Tendrils of Black

Ella

All is well. Nothing is amiss. Our daughter is growing as she should be.

Here’s a list of herbs. The alchemist in the market can make you a bundle for teas and spicing your food. You should be eating this as often as you can. It’ll help with the aches and fatigue. The midwife’s words echo in my mind.

All is well. No signs of distress. No inklings that a curse is eating me alive.

I watch the village of Hannis from my window at the inn as I cradle the swell of my stomach.

No one suspects a thing is wrong with me.

Maybe Petra was wrong. Maybe she lied and was only trying to scare me, but the memories of Kane’s blade slicing my skin ebb through my mind and leave scars in their wake.

I need to know for sure if I’m cursed and what it means. And, more importantly, how to break it.

The midwife comes and goes with a smile on her pleasant face, but I haven’t left the room. I’ve barely touched the cold breakfast foods laid out on a small table near the window. The tea has grown cold.