Aurelia found herself hunched over a bucket, retching violently.
The smell of eggs from breakfast had sent her fleeing halfway across the courtyard before she could stop herself.
Now she knelt in the morning sun, gripping the rim of the bucket as her stomach finally settled.
A steady hand rested on her back, rubbing it slowly to calm her.
It was Diane.
Her older sister stood behind her, her expression growing more suspicious by the second.
Aurelia slowly straightened.
Her breaths came in short gasps, and the bitter taste of bile lingering on her tongue did nothing to improve her mood.
“You haven’t been well since that diplomatic trip to the North,” Diane observed.
Aurelia barely looked up as she snatched the handkerchief her sister offered.
“Yeah.
Those flea-ridden mutts must’ve given me something.”
Diane hummed, not in agreement per say, more of an acknowledgement of whatever excuse she she was giving.
It had been a month since that disastrous trip north.
A month since Alpha Darius Dane had publicly rejected her and a month since the bond they had tried so desperately to sever had refused to behave as expected.
Aurelia frowned as a memory resurfaced in her mind.
She quickly tried to push back the image of Darius’ body from her mind.
The memory of their heat combined, their tongues intertwined in a passionate dance.
Only for her to wake up the next morning alone and naked.
She shoved that memory away to the back of her head where she couldn’t think too much of it again.
She refused to let that bastard invade her thought today.
“Have you seen a healer?” Diane asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Why would I?
Diane, I’m not sick.” She said confidently as she grabbed her sister’s hand and pulled herself to her feet.
She swayed briefly before catching her balance.
Diane stepped back as Aurelia brushed dirt from her skirt as though nothing had happened.
For a moment she considered pressing the matter.
Then again, she knew how stubborn her mule of a sister could be and choose to save herself the breathe.
After all Aurelia could be bleeding from the head and still insist she was perfectly fine.
“Have your visions returned?” Diane asked instead hoping it was a lighter topic.
It wasn’t.
Her reaction was almost immediate.
The sight of Aurelia’s shoulders tensing up made Diane’s stomach dropped.
She quickly seized her sister’s arm and guided her behind a stone wall where they would be hidden from curious ears.
“Are you serious?” she hissed.
Her gaze darted around the courtyard to make sure no one had followed them.
Aurelia folded her arms across her chest.
“Yeah…” it came out quiet “I have no idea why this is happening, Diane.” She admitted painfully.
It had begun several weeks ago.
Since childhood, Aurelia had been blessed by Hecate herself.
Whenever the tides turned green, the goddess would send visions of the future or speak directly into Aurelia’s mind.
Then Circe would speak to her on how to use these visions.
These were sacred gifts.
A sign of favor.
A sign that one day Aurelia was a servant of two great deities.
Then, without warning, the visions had stopped.
And so did the voices.
No dreams, no talks, not even a whisper.
Only silence.
Aurelia had prayed.
She had fasted.
She had spent entire nights kneeling before Circe’s altar begging for guidance.
The goddess never answered.
“Aurelia, you’ll have to tell Mother—”
“No.” The word came out sharp enough to cut.
Diane flinched.
Aurelia lowered her voice, but the panic beneath it remained.
“You want me to tell Mother that I’ve fallen out of favor with goddesses?”
“You don’t know that’s what’s happened for sure.”
“Then what else could it be?”
Diane opened her mouth.
No answer came.
Women chosen by the Mothers never lost their gifts, not without reason or cause at least.
Losing your gift was nothing put a punishment.
For the first time, genuine fear flickered across Aurelia’s face.
“If Mother finds out,” she whispered, “she’ll look at me and see a disappointment.”
Diane’s expression softened.
“Aure…
No….”
Aurelia laughed bitterly.
“She absolutely will.” She buried her face on her palms”How could this be happening to me?
For a moment they both said nothing.
Diane looked around and apart from the few maidens that walked past with trays of offerings there was no one else around to notice them.
She gently pried Aurelia’s hands from her face.
And cupped her sister’s cheeks, “Let’s see a healer…”
“What?” Aurelia’s brow shot up, “I told you I am fine”
“”Fine?” Diane grabbed Aurelia’s shoulders.
“You keep vomiting and you’ve lost your gift.
If you think that’s fine, you’re delusional.”
Aurelia opened her mouth to protest, but the words died down in her throat.
Her jaw tightened as she weighed the words, for a slight moment irritation boiled up in her but faltered a second later.
“…You’re right,” she admitted at last.
Diane blinked, clearly not expecting agreement so easily.
Then she let out a small, relieved breath.
“Good.”
She took Aurelia’s hand and led her toward the medical wing.
They slowed at the threshold.
Diane peered inside first.
Fortunately, the room wasn’t crowded.
Only a few younger girls moved between shelves and curtained beds.
No elders.
No watchful council members who would ask too many questions.
Aurelia’s eyes scanned the room until they landed on a familiar head of red head.
Clover.
Relief flickered through her immediately.
“Psst—Clover,” she whispered.
But the girl didn’t turn, still focused on whatever shelf she was cleaning
She tried again, a little louder.
“Clover.”
This time the girl paused.
Clover turned, spotting them at the entrance.
Her brow lifted as she took in Aurelia and Diane standing there like conspirators caught mid-crime.
She glanced around the room, as if checking whether they were calling someone else entirely.
Diane motioned her over.
After a moment of hesitation, Clover approached.
The closer she got, the more suspicious her expression became.
Diane didn’t waste time.
The moment Clover was within reach, she grabbed her arm and pulled her toward a quieter corner of the room.
“Hey!” Clover hissed.
“What is wrong with you two?”
“We need you to examine Aurelia,” Diane said without preamble.
Clover raised a brow.
Her gaze drifted to Aurelia.
The sorceress looked exhausted.
There were faint shadows beneath her eyes, and her usually immaculate appearance had become slightly disheveled.
A loose strand of dark hair clung to her cheek, damp with sweat despite the cool morning breeze drifting through the open windows.
“Why?” Clover asked.
“The elders can do it.”
“No.” The answer came so fast that Clover nearly flinched.
Both sisters had spoken at once.
Clover’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“That was concerning.”
Diane stepped forward, lowering her voice.
“We don’t want the elders involved.”
Something cold settled in Clover’s stomach.
“What happened?”
Diane glanced around the room.
A pair of apprentices sorted bundles of herbs near the far wall, thankfully too occupied to pay attention.
Only then did she lean closer.
“I suspect Aurelia is…” Diane hesitated.
“…pregnant.”
“Pregnant?!” Clover squeaked.
The word came out much louder than intended.
Heat rushed to her face as she quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.
Thankfully the maidens nearby had turned back from looking at them and were preoccupied again by their work.
Then she turned back toward Aurelia.
“Pregnant?” she repeated in a harsh whisper.
Aurelia shifted awkwardly beneath their stares.
The stone floor suddenly seemed very interesting.
“I don’t know.” She whispered quietly.
“You don’t know?”
Aurelia shot her a look.
“I assumed vomiting wasn’t enough evidence to start announcing things.”
Diane pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
“She’s been sick for weeks..
and…”
“And?” Clover’s brow shot up again.
“I lost my vision”
“What?!” again she exclaimed loudly as her face paled.
The apprentices turned to look at them again, this time annoyance written all over their features.
Diana awkwardly apologized as she pulled them both further to secluded part of the room.
“Examine her,” Diane said quietly.
Clover nodded.
The air suddenly felt too warm.
She wiped her palms against her skirt.
“Okay.” She drew in a deep breath.
“Okay.”
Raising her hands, she called upon her magic.
Golden light bloomed from her fingertips.
It flickered softly at first before brightening into a warm glow.
The familiar hum of healing magic filled the air.
Aurelia felt it immediately.
Like sunlight spreading across her skin.
The magic drifted around her body in delicate ribbons, brushing against her arms and shoulders before sinking deeper.
Clover closed her eyes and the glow intensified.
Aurelia’s heartbeat quickened.
She could hear her heart pounding in her ears.
She counted each beat as the healer’s hands moved slowly through the air.
It moved higher, then lower.
Then when it got to her stomach it paused.
The glow around her fingertips trembled.
Clover’s eyes opened and met hers.
“No….” Aurelia whispered.
“Aurelia….
You’re with child”
___
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