Chapter 3

The next morning, the main hall descended into chaos.

Odette had collapsed.

Servants rushed back and forth, carrying out basin after basin of bloodied water. Word was that she had been coughing up blood without stopping and had not regained consciousness.

I lay in the side wing, drifting in and out of my fever, when I heard something hit the surface of the lake outside my window. Rosie's shrill scream followed immediately.

"Teddy! I'm scared!"

I forced my trembling legs to carry me out the door. Rosie was standing on the decorative rocks at the edge of the lake, teetering on the brink.

I ran for the water as fast as my body would allow and had just stretched out my hand to grab her when something slammed into me from behind.

"Don't touch my sister!"

Teddy had come from nowhere. He threw all his weight into shoving the small of my back.

My feet slipped and I fell straight into the winter lake.

Freezing water rushed into my lungs and the cold bit so deep it felt like my bones were cracking. I clawed my way to the surface, stiff and barely able to move, and waved toward shore.

"Help... Help me..."

The four children stood at the edge without a trace of alarm. Rosie had stopped screaming, and she was giggling. Teddy picked up a long bamboo pole the servants had left behind and extended it toward the water, his face blank.

I reached for it with everything I had. The tip of the pole came down on the top of my head instead.

I was driven under again. Water flooded my nose and I thrashed until I broke the surface, gasping.

The pole crashed down on me a second time and forced me back under.

"Mommy's sick and it's all your fault, you awful woman!"

"Drown her! Make her pay for what she did to Mommy!"

I could hear the children's small, vicious voices above the water. I thought about the hatred on their faces, and I stopped fighting.

Maybe if I died, the pain would finally stop.

Just as my body began to sink, a strong arm locked around my waist and hauled me back to shore.

My lips were blue. I coughed violently, retching up the water in my stomach, and pressed myself instinctively against the warmth of his body, desperate for shelter.

Alaric hesitated for a moment, then pushed me down onto the freezing stone.

He took the fur-lined cloak a servant handed him and draped it carefully around Teddy and Rosie.

After a long pause, he spoke. His voice was flat. "Everyone was there that day. They all saw you push Odette into the water."

He smoothed the collar of Teddy's coat, and his tone softened for the children. I lay in the snow, staring up at him in disbelief. He would not even look at me.

"She caught a chronic illness from the cold and was left unable to bear children. All she could do was watch while you had one baby after another. This ends here. Don't blame what happened today on Odette. You owed her this. Consider the debt settled."

The absolute death of every feeling I had left collided with the cold.

Blood poured from between my legs, spreading across the snow beneath me until it was soaked through with red.

Alaric turned. His gaze landed on the stain and his expression shifted. He stepped forward, reaching to lift me up.

"My Lord... Did the children cause trouble?"

Odette appeared at the far end of the corridor, leaning heavily on her handmaid. She was white as paper. She managed two steps before her legs gave out and she crumpled to the ground.

Alaric stopped mid-stride. Without a second of hesitation, he turned and crossed the distance to Odette in long strides, sweeping her into his arms.

Over his shoulder, he left a single instruction. "Send the physician to see Her Grace."

My parents came hurrying from the other end of the corridor, each scooping up two children, murmuring comfort as they walked.

"There now, don't look. Come on, let's go."

I lay in the snow. Before I lost consciousness, all I could hear was the wind howling through the storm.

In my dream, time rewound to when I was carrying my second child.

It was a deep winter night and my legs had cramped so badly I could not stop crying. Alaric did not even pause to put on a coat.

He sat at the foot of the bed in nothing but his underclothes, cradled my legs in his lap, and worked the knots out with the warmth of his palms, slowly, patiently.

He kissed my forehead and swore it like a vow.

"Laurel, you're suffering through this to give me children. I swear I'll never let anyone hurt you for as long as I live."