He asked me to give up my bloodline standing and follow him to the outer territories to live in poverty.
When I was carrying his pup, he turned around and marched back to the capital, all to prop up Ravenna's position.
I tried to stop him.
He said I had changed.
"The Seraphina I knew would never be this unreasonable."
I stood there, frozen.
Something cracked open in my chest, and the cold wind howled straight through.
Three years of mating. Three years in those outer territories, choking down broth made from wild roots.
Hands that once held embroidery needles split open at the knuckles from chopping firewood.
When the kindling was too damp to catch, I got on my hands and knees and blew into the stove until tears streamed down my face.
I never once complained.
And in the end, because Ravenna whispered one word of grievance,
he blamed me.
I ran after their carriage.
I just wanted to ask what I had done wrong.
I lost my footing at the cliff's edge. Two lives gone in an instant: mine, and my unborn pup's.