Chapter 4

The side wing reeked of bitter medicine.

The moment the physician placed his fingers on my pulse, his expression changed. My pulse was barely there. What little life I had left was fading.

He glanced at me lying on the bed, ashen as a corpse, and composed himself before hurrying straight to Odette's wing.

Before long, word came. Odette had vomited blood again and lost consciousness. She was slipping away.

Alaric and my parents were beside themselves, threatening to have the physician's head.

The physician dropped to his knees before everyone in the main hall. "Ms. Odette's chronic illness has worsened with each shock. Her heart is failing. There is only one remedy left."

"What is it? Speak!" Alaric demanded.

"I need blood drawn directly from the chest of a woman who has just given birth. It is the only way to sustain her heart and cure the illness at its root."

A woman who had just given birth. Every eye in the room turned naturally to me.

By the time Alaric arrived at the side wing, the bleeding between my legs had only just been stopped with medicine the servants had forced down my throat.

He walked to the bed, bent down, and lifted me into his arms.

His hands were as gentle as ever. He even wrapped his own cloak around me, careful to shield me from the slightest draft on the walk to the main hall. But the words that came out of his mouth were merciless.

"Laurel, just this once. Give the blood and cure Odette for good. Then your debt to her is paid, completely. Once she's better, I promise you can raise the next child yourself."

I leaned against his chest. I did not struggle. I did not argue.

When we reached the main hall, the physician made a demand before the procedure. "To ensure the blood's potency, Her Grace must be cleansed first. Her body still carries impurities from the baby's delivery. They would contaminate the remedy."

The cleansing took place in the courtyard behind the estate, in a stone basin filled with water drawn from the deep well.

The cold had already settled into my bones. The instant my feet touched the freezing water, my entire body seized in violent spasms.

I clenched my teeth. Several stout attendants grabbed me and forced me down into the basin.

Alaric stood at the edge. His fist was clenched tight inside his sleeve, but he did not say a word to stop it.

I sat in that water, cold enough to crack bone marrow, for a full half hour.

When the time was up, Alaric stepped forward and pulled me out himself. He took a cloth and wiped the water from my face with careful hands, then bundled me in a thick blanket.

Yet before I was even dry, I was laid onto the cushioned table in the center of the heated room.

A large portrait hung on the wall of the main chamber. In it, Alaric and Odette sat side by side. The children gathered around them, climbing into their laps. Father and Mother stood behind them, beaming.

Across the bottom of the frame, a single word had been painted in gilded —'Family'.

On the other side of the screen stood my parents and my four children. All four of them had their hands pressed over their noses, staring at me with open disgust.

The little girl stepped out from behind them, carrying a delicate crystal chalice cupped in both hands, and stood beside the table.

My heart skipped when I saw it.

It was the chalice Alaric had carved for me himself on our wedding day. He had told me that as long as we drank from it together during the ceremony, we would grow old side by side and fill our home with children and grandchildren.

The physician approached with a thin blade.

The tip parted the skin over my chest and the pain tore through me so sharply that my back arched off the table. Alaric moved in at once, one hand gripping my wrist, the other pressing my shoulder flat.

The needle drove deep, but I had already lost so much blood that the flow from my chest came in a thin, sluggish trickle.

The physician wiped sweat from his brow and looked urgently at Alaric. "My Lord, Her Grace has almost no blood left. It won't come out. I'll have to cut deeper."

Alaric's hand tightened over mine until the veins stood out. He closed his eyes. "Do it."

The blade sank deep into the flesh, pressing dangerously close to my heart.

My vision went black in waves. I did not have the strength left to fight.

Inside my mind, the System's voice rang out with perfect clarity.

[Departure channel ready. Countdown: ten seconds.]

I struggled to move my fading eyes, trying to look past the screen for one last glimpse of my children.

What I saw was Teddy turning away, his face twisted in disgust. "That's so much blood. It's gross."

The crystal chalice filled to the brim at last.

Alaric wasted no time directing the servants to carry it away. He followed them into the inner room with quick, urgent steps. All four children scrambled after him.

The last thing I heard before consciousness left me was Alaric's voice, soft and coaxing. "Odette, drink it. Drink it and you'll be better."

The physician noticed something was wrong with me. He fumbled over himself trying to stop the bleeding.

However, I had gone completely still. The blood seeping from my chest slowed to nothing.

He reached for my breath, then staggered back two steps and half-fell, half-crawled into the inner room.

"My Lord... Her Grace... she's gone."