The healer’s apprentice had been the one looking after her for most of the day.
The old healer had left earlier that morning, saying something about an emergency in the town he needed to look at, and hadn’t returned since.
That left Aurelia alone with the young woman who couldn’t have been much older than eighteen.
The girl barely spoke.
She quietly moved around the small healing room, grinding herbs with a mortar and pestle, checking drying plants that hung from the ceiling before tending to the pot of medicine simmering over the fire.
She never once looked at Aurelia for longer than a second.
Aurelia didn’t sense any hostility from her.
The girl was simply…
indifferent.
After everything that had happened over the last few days, Aurelia found indifference strangely refreshing.
She sat beside the window with a blanket draped over her legs, absentmindedly watching snow drift over the plains outside.
Every now and then her eyes wandered back to the apprentice as she worked before returning to the endless stretch of white earth.
“Lady?”
Aurelia turned at the quiet voice.
The apprentice stood beside her holding out a wooden mug filled with a thick green liquid.
Steam curled lazily from the surface, carrying a smell so unpleasant Aurelia instinctively wrinkled her nose.
It smelled awful.
Then again…
Like Aradia always used to say…
If it smells like shit, it’s probably going to work.
Aurelia let out the smallest sigh before accepting the mug.
She wrapped both hands around it, letting the warmth seep into her cold fingers for a moment before lifting it to her lips.
The first mouthfuls had her gagging.
The apprentice quietly watched her finish every last drop before taking the empty mug from her hands.
Without saying another word, she carried it to the basin nearby and rinsed it clean, her movements calm and practiced.
“You should get some sleep.” That was all she said before walking out.
The door clicked shut behind her.
Aurelia stared at it for a long moment before letting out a tired sigh.
The room suddenly felt much larger without anyone else in it.
She slowly pushed herself off the chair, every step reminding her that her body still hadn’t forgiven her for the last few days.
By the time she reached the bed, she was already exhausted.
She slipped beneath the covers and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders.
Sleep came surprisingly quickly.
But it was the pain that woke her.
By then night had settled over the manor.
Everything outside had fallen quiet save for the distant hooting of owls on treetops.
Another cramp twisted through her lower abdomen.
It started as a dull ache.
Then it sharpened.
“Urgh…”
Aurelia groaned softly as her eyes snapped open.
She instinctively curled forward, both hands flying to her stomach.
The pain lingered this time, refusing to fade the way an ordinary cramp should.
She slowly sat up, her breathing becoming uneven as another wave rolled through her.
“What…..”
A strange uneasiness settled over her.
Her fingers pressed more firmly against her abdomen as if she could somehow soothe the pain away.
She stayed like that for a long moment, waiting for it to pass.
Instead…
It only grew worse.
Aurelia felt something warm beneath her.
At first she frowned in confusion, her hand instinctively reaching beneath the blanket.
Then she looked down.
Blood.
For one terrifying second her mind went completely blank.
“No…” Her voice came out as nothing more than a whisper.
“No…
no, no…”
Panic crashed into her all at once.
She threw the blanket aside and stumbled out of bed, her legs trembling beneath her.
Another sharp cramp tore through her abdomen, forcing a cry from her lips as more warm blood trickled down her thighs.
Her heart lurched.
No.
Not her baby.
She half-ran, half-staggered towards the door, one hand clutching her stomach while the other reached desperately for the handle.
It didn’t move.
She frowned.
She twisted it again.
But it was locked.
Aurelia’s face drained of color.
“No…” Her breathing quickened as another cramp bent her forward.
She slammed her palm against the door.
“Help!”
She hit it again.
“Help!”
Her fists pounded against the wood over and over, each strike more desperate than the last. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Tears blurred her vision as she slid one trembling hand over her stomach, praying to every goddess that would listen.
“Please!” Her voice cracked.
“Please…
I’m losing the baby!”
She kept banging on the door, harder and harder, until her fists stung from the force of it.
The empty corridor beyond answered her with nothing but silence.
The pain twisted through her again.
More blood.
Aurelia’s knees nearly gave out beneath her.
How was this even happening?
Why her?
Aurelia’s vision swam for a moment, the room tilting beneath her feet until she had to steady herself against the door.
Another cramp tore through her, stealing the breath from her lungs.
She cried out softly, one trembling hand clutching her stomach while the other continued pounding weakly against the wood.
“Please…” Her voice cracked.
“Open the door…”
She hit it again.
The sound wasn’t nearly as loud anymore.
Her strength was leaving her.
Tears blurred her vision as she rested her forehead against the door, listening desperately for footsteps on the other side.
Surely someone had to hear her.
The healer’s apprentice…
a servant…
anyone.
Nothing.
Only silence answered her.
“No…” she whispered, shaking her head as another warm trickle ran down her legs.
“Please…
somebody…”
She pounded the door again, but her fist barely made a sound this time.
The pain had become unbearable.
Her legs finally gave out beneath her, and she slid helplessly onto the floor.
She curled around her stomach, trying to shield the tiny life growing inside her from something she couldn’t even see.
“I’m sorry…” she sobbed, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
“I’m so sorry…”
She wasn’t even sure who she was apologizing to anymore.
Maybe to her child…
To herself…
The blood continued to stain the floor beneath her, and with every passing moment the hope she had clung to slipped further and further away.
Aurelia closed her eyes, tears rolling silently down her cheeks.
“Hecate…” she sobbed, pressing her forehead against the door.
“Please…
don’t take my baby.”
___
It was well past midnight, yet Darius remained in his study.
Ledgers, reports and pack budgets lay scattered across his desk, each one demanding his attention.
Nathan had delivered the trade reports before sunset while Elena had sent over the month’s granary accounts not long after.
Normally he would have finished reviewing everything hours ago.
Tonight…
His mind refused to stay on the numbers.
Every time he forced himself back to the reports, his thoughts drifted elsewhere.
To Aurelia.
To the healer’s wing.
To the way she had cupped his face so naturally, the warmth of her palms.
…They had almost kissed.
The memory crept into his mind again, and somewhere deep within him Kyle let out a thoroughly pleased rumble.
Darius pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Don’t start.”
The wolf ignored him.
Instead he replayed the moment all over again, lingering far longer than Darius cared to admit on the brief brush of her lips.
She wanted it too.
“I said don’t start.”
Kyle only sounded smug.
Darius gave up arguing with him.
He carried one of the reports over to the chair beside the fireplace and sat down, hoping the crackling flames would help clear his thoughts.
The parchment rustled softly as he turned another page.
Then…
A strange chill swept over him.
His fingers froze.
It wasn’t the cold from outside, this felt deeper than that.
Something heavy settled over his chest, sending an uneasy feeling crawling beneath his skin.
Kyle moved.
A low growl rumbled through the bond.
Mate.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
Another growl.
Louder this time.
Mate.
He exhaled through his nose.
“It’s the middle of the night.
She’s probably asleep.”
Kyle didn’t listen.
The wolf began pacing again, each step inside his mind becoming quicker than the last.
Restlessness poured through the bond until Darius could feel it as though it were his own.
Something is wrong.
Darius tried pushing the feeling away.
He told himself it was nothing more than Kyle’s obsession with being near Aurelia.
Ever since discovering she carried their child, the wolf had become almost unbearable.
“You’re imagining things.”
Kyle stopped pacing.
Then came one word.
Go.
It wasn’t a request, more of an order.
Darius opened his mouth to argue.
Before he could, that dreadful chill swept through him again, colder than before, running the length of his spine and settling somewhere deep inside his chest.
Darius abruptly stood.
“I am not going because of you,” he muttered, grabbing the thick cloak hanging over the back of his chair.
“I just…
need to stretch my legs.”
Kyle didn’t answer.
The moment he stepped out into the corridor his feet carried him in the opposite direction of the courtyard.
Towards the healer’s wing.
He hadn’t meant to run.
Yet somehow he was.
His boots pounded against the stone corridors as he tore through the sleeping manor, barely noticing the startled guards that stepped out of his way.
The dreadful feeling in his chest only grew heavier with every passing second, until panic had settled so deeply in his bones he couldn’t tell whether it belonged to him or Kyle.
Mate.
The healer’s wing came into view.
Darius reached the door and immediately grabbed the handle.
It didn’t move.
Locked.
His heart lurched.
“Aurelia!” His fist slammed against the wood.
“Aurelia!”
Nothing.
Not even the sound of movement from inside.
Dread flooded every part of him.
He stepped back before driving his shoulder into the door.
The heavy wood groaned.
Again.
A loud crack echoed through the hallway.
Again.
The frame splintered under the force of the impact, the hinges twisting until the entire door finally gave way with a deafening crash.
Darius was inside before the broken wood had even settled.
“Aurelia—”
The word caught in his throat.
She was lying on the floor.
Completely still.
For one horrifying moment the world seemed to stop.
He crossed the room in seconds, dropping to his knees beside her before gathering her limp body into his arms.
“Aurelia…” His voice had lost all of its strength.
He brushed the silver strands away from her face, his trembling fingers searching desperately for any sign she was still with him.
Her skin was cold.
Too cold.
“Aurelia,” he called again, a little louder this time.
“Look at me.”
She didn’t move.
His eyes frantically searched her body.
Then…
He saw it.
Blood.
It soaked through the fabric of her skirt, staining it a deep crimson before spreading across the wooden floor beneath her.
Darius felt the air leave his lungs.
His hands began to shake.
“No…” The word escaped him as little more than a broken whisper.
“No…”
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