Maria’s POV I woke up with a start, I looked around and Ethan was sleeping soundly beside me, he had pulled me closer to him and wrapped his hand around my waist, a sigh left my lips as my breathing slowly returned to normal. I had been dreaming again, I had been dreaming about Alexander once more, the pesky dreams seemed to be coming in more frequency these days and the contents of the dreams were even more intense and they were beginning to seem more like memories, they seemed like events that might have happened to us before in the past but that seemed unlikely since I had no memory of Alexander before now. I was even more confused after meeting with my nurse from when I was younger because as I far as I was concerned, every single thing she had said to me made no sense, she had said my mother had been in good terms with the Dupree family before my marriage to Ethan. But I knew for a fact that my mother had said it was only over her dead body I will marry a son from the enemy pa

Chapter 35Ethan’s POVI woke up with a feeling of forbearing, I kept having a feeling something terrible was going to happen today and I had no idea what it was.“You look terrible” I said to Maria when she stepped out of the bathroom.Taking a closer look at her, I realized she looked worse than I thought initially, her skin was clammy and her hair stuck to her skin since she was covered in sweat, her skin was pale and even from where I sat on the bed, I could guess she was running a temperature. I rushed out of the bed and held her, I was right, she was burning up, her body temperature felt like it was well over a hundred degrees. How the hell did she become like this? She was okay when we went to bed last night.“What happened to you? You were okay last night?” I asked her as I led her to the bed and gently placed on it.“I was fine until a few hours ago, I think I caught a bug or something like that, I should be okay soon, I just need some rest” she said, her voice sounded weak

Maria’s POVMy eyelids fluttered open and I looked around my surroundings, I was in my bedroom and I was lying on my bed, when had I lost consciousness? And for how long was I out?I looked at the window and realized it was dark outside, it was morning when I lost consciousness, I must have been out for a very long time.I tried getting up but my body felt weak and tired but I managed it, I pulled myself into a sitting position, my head was pounding and I felt extremely dizzy.I was wondering why I was alone when the door opened and Ethan walked in looking rumpled, his hair was a mess, I knew that he had been running his fingers through it all day, it was something he did when he was worried or nervous, his skin looked drawn and I realized my sudden fever must have really gotten to me.He rushed over to me when he saw that I was awake “You should not be sitting down, you need to lie in bed and rest, that is what the doctor said” he said as he helped me back into a sitting position.I

Chapter 39Ethan’s POVThe last few days had gone by in a blur, I was still trying to process everything Sharon had revealed to me, the part that really got to me was the part about Maria being destined for my bastard brother, I knew that I had told my father when I was younger that I was in love with Maria and he had promised me that he will make sure I got the heart of any woman I sought.Looking back now, I realized that I had really lived a greatly sheltered life, my father had been a man of great power, a leader to the bone but he had always been weak when it came to me, I did not have a childhood memory of my father ever saying no to me or scolding me for something.But I remembered how he had been towards Alexander, he was hard on him, I remembered that he had sent Alex to the barracks too train with the soldier when he was very young, Alex had grown up in a very difficult and though it may have been done as a form of punishment by our father, that life had shaped him to be the

Chapter 41Ethan’s POVI had arrived home after the scene at the council meeting, I decided it was best to go in to the house through the back entrance because I could not handle the looks the maids will give me when I walked in looking as I did now, all this because of that bastard brother of mine.As I walked in through the gardens, I heard Maria and her mother discussing and talking, it sounded serious and I also noticed that Maria was crying, whatever it was, it sounded pretty serious.I stood there listening to their conversation, each word sounding like a blow to me, I could not believe this, I was even sure if I was to be grateful to my father or hate him, he had truly taken everything from Alexander for my sake, blood was rushing in my ears, I could not breathe properly, Alexander had every reason to hate me as much as he did if he knew this part and I doubted he knew about it yet.Which was even worse? Trying to kill him or stealing his mate away from him? I turned away from