Prologue
A lone cry traveled across the gentle winds that night. The house was silent as they all stood around outside the door. Only the main family was present to witness this birth. The head of the house paced the floor, his weathered face drawn into a scowl. Two women sat on the couch watching with concern as their father paced. Another of the women, much older than the other two stood by the large window, her arms crossed. But they all stilled at the sound of the first wail.
A chime from the grandfather clock in the other room sounded moments later.
“Its fall now.” One of the women on the couch said. Her sister squeezed her hands.
Just then the family’s personal midwife came out of the room with a bundle in her hands. They all looked at it. Her face was full of grief as she walked over to the tall man.
“I’m sorry sir, she could not be saved. The birth was too much for her. The bleeding would not stop.”
“No!” the sisters exclaimed as they shot up from the couch.
“I told you we should have taken her to the hospital!”
“Silence!” the man demanded, his booming voice bouncing off the walls. The girls shrank back,
“The Dana ’Taya’s do not go to common hospitals. If you are not strong enough to give birth as so many of your ancestors before you then you do not deserve to live. And as it is your sister was weak for even having given birth to a bastard; unmarried and pregnant. What a disgrace.” He spat. His narrowed eyes zeroed in on the bundle in the midwifes arms.
“Bring it here” he snarled.
The woman by the window dug her nails in her arm as she listened to her husband. She refused to even look at the baby. It was a murderer, a filthy bastard child sent to curse them all.
The midwife tightened her hold on the child for only a moment, knowing she was sending the precious dear to its demise, but there was nothing she could do. This was how the Dana ’Taya’s have always been for generations. Babies born out of wedlock were looked down upon, like a stain on the family name. They lived hard lives. But even she knew that this particular child would live a harsh life, one that made her wish that both mother and child had passed onto a better place then stay here. Slowly she handed the poor thing to its grandfather and prayed for mercy as she backed away, her head bowed.
The man threw the blanket off making the child cry from the sudden chill in the air. It was then the family gasped. The man was so shocked he almost dropped it.
“The hell is this.”
The woman by the window finally turned at the commotion and her eyes widened. Her hand raised up to her mouth.
“Its an omen! A curse on the whole family.” She cried. She sank to her knees and buried her head in her hands.
“Danielle” her husband warned.
“No, get it out!”
“What’s this mean?” one of the sisters asked.
“I don’t know” the other answered.
“It means that your sister has put a blight on our name!” their mother screamed.
“Danielle!”
“I want it out Isaac!”
Isaac clenched his jaw as his wife wailed in hysteria. His gaze traveled back to the baby in his hands. He had been arranged to marry years back, into this old family house and from all the history he learned about them, there was one fact that had always been known above all else. The Dana ’Taya’s main family has never, since their existence, generations back, given birth to a male child.
And here, struggling in his hands was the first male child ever to be born in this house. He voiced his daughters question,
‘What did this mean, and why?’ was it because his oldest daughter Rose had the child out of wedlock? Because it was fathered by a Fae? He growled at the thought and quickly covered the baby up from head to toe with the blanket. Quickly he handed him back to the midwife.
“Put him in his crib for now.” Reaching out the midwife took him and held him close.
“Yes sir” she bowed again but her gaze glanced over at Mrs. Danielle as she shook with sobs on the floor. She was still chanting for her husband to get rid of the baby as she hurried from the room.
Gently she placed him in his cute white crib with a curtain of white fabric handing from the canopy. Softly her finger caressed the adorable flushed chubby cheek. Smiling the baby reached out towards her and laughed.
“I’m so sorry little one.” With that she walked out of the room and closed the door softly.
