Nameless (Nameless #1)(48)

Ajax turned on them both before they could enter the house. “No one can know what you’re about to see, Gryph.” He ran a shaking hand through his hair and paced. “Can you trust her not to talk?” He eyed Zo.

Gryphon didn’t hesitate. “She’s safe, Jax.”

His expression made it clear that Ajax wouldn’t have trusted Zo to sweep his tent, but he dropped his head and ushered them inside.

The metallic smell of blood, earth, and a hint of parsnips hung in the room. Zo turned to Ajax with wide eyes. “Where’s the baby?” She had helped her mother deliver enough newborns to recognize the unique smell.

Ajax led her through a short hallway. “How did you—”

“Birth smells the same outside the Gate.” She should have guarded her tongue, but the pain from her back muddled her resolve.

Ajax spared her a furrowed glance before pulling her into a dimly lit bedroom. In true Ram fashion, the walls and floors were bare with the exception of a lone log framed bed and a few baskets in the corner. On the bed, a pale young woman held an infant to her chest. Both mother and baby seemed to be asleep.

“She delivered so fast. I didn’t have time to call for a healer,” said Ajax.

The sleeping mother stirred and Ajax was instantly at her side, smoothing the hair from her face. “I’ve brought the Nameless healer, Sara.”

The scowl Zo usually received from the women inside the Gate was notably absent from the young woman’s hopeful face. “Please, tell me. Can you help my son?” She handed the swaddled bundle to Zo.

Zo accepted him with trembling hands. “May I sit?” She was still shaken from her run, and the sting in her back was almost blinding.

“Of course.” The desperation in the woman’s voice frightened her.

Zo peeled back the blankets to find a pink baby boy. Thick dark hair curled atop his head. There was a thin gap separating the upper lip on one side. It ran half the distance to the nose. In her training, Zo had seen two similar cases where the baby’s nose was deformed in the process and the fissure extended all the way through the nose to the roof of the mouth. This didn’t look so bad, but there was no way to tell without feeling inside the cavity.

“I need to wash my hands to examine him properly.” She handed the warm, sleeping bundle back to his mother. Gryphon kept a firm grip above her elbow as he silently led her to the kitchen area to wash in a basin of cold water. When they came back, Sara hissed something under her breath, a vow of some sort. Ajax draped his arms around his wife and child and spoke soft words of comfort, almost too quiet for Zo to hear. He kissed her forehead and stepped back as Zo and Gryphon entered the room.

Zo accepted the baby again from his mother and instantly started humming a soothing lullaby as she used her finger to rub the infant’s upper lip. The baby, still fast asleep, opened his mouth to suck. Zo slipped her finger in the child’s mouth and felt for a break in the roof of the mouth.

She smiled relief when her fingers met a firm upper palate. The baby would be fine.

“Sometimes when babies are growing in the womb the lip doesn’t come together and form properly. When that happens there is often a hole in the roof of the mouth that makes it difficult for the child to eat and drink.”

Sara’s eyes grew wide.

Zo put a reassuring hand out to the new mother but flinched at her own boldness. She cleared her throat. “Your son doesn’t have that problem. I’ve seen a procedure to correct the lip. He’s going to be just fine.”

Sara gripped her arm. “Can you fix his lip?”

The baby stirred and Zo gently rocked him. “I can try. But the surgery is too dangerous for a newborn. You’ll have to wait until he’s at least a few months old.”

“A few months?” Sara looked up to Ajax, wild fear making her eyes double in size. “Oh no, Ajax. No.” She burst into tears. The strong warrior dropped to his knees and rested his head in his wife’s lap. They wept together openly.

Zo looked up into Gryphon’s stricken face. “I don’t understand,” she said. “The boy will be fine.”

Gryphon walked over to Ajax and rested a hand on his shoulder. “You’re sure no one knows she delivered?”

Ajax pushed the moisture from his face. “Positive. My Nameless were in the fields. When I saw his misshapen lip, I didn’t dare send for a healer from the Medica.”

“Then there is still hope for the child, as long as the Seer isn’t suspicious and we make a good show of the burial.”

“But what will happen when he’s well? I can’t present a two year old to the Horn and claim him as my legitimate son. Without passing the birth rituals he cannot be a part of our clan.”

Zo handed the baby back to his mother. She stood but kept one hand on the bed frame for support. She shouldn’t draw attention to herself, but she had to make sense of the madness. “The child is healthy. Why would he not pass your rituals?”

“Because he is not perfect.” Gryphon’s clipped tone left no room for argument.

“What will they do to him?”

Gryphon took hold of her arm and led her from the room. He paused at the door and looked back to Sara and Ajax. “Don’t let anyone know she’s delivered, Jax. We’ll find a way to make this work. Nothing will happen to your son.”