Chapter 66
Maya looks between me and Ethan, her face is unreadable.
“Well” Shawn speaks up, repeating Ethan’s question, “did your spell work or
Maya steps closer and examines me closely, muttering a spell and lighting her palm with a strange light. She scans my body with the spell, paying close attention to my belly.
“How do you feel!”
“I feel a bit shaken. But otherwise I feel the same,” I reply carefully.
Maya places her hand on my stomach and begins to recite a number of spells. Nothing happens and Ethan begins to lose his patience.
“Enough wi
h with this! Speak your thoughts, witch!” Ethan snaps
1 quickly grab his hand to calm him down.
“Would you rather I give you an uneducated answer, Your Majesty!” Maya replies sharply. She then sighs and looks around the room, her eyes finally resting on me.
I see the look in her eyes and I already know what’s coming. I feel a lurch in my gut and I clench my fists
“I’m afraid that it didn’t work,” the witch mutters woefully. “The curse is still active.
*So you
failed!” Ethan growls, “After all that, after all the gold I paid you and all the resources and I made available; you still failed!”
“Ethan don’t, it’s not her fault,” I begin, trying my best to keep it together.
“I was able to replicate the potion to go with the curse. However, from the very beginning, I told you that it should work. I gave no guarantee.
She then simmers down and speaks softly. “It seems Evelyn took into account that we might try something like this, the curse is impervious to being countered by this method
I want to break. I want to scream. Surely this can’t be it, this can’t be the end
I take Ethan’s hand and squeeze it tightly. His muscles are so tense I can feel him suppressing his rage with everything he has.
“Give us the room.” I say firmly to everyone else.
My brothers look concerned, not wanting to leave my side. But I give them a look and they oblige. Everyone exits leaving only Ethan and L
“We failed,” he says softly, too softly from what I am used to
“This can’t be the end of the line. Ethan” I say as I fight back tears. I have to be strong for us.
He looks at me, his eyes red. “It isn’t the end. I’ve….I’ve thought of a contingency plan seeing as there was always a chance of this not working”“”
I look at him with confusion.
“A contingency plan? You never told me
And then I pause. He’s done this before; kept things from me because he knows I won’t go along with it.
“What is this plan!” I ask cautiously.
“In the event that saving both of you can’t work. There’s still a chance I can save you at the very least.”
He stands up straight.
Instinctively, I don’t want to hear what he is about to say.
“Ariella, if we can’t find a solution,” he swallows hard but his tone is firm, “we’ll have to give up the baby.”
I stare at my husband. Surely he didn’t just suggest that. Surely he didn’t say those words out loud. Surely he has to be joking
But there is no mirth in his eyes or lips, nor is he ever one for jokes of any kind.
He is serious, just as he is serious with everything che.
“Do you hear yourself?” I ask him as I clench my fists, “Do you hear what you are suggesting we do to our child, our son, your heirt?”
Chapter 66
I hit his chest. He doesn’t flinch but I know he feels my emotion behind the strike.
“Ariella,” he says heavily. “I don’t want to do it, the thought of it breaks my heart into a million pieces. But what breaks me even more is the thought that if he is born, he is guaranteed to suffer and become nothing more than a beast. It will happen, that is inevitable. But what isn’t inevitable is your death. You don’t have to die and he doesn’t have to live in pain.”
I step back. Distraught
“This isn’t a solution. You’re giving up hope. After everything we have been through, you’d give up
“I’m not giving up!” he snarls, eyes flashing gold, “I am trying to protect you–to save what we have!
“While you are ready to sacrifice him for me, I am not ready to sacrifice him just so I can live!” I snap
“So you would rather die and have him live in pain?! Have him lived the few years of sanity he has in believing that it’s his fault you died?” Ethan fumes. “You won’t see it, you won’t see his suffering, you won’t see him become a monster..but I will. And every moment that I look at him, I will see you and know of everything that I have lost!”
“And it doesn’t have to be like that! There has to be another way. Yes, we are running out of time but it is not the end yet,” I hold his face between my hands. “Evelyn is not all powerful. She is not a goddess. She is a bitter woman that has a little bit of power and that is it.”
Ethan touches my hand and grips it tightly.
“And what else is there, hmm? What magical remedy can free us from this predicament”
“I don’t know..but there are so many things, powers that must be able to undo the curse, or change in,” I say. “I would have never thought that there was a ritual that could help me get my wolf back but it exists. There is something out there, something that we haven’t explored yet. I just know h
“I’m sorry, Ari„ but I simply can’t take that risk of its and maybes. I work in absolutes; I see a solution, I take the solution. I don’t hold out for a fragile possibility.”
I pull my hand from him. Fear grips me.
He’s going to go through with it, I know it. After all the change he has gone through over the last few months, he is going to take this last matter into his hands no matter what I say.
I hold my belly and feel the movement within. I turn away from him and storm off. I have to leave. I have to do something anything, before Ethan does what he believes is best
“Ariella, wait!” he calls.
But I run away as fast as I can.
I find Maya in her room. She looks up in surprise as I enter.
“Queen Ariella, I didn’t expect—}
I get straight to the point. “Ethan was planning to have me abort the baby!”
Maya’s face goes pale.
“Maya,” I grab her arm, “I know him, no matter what I say he will go through with it if he thinks it’s the only way to spare my life.”
“And what if it is?”
“It isn’t!” I say firmly. “Tell me Maya, there are other ways we can try
Maya pauses, battling with something in her mind.
“There is something, isn’t there?” my heart beats faster.
“Not all magic is safe to use, Ariella,” she says, “There are some things that, even though it may seem like it can help, that we stay away from as a rule. People don’t use explosives to cook their meat for a reason. Ariella, you will die, and even with your death, there’s no guarantee we can save your child”
“Well I’m not trying to cook meat, Maya, Lam trying to save my child’s life. If between my child and 1, one of us has to die, then let it be mel” I place my hand on hers and plead, “You are my friend, Maya..I know you have done so much for me and I would never want to put you in a difficult position but this is my child. Please tell me what you know. I don’t care how dark or drastic it is, I will do anything. ”
Maya sighs.
Chapter of
“It’s not Dark Magic, per say, but it is dangerous and outlawed in all shifter kingdoms,” she looks at me seriously. “Even me talking about enough in be labeled heretics and enemies of the state in some countries“
“I don’t care about all that, Maya.”
“I know you don’t, but I just want to make sure that you know what you’re asking of me, and what you’re getting yourself into”
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