Gwyneth
Why haven’t Dagmar come back yet?
Lately, he always wakes up during the night, but he never takes so long to come back.
Despite the warmth of the bed, I feel a sudden chill.
I get up and I dress the robe. Something is wrong. I can’t keep ignoring my instinct.
I leave the room and I go search for my husband.
Outside, thunders resound almost non-stopping, as if nature knew that something horrible will soon happen.
I always loved nature. I felt so free when I saw Kayden for the first time, dancing on the snow in front of the city gates.
The wind dances around me, taking all my worries with it. Not even the cold bothers me anymore, my blood warm for my movements.
I’m so lost within it that I don’t notice someone approaching me until I feel a hand on my face. My hand goes to the dagger that I always carry with me.
I open my eyes and I see the most attractive man that I ever saw standing at my front. For a second, I forget how to breathe while I lose myself on those amber eyes. Their owner is taller and larger than me, the strength of his body showed instead of hidden by his clothes, his hand warm against my skin despite the cold. The dagger forgot I can only look to him. Broad shoulders, thick, straight black hair colored with some snowflakes, he looks like a God in flesh and bone.
-Gwyneth, where are you? – I hear my aunt calling me and that breaks the magic of the moment.
What am I doing? I came to Synkaid to meet my fiancée, not to be enchanted by some stranger pretty eyes.
-I’m here aunt Phryne – I walk backward a few steps, so my aunt does not see me so close to this man when she comes out from our carriage and I force myself to stop looking to his eyes. His stunning eyes that are still looking to mine.
My aunt Phryne is one of those women to who years add more and more beauty. But the stranger’s eyes don’t even vacillate from mine.
-Are you trying to get a cold Gwyneth? And who are you, young man?
-Dagmar Kaiden Syn, 7th Prince of Synkaid at your disposal milady – The prince kisses my aunt hand with his eyes still locked on mine.
-I’m Duchesse Phryne Mirakin and this is my niece, Gwyneth, Princess Heir of Ashpyre – My aunt introduces me.
-Welcome to Synkaid princess – The prince curtseys and I feel again how warm his hand is when he holds mine to kiss it.
-What brings a sun princess to this realm in such a time of the year? – Asks the prince, his hand still holding mine.
-I…
-I see you already met my fiancée cousin – Says a man’s voice.
I turn to that voice and I see a tall blonde man standing next to the prince.
Corrigan is one of the most gorgeous men in Synkaid, but when sided with Dagmar, his golden beauty is clouded by the raw masculinity that Dagmar exhales.
I walk on the empty corridors, not sure where to go until I see the weak light of a candle, held by a man knelling in front of another. I let the air, that I didn’t even know I was holding, go out in relieve. Dagmar hadn’t returned to our chambers because he wasn’t alone.
I stop, not sure of what shall I do. If Dagmar sees me, he will want to know why I am out of the room. How can I explain to him that I followed him because I had a bad feeling?
When I am about to leave and return, I hear the words that would change my life forever.
-The child must die, and the Queen told that he was born dead.
The time stops, and the world is filled with pain. I’m unable to move, to breathe, to even blink.
I feel like if someone stabbed my heart with a dagger. With each heartbeat, more and more pain spreads through my body, my mind, my soul.
I must have heard wrong, it’s not possible, Dagmar would never say that…
-If the Queen ever finds it, it will be your head that will roll.
I look in shock to that stranger whose voice is the same as my husband while one of my hands automatically goes to my swollen belly.
The walls spin around me. Why, why, why?
The prophecy, it has to be that. Oh my God, Dagmar truly believes in it?
I bite my own hand until I draw blood to stop myself from letting the screams inside of me to come out. I watch as Dagmar walks away, not in our room direction, but on the opposite.
What shall I do? What can I do?
I feel the despair taking me away.
My legs can’t hold me anymore, I kneel on the cold floor, holding my belly, unable to stop the tears that flow.
Suddenly, I feel a soft kick inside my belly.
The baby.
I have to protect my baby.
Nothing else matters.
I need to control myself. I need to think. I dug my nails inside my palms, focusing on the pain to regain my control.
Slowly I stand up.
Now all makes sense. Hundreds of memories fill my mind.
The strange looks that Dagmar sometimes gave me, this constant pain on my chest that hasn’t allowed me to feel totally happy.
All the nights he got up when he thought I was sleeping.
The shock and the pain from the betrayal can wait for later. Now, I have to protect the life inside of me.
Protect my baby against his own father.
I don’t know where Dagmar is, but he hasn’t gone back to our room. I still have time.
I clean the tears from my eyes and I go look for my aunt. She is the only person who can help me now.
My aunt decided to stay in Synkaid with me. She didn’t want to leave me alone. I go to her chambers, walking as fast as I can in my condition.
I wake her up and I tell her everything. Together, we decide what to do.
Now, I need to do the hardest thing I ever did in my entire life.
I need to go back to our room and pretend that nothing happened.
As I walk thought the corridor, I feel every part of me screaming to run in the opposite direction.
But I can’t run. The entire plan depends on this. Dagmar can’t suspect anything.
I can do this, for my baby’s sake, I can. I will.
Shacking, I force myself to open the room door. Dagmar still hasn’t come back.
I feel like I’m going to throw up.
I hold my belly. You can do this Gwyneth Ashpyre Synkaid.
I lay down on the bed, unable to fall asleep. The hour's pass, the weather outside growing worse and worse.
My heart almost jumps out of my chest when I listen to the door opening.
Calm Gwyneth, breathe slowly, don’t let him notice that you are awake.
Using all my strength, I don’t move, and I keep my eyes closed. I listen to Dagmar undressing and entering on the bed. He smells like alcohol.
The panic flows when he hugs me. Calm, calm, calm…
When he falls asleep and his breathing slows down, I’m unable to stop my tears from falling.
Part of me still doesn’t believe in what I heard. How can I have not seeing what type of man Dagmar truly is?
Every night, laying with him was heaven.
Today is hell.
At the thought that this is the last time ever I will be in his arms, my heart breaks even more.
I spend the night awake. When Dagmar wakes up and fondles my hair and face, I pretend that I’m still sleeping.
He softly kisses my forehead before leaving the room.
-Goodbye Dagmar – whispers my heart.
