white shot

fo

n movement triggering an i

oot s

fe

ded throug

ooming from her abdomen an

couldn't breathe

-wet

g warmth tricklin

er it before Dahlia's scream

phelia's mind, but she gritted

rol now-if she l

baby would

ng back the pain. 'Get me inside

crambled

she grabbed Dahlia's wrist.

*

ning in pain, Ophe

asn't

somewh

ter. Anothe

ime she eve

, sitting in a crowded lecture

some were sleeping, some

h

oor o

igure st

de

f the season drifted down, p

have been

ment, the snow

had stolen al

that cool, steady voice of

th

lia V

sounded old-fashioned, somethi

t, it didn't seem

nyone say her name qu

never held

day, three of them in marriage, of

s the same as she

tud

blig

had dedicated himself to savi

uffering of strangers, yet when it cam

ithout

t life, I want to

n without a hea

ho doesn't fee

hurts so fu

*

eathless, her fingers cl

her

same

vague, the faces a blur, but it always ended in a room drenched in blood, a

e woke up dren

dream left behind no

d her older broth

then given her an

ge-watching soap operas?' He exhaled in exasperation. 'For fuck's sake, kee

r a pause,

ried?' He wiggled his eyebrows. 'You sure this isn't just your hormones ac

'What does it mea

d, then burst

ruffling her hair. 'Forget I said

so much, if not for the fact that e

ving a bad dream. It was fever, dizziness,

Anastasia, had spent years searching for answer

trings and gotten the palace physicians serving at court to pay house visits. They had exa

ever foun

ever been abl

nts worried.

over her health, and when he wasn't drowning in politica

ff on another wild goose chase after hearing some

was just a fever. A little dizziness.

her refused

a, are you u

ce cut through

r personal maid, peering at her from the

'I'm fine. J

y was that she had

t, the entire household w

old hands and concerned faces, and wors

r whole life under E

t, meticulous, and tragically inc

er a minute, Elise was back

, then lay back do

g them in tightly. 'Lady Ophelia, if y

hing vague in response

, she was