Chapter 131: Leya's Secret Struggle

The home seemed more controlled without Harrison.

Not in sound — but in ferocity. Secrets were pushed further back, footsteps behind her, every door squeaking open at the most inopportune moment. Blackwood Hall was never finer, but with a secret of her own, Leya felt walls closing in to ambush and mislead her.

She would wake up each morning with a strained cramp in her throat. She had learned to suppress it, to splash water on her face before emerging from the cocoon of her bedchamber. A wan-faced maid would lift an eyebrow — eyebrows here were daggers.

She had strolled today, fatigued, but she bullied her body into motion through all things. If Samuel ever found out, if Vivian guessed, Eleanor even winked, her rumply makeover disguise would not survive the day.

She even rehearsed camouflage, Late at night, alone in the tiny room of hers, she put her hands on her belly and addressed the baby inside. The voice trembled, stuttered with terror, but grew to the bursting point with hop