Page 126 of Nightshade

“More risk than staying? Have I not faced the worst of it yet? Stolen from my home and brought to this strange place? What could be worse?”

Her question brought the day in the maze to mind. If not for Remy and Van Croix, I didn’t even want to think of what that thing would’ve done. “Believe me. There is worse.”

“I do not care that Master Van Croix has not yet harmed me. I want to return to my life! Do you hear me? I intend to go back to my home! To my mother, who is probably worried sick. For the sake of my child! And not you, nor anyone else, is going to stop me!” A look of pain claimed her face, and she bent forward, holding her belly. “Oh, dear God!”

“Aurelia? Are you okay?” When I reached for her, she swatted my hand away.

“Do not touch me!” She pushed up from the bed, hunched over herself, and took three steps toward the door, before she collapsed.

“Aurelia!” I shot out of bed. Skidding to the floor beside her, I performed a quick scan of her prone body and noticed blood fanning in the cotton of her dress. The pallor of her face turned a ghostly white, and she trembled in my arms. “Somebody, help me! Help me!”

Fire burned in my throat as I screamed, not wanting to leave her side.

When I turned my attention back to her, I caught sight of tears streaming down her temples. “Please,” she spoke in a shaky voice. “Do not let me have this baby here. I want my mother.”

Holding back tears myself, I cleared my throat. “Then, you just hang on, okay?” The sound of footsteps closing in had me craning my neck to find the brunette kitchen staff, the one I’d learned was named Evie, peeking through the crack in the door. “Get help! Please!”

Tipping her chin back, she gave a devious smile that told me she had no intentions of helping.

“Please! She’s bleeding everywhere!”

Instead of running off to fetch someone, she continued to stare in on us.

“Farryn?” Aurelia’s weakened voice drew my attention back to her and the blossom of blood that’d grown twice in size. “Do not let her have my baby. Please take her with you, okay? When you leave? Take Miriam with you.”

“You’re both coming with me.”

More tears slipped down her temples. “Tell her she made me happy. And that I wanted nothing more than to be a mother.” Cold fingers curled into the sleeve of my dress.

“Stop. Please, Aurelia. You’re going to be fine. Somebody, help! Help me!”

“I think … you were right. I don’t think I am meant to return to my home. But maybe … maybe my baby can. Will you take her with you?”

Tears filled my eyes. “I will try.” The lie tore at my heart, but what else could I have said right then? I suspected Aurelia had died while pregnant. Which meant her baby had died with her.

“Promise?”

Lips tight, I nodded. “I promise.”

Smiling, she took one long, deep breath. “Okay. And tell her I love her.”

“I will.”

“What is all the racket about?” Anya burst in through the door, the sight of her a small relief against the chaos that tore through me.

“She needs help!”

“I’ll phone Doctor Venable right away!”

“She needs a doctor now! Right now!” It was then I noticed the grip on my arm had lessoned, and I snapped my focus back to Aurelia. Eyes closed, she lay perfectly still, a slight smile on her lips, as if in dreams.

“Aurelia?” I gave a gentle shake of her body in an attempt to rouse her. “Wake up. Wake up, Aurelia!” Twisting around to Anya, I swallowed back the panic rising to my throat. “She’s not waking up!”

Anya gathered up her skirts and knelt down to the floor beside me. “Go fetch a warm cloth and some antiseptic from the closet.” She lay Aurelia onto her back, tipping up her chin as I’d seen paramedics do.

With a nod, I did as she instructed and ran to the closet beside the armoire to gather the necessary supplies. As I searched the cupboards for the antiseptic, a sound reached my ears. Like a foreign language with clips and clicking. I twisted around to find Anya sat hunched over Aurelia, her face close to the girl’s, as she would if she were breathing air into her body. Only instead blowing, she appeared to draw upward in a sucking motion, cheeks caved in. A white curling mist rose up past Aurelia’s blue lips and between Anya’s. For a moment, I stood dumbfounded, my mind trying to understand what exactly I was witnessing.

Dark shadows moved across the wall like spiders and climbed over Aurelia’s body. The sounds of hissing echoed in the room, and I covered my ears against the high pitch of it. The shadows morphed into gray skirts and white aprons, and a head lifted from the cluster where the brunette, Evie, stared back at me. What appeared to be blood stained her lips, which stretched into a smile.