Lena did not stop her. She offered no further warning. The witch rely stepped back a single pace, giving her space like soone who understood that a true choice must be faced alone.
Valerie opened the vial.
The scent was bitter and sharp, mixed with sothing alien, like rain falling on iron-soaked earth. Her hand trembled slightly, but she did not hesitate. She had hesitated too much in her life already.
Before drinking, she paused.
In her mind, Demian’s face surfaced once more. His voice. His promises. The protection he offered with absolute conviction, yet always bound by suffocating ties. She saw Bianca too being dragged away, screaming, powerless. And her father the long shadow that always demanded obedience in the na of blood and honor.
If I don’t choose now, Valerie thought, I will never truly choose anything.
She lifted the vial to her lips.
The liquid slid slowly down her throat. It was bitter far more bitter than she had imagined like a potion that resisted being accepted. Heat spread through her chest, then sank into her abdon, pulsing softly yet unmistakably, as if sothing had awakened... or was pushing back.
Valerie staggered a step. Lena moved swiftly, catching her before she fell.
"Easy," Lena said gently. "Let your body speak."
Valerie closed her eyes. Her breathing turned ragged. There was a strange sensation not pain, not relief but a slow, coiling pressure inside her, like two wills asuring each other’s strength.
"This..." Valerie whispered, her voice trembling. "This feels—"
"Different?" Lena cut in softly.
Valerie nodded. "Like... sothing doesn’t want to leave."
Lena exhaled slowly. "That is Morvek blood," she said. "And the life you carry."
Valerie opened her eyes. Cold sweat dampened her temples. "So?"
Lena did not answer right away. She observed Valerie carefully, as though reading signs invisible to ordinary sight.
"The potion was not useless," Lena said at last. "But it did not fully succeed either."
Valerie let out a small, bitter laugh. "Of course."
"But now," Lena continued, "you know sothing important."
Valerie looked at her. "What?"
"That whatever is within you," Lena said quietly, "is not sothing that can simply be erased. You are not facing a mistake. You are facing a choice... and its consequences."
Valerie lowered her gaze, her hand returning to her abdon. The pulse was still there. Steady. Defiant.
She drew a long breath.
"Then," she murmured more to herself than to Lena—"I’ll have to find another way."
Lena smiled faintly. "At last," she said, "you’re starting to think like soone who truly wants to be free."
Behind the pink door, a decision had been made. Not about a potion. Not about blood.
But about Valerie and the path she could no longer avoid.
Valerie remained seated on the wooden chair longer than she realized. The bitter taste of the potion still lingered in her throat; the heat had faded, but the sensation in her abdon that was still there. Steady. Unyielding. As if mocking every decision she had just made.
She lowered her gaze to her stomach. Her hand trembled as it brushed the fabric of her dress.
"There’s nothing," she whispered. Not relief but a quiet, creeping dread. "Nothing has changed."
Lena stood across from her, leaning against the stone table, her eyes studying Valerie with a calm that was cruel only because it was honest."I suspected as much," she said. "That fetus... is very strong."
Valerie lifted her face sharply. "How strong?"
"Strong enough to resist a potion that should have worked," Lena answered without hesitation. "Strong enough to endure, even when your own body rejects it."
Valerie’s breath caught. She let out a small laugh hollow, on the verge of breaking."So even my own body has no right over itself," she said bitterly. "How remarkable."
She stood and paced one step, two then stopped."I don’t want it, Lena," she said suddenly. Not shouting. Not crying. Just honest. "I never wanted it."
Lena did not interrupt.
"I want this to end," Valerie continued, her voice dropping lower. "I want it... gone. Terminated. If that’s the only way I can leave. If that’s the only way I can be free."
Silence fell, heavy and dense.
Lena exhaled slowly, this ti not as a sorceress, but as soone who had seen too many requests like this."By ordinary ans," she said softly, "it’s impossible."
Valerie stiffened. "Impossible?"
"That doesn’t an there is no way," Lena corrected. "Only that... those ways do not co without a price."
Valerie turned quickly. Her eyes burned not with hope, but with desperation willing to pay anything."Find it," she said firmly. "Help find a way."
Lena looked at her for a long ti. A very long ti."Do you understand what you’re asking?" she finally said. "This isn’t rely ending a pregnancy. You’re asking to defy Morvek blood itself."
"I know," Valerie replied without hesitation. "And I’m still asking."
Lena stepped closer, her voice lowering."If I help you," she said, "you must understand this isn’t a potion. Not a single night. It will involve ancient rituals, boundaries that should never be touched lightly. And even if it succeeds... your body will not erge unmarked."
Valerie smiled faintly."My body has been marked for a long ti."
Lena fell silent. Then she gave a small nod, as if making a grave decision."There is a legend," she said slowly. "About a way to sever a blood bond before it fully takes root. Not by destroying it but by moving it. Redirecting it."
Valerie frowned. "Moved... where?"
"To a place not bound to your will," Lena answered. "To another vessel. Another path."
Valerie’s face went pale. "That sounds—"
"Dangerous," Lena cut in. "Forbidden. And not always successful."
Valerie closed her eyes for a mont. When she opened them, there were no tears only a stubborn exhaustion."If it fails?"
"If it fails," Lena said honestly, "the fetus will remain alive. And your body will know that you tried to reject it."
Valerie swallowed. "And if it succeeds?"
Lena didn’t answer right away."If it succeeds," she said at last, "you will be free of the pregnancy. But Morvek blood does not like being defied. It will demand sothing in return later."
Valerie nodded slowly."Fate always demands paynt," she said. "I just want to choose when I pay it."
She looked straight at Lena."Find the way."
Lena closed her eyes briefly, then nodded."I’ll look for it," she said. "But listen to carefully, Valerie."
Valerie stayed silent.
"If you walk this path," Lena continued, "there will be no one left to bla but yourself. Not Demian. Not your father. Not the blood."
Valerie smiled faintly the smile of soone who had been standing alone for a very long ti."Finally," she murmured, "sothing that is truly mine."
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