Character(s)::Zia and Will’s birth mother
Word Count::371
@babyitsmagic
He was the first non-human she had seen since she realized there was a hunter on her trail. The first one that felt of anything close to power, magic running in his veins like a faint undercurrent. He was the only option she saw left.
“Excuse me,” she said softly, tapping him on the shoulder, her precious baby cradled in the other arm.
Zia stopped at the voice, frowning slightly before trying to shake the sudden fog from his mind. “Can I help you?” She didn’t look or smell familiar and he definitely would have remembered a scent like hers before.
A sad smile touched her lips at the question and she nodded, pressing too close and whispering in his ear. His own magic tried to fight hers, but she was stronger, older and more practiced. It gave her the advantage.
When he stopped fighting, she gently pressed the baby into his arms. “You will keep my William safe. Love him as if he were your own. Raise and protect him, teach him and accept him for who and what he is. Do not abandon him. He is your child now,” she instructed, one hand touching Zia’s cheek, the other lingering upon her baby. Forging a bond this way was frowned upon, it could backfire, she knew, but the boy needed something to live for her and her son needed someone to keep him safe.
If nothing else, it would provide them both with what they needed.
“What of you?” His voice was slow, almost like he was drugged. She supposed, in a way, he was.
“I no longer exist. He has always been yours. He is your baby. I am but a dream within a dream,” she whispered, letting her words wash over and through him.
When the boy’s attention shifted to the baby, she took a step back, trying her hardest not to cry.
“Let’s get you home, bud,” the man murmured, adjusting the baby to be more comfortable in his arms.
As he turned to walk away, the woman swallowed back a gut wrenching sob. It was better this way, he would never know her but he would live. That was worth more than anything else to her.
