think she at least wanted to take care of me."

"That hurts, Precious," she said.

"Pain is your friend, remember?" he said.

"I thought you were my friend," she sighed.

"I don't understand why you don't want to help raise your daughter. Why are you being so selfish?"

"Selfish? Me!? I had to be selfish to survive! Once I got out of the pits, everyone was still against me! It wasn't until I became super powerful, before people stopped trying to kill me!"

"Then why aren't you going back to take care of that baby? She's your daughter, and yet you are going to leave her to be taken care of by some stranger. She needs milk, you know. That means she will be suckling some other teat."

Aella looked around at the cave she had decorated so painstakingly. When her eyes landed on the section she had built for Precious, she just shook her head. She couldn't stay here.

Teleporting back to Frederik's room, she stopped when she saw the three demonesses in the room, gathered around HER baby.

"What is going on?" she growled, pushing past them to her child, and taking the girl from Frederik's arms. Turning to glare at them, she snarled, "Get away from my daughter!"