Ria:
My eyes are so heavy it's hard to wake up. I keep struggling and eventually I'm able to peel my eyelids open.
I am laying in a hospital bed, I have machines hooked up to me, and there's an IV in my hand.
It takes a minute but I realize I'm in the clinic on the ground floor of the castle. So, that means I am in Romania, in a castle, surrounded by dragons, and I have a dragon inside me as well.
I tentatively let my hand drift down and feel my rounded baby bump of a stomach. So, that's real to.
I was dreaming, a beautiful dream, of being with my family, but my family is gone. Cin is dead, Marcus is dead, Elija was severely hurt and will be recovering for who knows how long.
Elizabeth, my mom for all intents and purposes, is lost somewhere alone, grieving her family, suffering, and I can't do a single fucking thing about it.
I am a prisoner here, just like when I was a child. Braun Zavitnik got arrested and I thought I was free. Now, I'm trapped again, only this time there's no hope I'll ever be free.
I am mated to immortal dragons, who have cut off any chance for escape. I am an immortal dragon, so I will never find freedom and solace in death.
This is a life sentence of forever. I am a womb for them to fill. A warm body for them to stick their dicks into. Their people love them and will never help me.
I have a magical cuff on my wrist that means I have no power to leave in any way, either death at my hand, or by physically removing myself from here.
They don't beat my body or torture me the way Braun did. I don't have to hear the screams of the other children. I can't fantasize about killing them the way I did him. I can't wait for the day they die like he did rotting in jail.
No, this time it's a torture of my mind. This thing inside me twists me to be their puppet and takes away my power. It decides that I must give it what it wants, and my pleas and begging mean nothing.
She is the enemy, so I am the enemy, because I can not cut her from me and be free, no she is sealed to my very soul.
My birth mother, Collette, never told me about this beast, did she know? Is that why she escaped into the drugs to escape the monster that was her child?
This is a new level of self hatred that is so multilayered because I am angry and hating myself, and I am angry and hating her. Yet, she is me and I am her, so where does the anger and hate go, just around and around in never ending circles.
I am just laying here staring at the ceiling with all of this running around in my head. Then someone walks in the room.
I look at them and see it's Dr. Surenka. She rushes to the side of the bed.
"How are you feeling?"
I wanted to ask her if she was fucking stupid, but I refrained, instead just answered, "I'm fine."
My voice was flat, but I thought that was better than sounding like the basket case I felt like.
She looked incredious at my claim, but didn't call me out. "Let me get everyone in here and we'll check everything out, is that okay?"
She wasn't really asking me what I thought about it, because my opinion was irrelevant, so I just stare at her.
All 4 of the guys ran into the room when she called them. They all rushed to the bed, and acted like they wanted to touch me but weren't sure or something.
They were all acting incredibly weird, even for them. I wasn't sure what the hell was happening. Then I saw Constantine standing in the doorway, and I saw his face. Then I knew.
He had been looking, before the guys even tricked me into going to Cornell, for all of the information I had scrubbed from my records.
I had actually taken perverse satisfaction in knowing he couldn't find it. I must have missed something he finally found.
So, that answered why they were acting so strange, they knew. I wasn't sure how to feel. I never wanted them to know, not because I was ashamed for them to find out, no I just wanted something in my life kept private from them.
"What did I miss?" I looked at Constantine so he would know I was talking to him.
He looked surprised but said, "Heather Mitchell."
"Ah, I'm surprised you got her to talk to you."
"It took a lot of coaxing before she would."
Everyone around the room just looked at me in total surprise.
"Did it ever occur to any of you that I didn't want you to know, I mean I erased it all for a reason."
"We needed to know Ria. It affects you still, so yes it's important for us to know."
"The only reason it affects me now is because of being trapped and held prisoner again, being rapes, being forced to have these rape babies inside me, and havingthis fucking monster inside of me that forces my hand and takes away every ounce of my power."
Several of them look down and swallowed, but Drago goes on.
"You know it's not the same. We need to be able to help you."
"The only way you can help me is to let me go and forget you ever laid eyes on me, and to help me get rid of this fucking bitch inside myself."
"You don't really mean that Ria, you're just upset."
I just shook my head at him and laid my head back down, and closed my eyes. He would never listen to me, so I was wasting my breath.
Now they had the facts from pieces of paper, and the memories of another little girl I had known for 5 weeks at 14. That would be all they ever had.
"I'd like to go ahead and do an ultrasound. You were scheduled for one in a couple days anyway."
I don't answer, she's not really talking to me. I let her talk to the guys about everything, and I stayed out of it as much as possible.
So, I'm not surprised when Drago says, "Sounds good, go ahead. We can find out what we're having while making sure everyone's good."
Dr. Surenka and Cole got the machine and set it all up. They uncovered my baby belly and sqirted cold gel all over it.
The room was filled with fast heartbeats, and I could feel her moving the wand all over and talking to Cole about measurements and stuff. She pointed out things to the guys. I just kept my eyes closed and tried to stay relaxed.
Suddenly she fumbled the wand and it clattered to the floor. I glanced at her face and her mouth was hanging open.
Then she picked up the wand apologizing. She cleaned and sterilized it. Then she put it back and moved it around.
Her hand froze and she turned and looked at me with huge eyes. She was starting to really upset me about whatever her problem was.
"Dr. What's wrong?" Drago was asking in a hard voice.
She turned and looked at Drago, she said in a soft almost hesitant voice, "They're all girls."
Everyone froze and turned to stare at me. "Doctor, please check again."
She nodded at him and added more gel to my stomach. As she moved the wand Cole was glued to the monitor, and she was pointing things out to him.
He stood straight and looked at me, then turned to look at Drago, "she's correct, they're all girls."
Well fuck, this just skyrocketed. They were all nutso about the triplets thing, now all girls, where girls are hardly ever born, this should be interesting.
Everyone in the room is just staring at me, "what the hell are you looking at me for? The last time I checked you 4 fuckers were the ones who decided if they would be girls or boys. I'm just the womb, nothing more, so please, Stop Fucking Looking at me Like I'm a Freak!"
Drago steps up beside my head and grabs my face, "you are not now, have never been, and will never be, just a womb."
I just look at him blankly. Like he would really come out and admit that's what I was to them, please. I am internally rolling my eyes, but maintain the blank facade.
He sighs heavily, and lets go of my face. He steps back and looks at Cole.
"Is everything okay?"
He nods,"yeah everything looks good. Babies are all measuring where they should be with three of them in there. She's right on track for 15 weeks, so halfway."
That stops me for a second and I must have a confused look on my face because Cole rushes to clarify.
"Do you not remember we explained, dragon pregnancies only take 30 weeks, not 40 like humans typically do. However, just like human multiple births, you will probably deliver early."
I just nod, realizing that was probably one of the conversations in the doctor's office that I purposefully blocked out.
At least this isn't going to drag out as long as I thought, that's a good thing. Of course, having them outside will be completely different than them inside.
Ash looks at me and adds, "I don't think this is a good day, but soon all of us have to sit down and start making plans. They'll be here before we know it."
I choose to remain silent.