Page 90 of Terror at the Gates

“Y-yes,” he said, clearing his throat. “Commiphora myrrha. She had a high concentration of the herb in her system. In high doses, it can cause preterm labor.”

“Are you…trying to say she was poisoned?”

“I can tell you she took a large dose and all at once. That is what caused the bleeding.”

I started to speak, to argue that she would never do something like this. She would never put Liam in danger like this,but the doctor continued.

“By the time she made it here, she had lost a significant amount of blood and went into cardiac arrest on the operating table.” His gaze shifted to Zahariev, and so did mine. “I thought you would want to know and perhaps…deliver the news.”

Zahariev nodded, though he wasn’t looking at the doctor. He was looking at me. I heard the door close behind me.

“She would never, Zahariev!”

For a moment, I thought he was going to disagree with me, but then he pushed away from the wall where he’d been leaning and said, “I know. You aren’t the only one who knew Esther, Lilith.”

I blinked, and as my face flooded with heat, I dropped my gaze. I knew I was acting like the only person who had lost someone tonight, but it was hard to think beyond my personal pain, especially when I had been the one to find her.

Zahariev touched my chin, guiding my head back until I met his gaze.

“I know you want an enemy here,” he said. “But I’m not it, little love.”

I felt his thumb brush the corner of my mouth, and there was a part of me that wanted to bite him and not in a sexual way. I bared my teeth and jerked away from him. “You don’t get to decide who my enemies are, Zahariev. I’ll make you one if I want to.”

His eyes darkened, and I wondered what he would have said had the cheerful nurse not returned at that moment to take us to see Gabriel and Liam. I gave Zahariev the most withering look I could muster before I left the room, discovering Cassius waiting outside.

“How long have you been out here?” I asked.

“Since I left,” he said. “I didn’t want to walk in on something I would never be able to erase from my memory.”

“I wish I could erase you from my memory,” I muttered.

The nurse either didn’t hear our exchange or she was trying really hard to ignore us, because she smiled brightly and motioned for us to follow her.

“This way!”

She took us through a large door, past a registration desk, and into another hall of patient rooms. When we arrived at Gabriel’s, she paused and knocked, announcing as she opened the door, “I brought family!”

I entered first but found that my feet wouldn’t carry me beyond the entryway. Gabriel was holding Liam to his bare chest. I couldn’t see more than the baby’s profile, but he was small and pink and perfect.

Gabriel looked up and smiled at me.

“Lilith,” he said. “Come see…he looks just like her.”

I thought those words would make me happy, but they went through me like ice. Zahariev touched my arm. He had yet to enter the room, the same with Cassius. They were waiting for me.

Except I couldn’t move.

All I could focus on was how hard my heart was beating. Zahariev’s touch turned firm. I looked up to find him frowning, his brows lowered.

Lilith?

His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear anything he said. His grip tightened, and I looked down at where he held me. His fingers immediately loosened.

“Lily?”

Gabriel’s voice broke through the fog. I turned my head and met his gaze. I couldn’t handle any of it—not the wayhe said my name or the strange euphoric pain in his eyes. I couldn’t handle meeting Liam without Esther.

I tore free of Zahariev and ran.