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Scholomance 12 Chapter 2
🕑 Added 2021-09-10 15:38:10 +0000 UTC“Cole?” Marina asked.
I felt her hand on my shoulder, but I couldn’t respond until my body had broken free from the premonition.
The Elder Lord had decided to return, and he no longer hid off-grid like he’d been before. I saw flashes of light and blurry images race past my eyes, but they vanished before I could make much sense of them. I tried to take note of the various noises that washed through my ears, but the constant whooshing made it difficult for me to differentiate the sounds.
All I knew was the Elder Lord was up to something, and I probably didn’t have a lot of time before he put his plan into action.
Then I felt my body regain its energy as I left the premonition, and as I opened my eyes, I spotted the feared look on my coven’s faces. Some of them had completely abandoned their lunches, whereas others had their forks raised to their mouths.
“Master, are you okay?” Marina asked again.
“Yeah,” I said as I let out a deep sigh.
“What did you see?” Faye frowned. “Is it the Elder Lord?”
“It sure was.” I nodded.
I closed my eyes and rubbed my temple with one hand as I tried to make sense of the vision I’d seen, but nothing made sense, no matter how hard I tried.
But I knew of someone who could help.
“You all stay here and enjoy your meals,” I said as I stood from the table. “I’m going to track down Lilith and see if she witnessed the same thing.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Remy asked.
“No, it’s okay,” I said with the most confident smile I could muster. “I’ll try and explain everything when I know what’s going on.”
“Okay, my lord, only if you’re sure,” Della replied.
“I am, thank you,” I said, and then I turned away from the table.
I wandered through the packed hall as quickly as I could, but before I could reach the end of the large room, Vanessa burst through double doors with a flustered look on her face.
“My lord,” she said as she ran over to me. “Lilith sent me to come and find you urgently.”
“The premonition?” I asked.
“Yeah.” The professor nodded. “She didn’t tell me what it was about, but she said you’ll want to discuss it with her and my mother in the headmistress’ office.”
“I was just on my way to see them,” I said as we left the hall.
I hadn’t seen Vanessa all morning, so I assumed she’d been teaching a lesson, but now I knew she’d been with her mother for the majority of the time.
The two of us ran in silence through the large academy, and I knew Vanessa was desperate to hear about the premonition, but even if she had asked me about it, I wouldn’t have known what to tell her. Even I couldn’t explain it to myself, so describing it to someone else would have been practically impossible.
We arrived in the massive ballroom-like chamber and made our way toward Theodora’s office. It didn’t surprise me that the door was already open, and Theodora and Lilith were sitting on either side of the elegant, wooden desk.
“Dark One,” the headmistress said as she stood from her seat and embraced me in a gentle hug.
I returned the gesture, and then I collapsed down into the first seat I found.
“What did you see?” I asked Lilith.
“To be honest, I didn’t see a lot.” My mother shrugged. “But the Elder Lord was part of the vision, that I can be sure of.”
“Yes, I saw him too,” I sighed. “Just this morning I was talking about his disappearance, and now here he is…”
“Did you get any clues from the premonition?” Theodora asked. “Anything that could help you piece together his plan?”
“All I saw were flashes of light and a mixture of strange sounds,” I said as I thought back to vision. “Unless you saw something, Lilith?”
“I thought I saw something.” She frowned. “But I couldn’t be certain. Like you said, it was all a blur. However, I thought I caught sight of an object that disappeared a long, long time ago.”
“An object?” Vanessa spoke up. “What sort of object?”
“An object that, if in the wrong hands, could create a lot of damage,” Lilith said with a pointed expression.
I thought back through the vision and battled my way through the constant blurs and flashes of color. Lilith mentioned seeing an object, but the only visible image I’d noticed was the Elder Lord. Then, as I worked harder and concentrated more on the vision, I noticed the flashes of red and orange. It could have just been color, like everything else was, but as I focused on the source of the light, I noticed clouds of a black substance, and that led me to a burning fire.
“The Elder Lord is going to start a fire,” I said to the room. “I don’t know where, but that’s his plan somewhere.”
I watched as my mother sofly closed her eyes, and a look of concentration crossed her face. We all sat in silence as Lilith thought through the vision, and then she opened her eyes again and stared directly at me.
“Yes, now I see the fire,” she said with a gentle nod of her head. “But like you, I also can’t see where he’s going to start it.”
“What was it you said about objects?” I asked. “They disappeared a long time ago?”
“That was the belief.” Lilith nodded. “However, if I caught sight of one in the premonition, then perhaps they haven’t been destroyed after all.”
“What are these objects?” I frowned. “I didn’t see anything, so are you sure it wasn’t your mind playing tricks on you?”
“I’m certain,” Lilith said as she adjusted the way she sat. “Have you ever heard of the Scroll of Malediction?”
I looked from Theodora and Vanessa in turn as I ran my mother’s words through my mind. The Scroll of Malediction seemed familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it, and I had no idea why I knew those words.
“Yes, I’ve heard of it,” Theodora broke the silence. “I also heard it had been demolished.”
“I’ve never heard of it.” Vanessa frowned.
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said with a slight shake of my head. “Why do I know that name?”
“Come with me, my lord,” Lilith replied as she stood from her seat.
I followed Lilith silently, and we left Theodora’s office without saying a word. I thought more about the Scroll of Malediction, but the more I dissected those words, the fainter my memory became. I was certain I’d heard of them before, but now it seemed almost impossible.
“I understand this is confusing for you,” Lilith said as we neared the library. “But all will make sense soon, I promise.”
“What mystifies me the most is not knowing what’s going on,” I explained. “How am I the only one who doesn’t instantly recognize the Scroll of Malediction?”
“Because of the life you’ve lived, my son,” she gave me a sweet smile. “There have been so many changes throughout your existence, so it’s understandable that some things are more vague than others. It was believed these objects vanished thousands of years ago, and so much has happened since then, especially with the rebirth. It’s almost as if you have to learn certain things all over again.”
“But if these objects are as important as you make them out to be, then why aren’t they fresh in my mind?” I asked as I held the library door open.
“Like I said, all will make sense soon.” She smiled again and then walked into the room.
I followed Lilith past the various bookshelves and deeper into the dimly lit room, but I had no idea where she was going. The number of times I’d walked through this library, and the number of times I’d rummaged through the shelves, yet now it felt like I was a preschooler once again. I’d read so many of these books, even when I wasn’t supposed to, but now it was like every book was new to me.
“Right, it should just be along here…” Lilith said as she began to search through a row of books.
Every book in that particular row had a gold spine with tiny black writing, and the only difference was the length of each tome. Some of the books looked as though I’d need two hands to hold it, whereas others were much thinner, perhaps with barely two-hundred pages. The size of the black writing and lack of light made it incredibly difficult to read every spine, but I concentrated on the writing as much as I could.
“What are we looking for?” I asked.
“It’s called Artificialia Occultatum,” Lilith replied. “Or, essentially, hidden artifacts. You’ll see each book has been given the same title, but it’s the date that matters. New volumes are released every time new artifacts are destroyed.”
With that new knowledge in mind, I returned to peering at every book. Now that I knew what I was looking for, it made it much easier to work out each individual word and letter, and like Lilith had said, the dates underneath differentiated ever so slightly. Some of the volumes only had a year in between them, whereas some were separated by only a handful of months.
“Aha, found it!” Lilith said excitedly as she pulled a book out from the shelf.
This particular book was quite thick, probably made up of about six-hundred pages. The book had been sitting in this library for so long that a deep layer of dust ran across the top, and the pages were almost orange in color. The wrinkled front cover of the book matched the gold spine, but the back of the book was a dirty, rusted brown in color.
“So, this will hold all the answers we need?” I asked as I took the book from Lilith’s hands.
“It certainly should do,” she replied. “Otherwise someone’s tampered with it, and that wouldn’t be a good sign.”
“Especially if these objects are as important as you say they are,” I said with a raised eyebrow.
I skimmed through the first few pages of the book and checked out the information that each page contained. The top of the page held the name of the object, followed by a brief description about them, and then it included a simple black and white picture of the artifacts.
The Ring of Shadows, the Soul Arch, the Canopic Chest of Transmutation…
All of those objects I’d read about in the past, and I was instantly reminded of them when I took in the pictures, so I hoped it would have been the same for the Scroll of Malediction.
Then, just as I reached the middle of the book, I came across the page we were after.
“Here we go,” I said as I held the book out for Lilith to see.
“Perfect.” She grinned. “Now, let’s see what it says.”
I nodded and let my eyes start skimming the page.
The Scroll of Malediction was an ancient scroll known to have contained the location of the five cursed artifacts, which, when joined together, could cause great destruction. The unholy artifacts were created during the last Wicca-Elder war. Five powerful witches combined their strengths together in order to produce these artifacts as a way to defeat the elders, but the cursed objects created such destruction that the witches knew it wasn’t safe to have them around where anyone could find them.
Due to their powers, the scroll and the artifacts were demolished before they reached their full potential. Now, some believe it was just a myth, and that the artifacts never existed in the first place.
I brought my eyes away from the page feeling slightly conflicted. The more I read about the infamous scroll, the more my memories came back to me, and I started to remember bits and pieces of what I’d read during my existence. It was clear the scroll had been disposed of in some way, and something told me newer generations hadn’t been informed of the scroll because of its link to the lethal artifacts.
So was that why I couldn’t recall hearing about the artifacts until now?
Also, it mentioned how the artifacts were unholy, so if the Elder Lord really wanted to get his hands on them, then he must have been fucking desperate. No elder wanted to dirty their hands with dark magic, yet the Elder Lord only seemed to have one thing on his mind.
The apocalypse.
I shook my head as I tried to put my confusion to one side, and then I focused on the images at the bottom. There were six pictures in total, and the name of each object had been written underneath. The more I looked at each picture, the more memories that came back to me.
“This one,” I said as I pointed to the drawing. “I remember this one.”
“Aah, the Urn of Annihilation.” Lilith grinned. “That was the most powerful of all five artifacts, with the Oblivion Inscriptions second to that.”
Once I’d looked over each image, I closed the book and then held it safely against my chest.
“Let’s take this back to Theodora’s office and discuss everything in there,” I decided.
Although I trusted every single person in Scholomance, I also knew this wasn’t the sort of discussion to have in an open place. I needed to know exactly what was happening before I took the plan any further, so until that moment arrived, I wanted a select few people to find out about the Scroll of Malediction.
The walk through the school seemed to take ten times longer than normal, especially with the weight of the book in my arms. I passed plenty of students during the walk, and all of them bowed their heads at Lilith and I before they were on their way.
“They’re all so polite.” Lilith smiled lovingly. “I can’t wait till they begin giving birth to your children.”
“You should have seen them when I first arrived,” I scoffed. “I was the only male witch in the entire academy, so I think they were plotting their revenge against me.”
“Oh, yes, I remember how apologetic they were when you made your announcement.” My mother smirked. “At least they now know to treat you with the utmost respect.”
“They didn’t have much of an option,” I snickered. “I once witnessed a witch die in class because she got the question wrong, so the same would have happened if someone was disrespectful to me.”
“Absolutely.” She nodded. “A girl once died in one of my preschool classes because she dropped her books. That quickly made us pay attention.”
My deep laugh echoed around the hallway, and I could just imagine the fear that ran through those students. It certainly opened my eyes when I’d witnessed it, and that was the day I realized the professors didn’t mess around.
We’d arrived outside Theodora’s office by the time our conversation came to an end, and as we walked in, Vanessa and Theodora quickly sat up from their seats. They both ran over to us, and Theodora instantly held her hands out for the book.
“Did you find it?” the Headmistress asked as she flicked through the book.
“I did.” I nodded. “Look on page two-hundred and seven.”
Theodora placed the book flat on her desk, and we all crowded around it as she flicked to the right page. A tense silence filled the room, and as Theodora read out the small description, I noticed the furrow that formed between Vanessa’s eyebrows.
“I have read about this…” the professor muttered. “But… now it feels like a distant memory.”
“I was the same,” I replied. “The idea is the artifacts were forgotten about after they were destroyed, and no new generations were allowed to hear about them.”
“Like a spell had been placed on us?” Vanessa asked.
“Not exactly a spell, more like a change in time,” Theodora explained. “It’s like anything in the world, if it’s not mentioned or remembered, then the new generations won’t be taught about that subject, and it continues on from there.”
“Then how do I remember it?” Vanessa ran one hand through her thick, black hair.
“Because you’re my daughter.” Theodora smiled. “Anything Lilith and I know, or have experienced, is a part of you. All you need to do is unlock those hidden cabinets. It’ll all make sense as soon as you know what to look for.”
I turned my attention back to the book as Theodora and Vanessa continued to talk. The Urn of Annihilation seemed to jump out the page, but as I looked at all five artifacts in turn, I started to think about the Elder Lord’s plan and the premonition Lilith and I had encountered.
“Which object did you see in the premonition?” I asked. “Was it the scroll, or one of the artifacts?”
“It was this one,” Lilith said as she pointed to a picture near the bottom of the page.
The Cylinder of Sight.
I couldn’t tell much about the artifact from the black and white picture, so I couldn’t work out its size or depth, but then I noticed a symbol in the center of the cylinder. It looked like an eye, which made sense, but due to the lack of color, I couldn’t see anything special about that image.
“It was definitely this one?” I double-checked.
“I’m certain.” Lilith nodded. “I recognized the circular shape, but I also saw the red eye in the middle.”
“So, if the premonition showed the Cylinder of Sight, then it must mean the Elder Lord is after the artifacts,” I thought aloud.
“Which means they’re still out there somewhere,” Vanessa added.
“We already know about his plan for a realms-wide apocalypse, and if he gets his hands on all five, then nothing will stop him,” I sighed as I crashed down in a seat. “Even the four of us together wouldn’t be powerful enough to stop his destruction, so there’s only one thing to do.”
“We have to get to them before he does,” Lilith replied.
“Exactly.” I nodded.
The idea sounded so easy in my mind, but if everyone believed the artifacts had vanished, then I didn’t even know where to start in order to track them down.
I took another look at the book, just in case I’d missed something the first time around, but I didn’t see any new information. I hoped the Elder Lord had the same issues I did, but he could have had the entire list mapped out on paper for all I knew.
Then an idea sprung to mind.
“It says the scroll holds the location of the artifacts,” I said. “But does anyone remember what it said? If we can find out what was written on the scroll, we should be able to find these damn objects.”
A thoughtful look crossed Lilith’s face as she took in my question, and I could imagine she was going as far back in her memory as possible. I wish I remembered more about the artifacts, but that obviously showed how mighty they were, and the reason for their disappearance.
“I don’t think the scroll held an exact location, but I think it gave off clues as to where the artifacts would have been found,” Lilith replied a moment later.
“Which means we need to find the scroll first,” I said firmly. “There is a chance the locations no longer match up, but if I can get my hands on that scroll, then we’ll already be one step ahead.”
“But what if the scroll can no longer be found?” Vanessa asked. “That could be why everyone believes they no longer exist, because without the scroll, the artifacts have practically disappeared.”
I had to find a way to get that damn scroll, or at least get my hands on a rough location.
I thought through every spell I’d conjured up in the past and marked them off one by one. I needed something that would give me the answers I required, but I also needed a spell that potentially brought something back to life. Vanessa was right, in order to hide the artifacts, someone would have had to burn the scroll, or destroy it in some way, so I doubt it was still in this world somewhere.
So perhaps I didn’t have to look in this world…
“I’ve got an idea,” I said as I jumped up from the seat.
I rummaged through Theodora’s various cupboards and wardrobes, and I ransacked the entire room as I searched for the most important item. Without that item, the spell wasn’t going to work.
“My lord, what are you doing?” Lilith asked.
“What are you trying to find?” Theodora followed up.
“This!” I grinned as I found the large, black cauldron hidden at the back of a wardrobe.
“Cole…” Vanessa hesitated.
“Theodora, how long have you owned this cauldron for?” I asked as I placed the large object in the center of the room.
“It was my mother’s before she died.” Theodora shrugged. “But I don’t know how long she’d had it for.”
“Perfect,” I said.
“Why did you need that one?” Theodora asked. “You could have summoned a cauldron with the click of your fingers?”
“Aah, I get it.” Lilith smirked.
“Because we’re working with something ancient, something that many people have forgotten about,” I explained to the headmistress. “I imagine this cauldron has been used to create and summon thousands, perhaps millions of spells in its time. These pots store memories, so if I used the first one I could create, then it’s not going to do the job.”
I noticed the smile that appeared on Theodora’s face as she understood what I meant.
“I managed to resurrect Lilith from her grave, so perhaps I can do the same with the scroll,” I continued. “I can’t say it’s definitely going to work, but it’s worth giving it a shot.”
“If anyone can do it, you can, my lord.” Vanessa smiled.
“Thank you.” I grinned. “Now, no one says a word unless you see the scroll. Do not reach out to touch it, but I need to know if you see it.”
“Of course, my lord,” Lilith said.
Then the women stayed in their seats as I crouched down beside the cauldron, and I pulled my dagger from my pocket, held both hands over the top of the black pot, and cleared my mind. Once I was ready, I cut a small slit into my palm and waited for the blood to pool, and then I watched as the droplets fell into the shadows of the cauldron.
There was a slight pause before anything happened, but then the cauldron began to smoke, and a red light appeared at the bottom. The cauldron had accepted my blood, so now it was time to speak out the spell as firmly and as clearly as possible.
“Revertetur quae sunt amissa, quae resuscitabit tuus mortuus est,” I said with all my force and energy behind the words.
I kept my eyes firmly shut, but I imagined the Scroll of Malediction clearly in my mind. I pictured everything, from the slight curl in the edges of the pages, to the stained, aged paper the words sat upon. I thought about the cuts and tears the scroll had collected during its time, and I made the vision as clear as possible.
Many minutes passed, and the image of the scroll appeared to get weaker in my mind, but I forced myself to keep going. This may be the only way we’d get the scroll back, so I wasn’t going to stop until I had that paper in my hands.
I grasped onto my cloak with both hands as I strained to keep the image alive, and the amount of sweat that collected in my palms increased as every second ticked by. It was agonizing, but my determination overpowered every negative feeling. I knew I was close, and I had a strong feeling it was going to work, but all of that would have been lost if I gave up before the spell was complete.
“Cole,” Lilith whispered a few minutes later. “Something’s appearing.”
As my mother said those words, the image of the scroll appeared again, but this time it was like the paper was right there in front of me. I could practically smell the damp, musty stench of age, and I felt how thin and fragile the paper was against my finger tips. I sensed the power and destruction that was linked to the scroll, and it was almost like I had absorbed its mighty strength.
A thousand different voices began to pour through my mind, yet none of them belonged to the three women in the room. They were voices I’d never heard before, but as I focused on what they were saying, I realized the voices were reading the words written on the scroll.
“Look,” Theodora said quietly. “There are words appearing on the paper.”
You’ll find me where it’s hot, and you’ll find me where it’s cold. You’ll find me regardless of your age, be it new or old.
Each voice gave me a new clue as to where I’d find the five separate artifacts, but I knew the real test would be to work out each riddle.
Two minds together work as one, go to where the sand is thick, and there you will be done.
“Keep going, Cole, it’s working,” Vanessa encouraged.
You’ll find me in the shallows of water that’s black, place me on your head, and with the others you will attack.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but as quickly as the voices appeared, they vanished into thin air. There was nothing around me apart from total darkness, and the visualization of the scroll had disappeared along with the voices.
I’d received five separate clues, all of which were complicated, but that didn’t bother me. I was up for the challenge, and I wasn’t going to stop until I had all ten artifacts in my possession.
Then, once I knew the spell was complete, I opened my eyes and stared down at the black cauldron. The red smoke was gone, and it almost looked like nothing had happened.
That was, until I saw Lilith holding a piece of paper in her hands.
I stood on shaky legs as I walked around the cauldron, and then I held my hand out for the paper. It definitely wasn’t the scroll I’d seen in the book, but it held every piece of information the original scroll contained, including all the riddles.
“Now that we’ve got this…” I paused as I glanced over the paper. “All we need to do is work out the clues. I’m going to assume each artifact is found in a separate realm, so that would be the hardest part of the challenge.”
“I think I’ve already worked out one of them,” Vanessa said as she pointed to one of the riddles. “‘Place me on your head,’ so that has to be the Tiara of Corruption, right? And it says to head to black water, and doesn’t Jinarus have a black sea?”
“Very good,” I replied.
“The other realms may be harder to figure out, but even if we only get one artifact, it’ll still prevent the Elder Lord from attacking,” Theodora added. “He’ll need all five in order to power up his apocalypse, so his powers are useless if he only has four of them.”
“I don’t want him to get any,” I said. “Those five artifacts are mine.”
“But we need to remember one thing,” Lilith spoke up. “Regardless of the artifacts, the Elder Lord is still going to attack, and he can still terrorize the realms without this added power.”
“I’m aware of that.” I nodded. “And believe me, as soon as I can, I’ll deal with him face to face. But until that happens, and until he rears his ugly head, I’ll search high and low for those objects. My coven and I will split up and take one realm each, then once the artifacts have been found, I’ll destroy them for good.”
“And we’ll join you,” Theodora decided.
“We’ll go wherever you need us to,” Lilith said.
“How about I send you two witches from my coven,” I said as I stood up straight. “Pick any riddle you want, work it out in your group, and then head straight there.”
“Of course.” Theodora nodded.
Then Lilith picked the first riddle she came across, and she and Theodora began to break down every word.
“Vanessa, because you worked out the clue, I want you to head to Jinarus,” I told her. “We’ll break the coven up equally, and you can take a few of them with you.”
“Absolutely, my lord,” the professor agreed.
“Good.” I grinned. “I’m going to head to the bedroom now and inform everyone, but meet me up there as soon as you can.”
“Yes, of course.” Vanessa nodded. “I’ll finish up here and head straight there.”
“Excellent,” I said. “Lilith and Theodora, if you find the artifact before I do, you cannot break it. I need to have them all together before I destroy them.”
“Don’t worry, my son, we won’t harm the artifact.” Lilith smiled.
“Okay, good.” I let out a deep sigh, folded the paper in half, and then slipped the book of hidden artifacts under my arm.
As I left the office, my body was full of trepidation and excitement, and I couldn’t wait to get started on finding and destroying these artifacts for good.
Especially because now I knew the Elder Lord was truly afraid of me and my growing unholy empire.
It felt like a race against time to see who could get to the objects first, but I enjoyed the rush. I loved nothing more than to see my enemies lose, and to ruin their plans before they had the chance to enact them filled me with dark delight.
I knew the worlds weren’t safe until I ended him for good, but that would come in time, and I just needed to be patient.
I walked down the hall leading from Theodora’s office and headed in the direction of my bedroom, but as I reached the end of the first corridor, I noticed Akira and Faye standing up against one wall. Faye had her head resting on Akira’s shoulder, and Akira wrapped a supportive arm around Faye.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as I approached them.
The last time I’d seen my coven was in the banquet hall, so I assumed they’d gone back up to the bedroom when they were finished with their lunch. I couldn’t understand why Akira and Faye were standing right there, and it was almost like they’d been waiting for me.
“My lord,” Akira said as she rubbed one eye. “We were hoping to talk to you privately.”
That was when I noticed the tears in the witch’s eyes, and as I glanced over at Faye, I noticed her eyes were similarly bloodshot.
“Of course, you can.” I frowned. “Is something wrong? Why are you crying?”
“Um…” Faye hesitated, but the more I inspected their faces, the more clues I picked up on.
The women had been crying, but excited smiles curled across their lips, so I couldn’t work out what made them act this way. The only theory I came up with was perhaps the coven had a falling out, but that didn’t seem logical. The women teased one another, and they made jokes, but none of them had ever said anything to make the other cry, especially when it came to Akira.
“Faye and I had a feeling, my lord,” Akira said as she looked down at her feet. “We’ve thought about it all day, and we’ve just had it confirmed for us.”
“And what was that feeling?” I asked.
The two witches glanced at each other and seemed to hold a silent conversation, and at least five seconds passed without them saying a single word.
Then Faye broke the tense silence.
“We’re pregnant, my lord,” she whispered.
I took a moment to process what they’d just told me, and I focused on nothing apart from those two important words. It was like my body was cut off from all my senses, and I couldn’t see or hear anything.
This had been my plan all along, and I wanted nothing more than to see all the witches of this school wander around with swollen stomachs. I couldn’t wait to watch them bring my children into this world, yet I hadn’t thought about the incredible feelings that washed through my body.
It was like an odd mix of shock, disbelief, yet also amazement, triumph, and wonder.
I knew it was going to be several months before anything happened, and I hoped more women would announce their pregnancies before the children were born, but it had started, and that was the main thing.
“Tell me again.” I grinned. “I need to hear you say it again.”
“We’re pregnant, Dark One,” Akira said as her own smile stretched from ear to ear. “You planted a seed in our fertile wombs, and now we’re going to bear your children.”
