A Flame Put Out by Erin S. Riley Read Free Book Online

didn’t indicate something was wrong, Selia could tell from the look on Hrefna’s face that all was not well. And as Muirin became more and more drained and actually lost consciousness in between contractions, the woman would mutter to herself and shake her head.
    This was no longer just an unborn slave, but the freeborn child of the master of the estate, Hrefna’s great-nephew or niece. The potential loss of the babe weighed heavily on her.
    Muirin was asleep again, with her chin on her chest and her body supported by Selia and Keir as Hrefna knelt down to examine her once more. She came back up, looking worried. “The child is too large.”
    “Pull it out . . .” Muirin mumbled, and the three women jumped. The girl’s eyes were still closed but obviously she was alert enough to have heard Hrefna. “Please, Mistress. I cannot do this any longer.”
    Hrefna placed her hand on Muirin’s sweaty brow until she looked up at her. “I can try. But it will be painful, and it may not work.”
    Her face pale and drawn, Muirin’s beautiful green eyes were dulled with pain. “Will the child live?”
    Hrefna hesitated. “I don’t know. You have been pushing for a long time.”
    Selia swallowed. There was a good possibility that the babe was dead already, then. But if it wasn’t dead it would be soon, and Muirin along with it. Something had to be done.
    Muirin nodded again with a strangled sob, and Hrefna indicated to the women that they should lay her back on the straw. “You will have to hold her,” she instructed, “and do not let go.”
    Selia put one hand on Muirin’s shoulder and gripped her hand with the other.
    The girl glanced up at her. “I’m sorry, Mistress,” she faltered. “God is punishing me for what I did to you.”
    “No, Muirin,” Selia protested, squeezing her hand.
    Muirin stared with her green cat eyes. Then she gasped, overcome with another pain. “If I die,” she panted, “will you tell Ulfrik I loved him?”
    “Of course,” Selia assured her, “but you will not die.”
    Keir looked away uncomfortably. She truly thought this was the end for Muirin, then. Suddenly the poor girl let out a piercing shriek and fought against the women with unexpected strength, and it was all Selia could do to keep her from coming up off the floor. Hrefna, working between Muirin’s legs, had managed to slip one hand inside her and was pressing down on the top of her belly with the other.
    The girl’s body bucked as she screamed. Her belly undulated with another contraction, Hrefna struggling to deliver the babe. The sound that Muirin made was inhuman, and Selia’s arms shook with the effort it took to restrain her.
    There was a triumphant grunt from Hrefna, and Selia looked down to see what appeared to be a dark, bloody ball emerging from between Muirin’s legs.
    “The head is out,” the woman informed Muirin. “One more push, and the child will be free.”
    Muirin’s eyes rolled like a panicked animal. She bore down hard with the next pain, and Hrefna cursed in frustration as the babe didn’t move.
    “The shoulders are stuck,” she declared grimly. “Hold her again. I will have to pull once more.”
    Muirin’s scream was desperate as she pushed with the next pain that came over her. Hrefna tugged on the child’s head while using her other hand to adjust the shoulders which were still inside. There was a sickening sound that reminded Selia of fabric being ripped as the woman finally pulled the child free.
    A final, awful cry burst from Muirin before the girl slumped in the straw, completely spent. Hrefna took a cloth and rubbed the child briskly with it for what seemed to be a very long time, until finally the babe emitted a weak mewl.
    Selia let her breath out. The child’s cries escalated and Hrefna laughed in satisfaction. There was a faint smile on Muirin’s lips as she reached for her babe. “Is it a boy or a girl?” she whispered.
    “A boy,” Hrefna replied. “He looks