There was a strong possibility she would never recover from seeing a baby born into the world. Giving birth had never been a task Elladora had felt any desire to accomplish in her life and she had tried her best never to think about the grim mechanism of the whole thing – certainly she didn’t want to imagine any part of Evalina looking like that. It had always been a great relief that she had never seen her lover during pregnancy and had successfully managed to avoided being too close to Ursula throughout hers, barring the incident in the garden, but now she was altogether closer and felt slightly like she might be sick.
Her constitution never being a weak one she was not but she did lean on the bed rather heavily and had to walk herself down the mattress with her hands to look at the baby and assess that-
Fucking Merlin was there always that much blood?!
It was grimy and scrunched up and looked peculiarly like a mandrake seedling. It was also silent.
“Ursula, shouldn’t it be-?”
She glanced up and saw Ursula was in no state to answer her, groaning in pain, face screwed up in clear agony and paying no attention to her latest child. Elladora wasn’t especially concerned for it, except for the fact that it was still attached to Ursula and potentially the cause of her pain; the practice of childbirth had always revolted Elladora but she was quite well-acquainted with the theory, as any sensible, curious-minded person might be. There was some business with nutrients and the time had come for the baby boy to cease leeching from his mother.
Tentatively Elladora reached towards the child, hand cupped as she reached his mouth.
The door opened behind her but it might just as well have been a herd of elephants for all that she paid attention.
Her hand reached its mouth and she discovered that its nose and mouth were quite a bit more awkward to cover than she had thought.
Then the baby cried. Loud and piercing and she was jolted out of the trance that had taken her for a moment and a hand on her shoulder startled her into regaining the ability to stand upright.
“You took your time,” she growled, returning to Ursula’s side and leaving the rest for the midwife. “It’s over now,” she pressed her lips to Ursula’s forehead. “It's out. You’re going to live.”
fabulous set by Lady <3