Revenant Slaves Chapter 62: Side Stories: Rain names her child

Read chapter 62 of Revenant Slaves by Zee on NovelPedia.

Avraham stood watch as Rain slept with her son in her arms, exhausted and broken. They were in worse shape than the dreams had ever shown him. He had expected blood. Fear. Not a girl so spent that the priests had almost written her off as disposable. Too close. Another hour and they would have split her open in the operating pit, scraped the child out, and thrown the body into reclamation. He had stopped it. Walked in, invoked his authority, and had both mother and child transferred to his own quarters; a public, traceable intervention. Avraham moved through the Temple, erasing every trace of her existence. By dawn, every witness, priest, surgeon, clerk, and guard who knew of the pair, were tried for treason and executed. Who would dare question him on this desolate planet on the fringes of the empire? One of them had actually turned out to be a spy. That detail mattered. A sovereign now knew of Rain… and this transgression pleased Avraham. Empire temples were beyond sovereign control, and spying meant treason; this knowledge of Avraham would put the unlucky sovereign firmly under his control. Inquisitors were not questioned. Their word was law, each one vetted by the Empire’s highest powers. Avraham cleaned the blood and hid its scent as best he could before returning to his quarters. The halls were silent, the records scrubbed. He paused at the doorway, hoping Rain had not woken alone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rain woke up to the sound of crying. It split the silence sharply, rising and falling against her ribs like something trapped. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was. The ceiling was too high. The bed too soft. Her body too heavy. Then she felt the warmth against her chest. The baby... His face was scrunched, red, furious at the world. Rain tried patting him. That only made him angrier. She shifted, trying to copy what she’d seen women in films do. Her arms trembled with the effort. Pain crawled up her legs, into her spine. She tried to sit. Failed. Tried again. The room turned to black dots. Rain managed to brace herself against the headboard. She gathered the baby awkwardly with shaking hands, one unsure hand under his back, the other fumbling beneath his head, and pulled him against her chest. His cheek ended up pressed against her shoulder, his tiny breaths warm on her skin. Rain held him there, clumsy and terrified, but trying her best to keep him close. He wouldn’t stop crying. Rain was still drowsy and increasingly growing more fearful; she hadn’t known how long she had slept. She and her child were alone in the room, no sign of Avraham, no… Ibrahim. She didn’t need to try walking to know she wouldn’t be able to; the pains of her torn and brutalized lower body were slowly rising in her. “Please… please stop crying.” Rain begged, but of course, he didn’t listen. Soon she was crying too, not just crying, wailing. The door clicked. Rain jerked her head up so fast that her vision blurred again. The baby was still screaming in her arms, his thin, desperate wails scraped at her skull, but her own sobs froze in her throat when the tall shape filled the doorway. Avraham. The red of his coat seemed too bright in this dark room. His armour caught the faint gold light like an omen. For a moment, he didn’t move. He just… looked at her. At the mess she was, at the pathetic, trembling bundle of girl and child on the bed. Rain’s pulse hammered so loud she thought he must hear it. Then, his expression shifted. The edges of his eyes softened, his mouth pulling into a warm smile that felt unreal in this place. “You’re rightfully terrified, Rain,” he said as he stepped inside. “ But you are safe here; I have assured that personally.” Something inside her chest pulled tight, almost painful. The baby cried harder. She pressed him closer, as if that could shield him from the man crossing the room. Avraham stopped a few steps