تسجيل الدخولCaspian The note arrived just after breakfast.It wasn't delivered through the usual correspondence tray or handed to one of the household staff. Instead, one of Professor Hawthorne's assistants appeared at the front entrance asking specifically for me.The moment I saw the familiar seal pressed into the folded paper, I dismissed everyone else from the room before breaking it open.There were only four words written across the page.Bring the sample personally.There wasn't any greeting or explanation and no signature beyond the professor's unmistakable initials at the bottom.I read it twice before folding it carefully again.Octavian, who had been watching me from across the study, frowned."That's it?" He asked and I handed him the note.He scanned it quickly before looking back at me."He couldn't have written anything less." He mumbled. "He could have written nothing." I shrugged. “Actually…” Octavian parted his lips to speak, but decided against it last minute. "Fair point
Daisy I barely slept, because every time exhaustion finally dragged me under, I woke again only minutes later, my heart racing as though it already knew something was wrong.By the time the first pale light crept through the curtains, I gave up completely.I sat on the edge of the bed and pressed trembling fingers against my temples."You have to think." The words sounded far steadier than I felt. “Think of what to do next.” The words had barely settled at the back of my mind before another wave of nausea rolled through me. I barely made it to the bathroom before I dropped to my knees.My entire body shook as I emptied what little remained in my stomach. When it finally passed, I stayed exactly where I was, one hand braced against the floor while the other rested instinctively over my abdomen.Tears burned behind my eyes, but I didn't let them fall. "Please..." My voice cracked. "Please be alright."Right now, I hated that I didn't know whether this was ordinary morning sickness
Daisy Sleep refused to come.No matter how tightly I closed my eyes or how many times I rolled from one side of the bed to the other, my mind refused to quiet itself.The room was dark save for the thin ribbon of moonlight spilling through the curtains. Shadows stretched across the floor, shifting whenever the branches outside stirred in the wind.Usually, I found the silence comforting, but tonight, it felt unbearable. With a frustrated sigh, I threw the blankets aside and sat upright."Wonderful," I muttered into the darkness. "Now I'm talking to myself."The words earned the smallest smile, but even that disappeared almost immediately. I wasn't thinking about the food from dinner, or Lady Zara. I wasn't even thinking about Yvie and her poisonous little visit earlier.I was thinking about Caspian.Again.I rested my elbows on my knees and buried my face in my hands.Why? Why had he done that? He'd looked at me but not with disgust or anger. There wasn't so much as a hint of disa
Caspian I stared at the tiny shard of porcelain resting against my fingertips. It looked insignificant, ridiculously so, but I knew better. A fragment no larger than my thumbnail had somehow become the most important thing in the room.“So.”Octavian remained standing near the doorway, his eyes fixed on it. "You really think that's what made us lose consciousness?""I don't know." The answer frustrated me as much as it frustrated him. "But I know it wasn't tea."I rubbed the pale residue carefully between my fingers again. The powder had almost no scent. It wasn't sticky, nor did it resemble dried leaves or sugar.It was something else. “So what do we do with this?” Octavian crossed the room, stopping just short of me. "Can anyone even test something this old?"“They can.” I looked down at the shard. “But not here."Silence settled between us as I turned the fragment over once more before another face appeared in my mind.Professor Hawthorne. He could help, not because he was a p
Caspian Two days, that was how long I waited, not because I wanted to, but because I had to.The physician had insisted Octavian spend the first day resting. Whatever had happened to him had left him with blinding headaches, spells of dizziness and an exhaustion that refused to lift.Pushing him before he had recovered would accomplish nothing, so I waited.It was the longest two days of my life, because not once during that time did I go near Daisy.More than once I found myself standing halfway down the corridor that led to her room before forcing myself to turn around.I wanted to see her, I wanted to hear her voice and I wanted to ask her a hundred questions. Instead, I needed facts first.Emotion had already nearly cost me once, and I refused to let it happen again.By the third morning, Octavian looked more like himself, not completely, but enough.He was already waiting when I entered his study, standing beside the window with a mug of black coffee cradled between both hands
Daisy The room suddenly felt too small, and worse, I had crossed it so many times that I was certain I could walk it blindfolded. I went from the window to the door, to the fireplace, then to the bed, and then back again.My footsteps had become a rhythm all of their own, one that refused to stop because the moment I stood still, my thoughts caught up with me.Nothing made sense, not one single part of it. I remembered drinking tea with Octavian, I remembered trying to tell him about the baby, I remembered the room spinning, and then, nothing.Absolutely nothing.The next thing I knew, I had opened my eyes to find Caspian standing in the doorway while Octavian lay naked beside me.A shudder ran through my entire body at the mere thought of it. "No..." I whispered for what felt like the hundredth time. I pressed trembling fingers against my temples. "Think."I squeezed my eyes shut as I thought…Had someone come into the room? Had I heard voices? Had someone touched me?Anything, a
Caspian The second I stepped into the kitchen, the bond turned vicious. It wasn't angry as usual, this one was worse. It felt desperate. It hit me all at once, sharp enough to make my chest tighten painfully as my gaze landed on Daisy standing beside Octavian with a mug cradled between her han
Daisy The doors opened slowly, and the sound alone was enough to make my stomach twist. Heavy wood dragged against polished floors, the echo stretching far too long, far too loud, like it was announcing something final.Like it was announcing me.Two guards stepped forward, one on each side, the
Daisy The palace was in controlled chaos, and for the life of me, I didn't know what to think of it. Servants rushed through the corridors with bolts of black silk and silver threaded veils draped over their arms, while guards stood straighter when I passed, bowing low enough that their forehea
FourDaisy The clearing had gone so quiet I could hear my own pulse in my ears.“I want her.” Even in a million years,I never thought I'd hear those words,not from Nathan, and definitely not from the Greek god in human form; Caspian.His voice didn’t need to be loud. It carried anyway, low, contr







