In the room, Jonas and Gwen were staring at each other, a palpable tension in the air.
Gwen was the sort of person who was passive about everything, the kind of person who let things happen to them, and never took control of the wheels of her life.
But she was also intelligent. She knew, deep down, that this was all a ploy laid by redith, but she went along with it, appearing docile and submissive In truth, she also greatly desired Jonas just like every other girl in the kingdom. But she was not pushy or forward about it. She just had him in her imagination.
Jonas, was feeling like there was a huge chunk of himself locked deep inside of him. His tongue beca loose, his hands beca unable to stay still. It was as though an external force was pushing him.
He reached for this strange girl whom his mother had offered to him as his wife to be.
He found her to be incredibly repulsive. But right now, this drugged Jonas didn't care. He just needed a release.
He lunged towards her and grabbed her, searching for the mounds of breasts pushed up by her corset.
They fell into the bed dressed with the finest sheets. The room slt heavenly too, and there were candles on his bedside. Jonas wanted to ask where they had co from, but he was too lost, too buried in himself.
White sheets, soft skin, sweet slls, a strange moan. Those were the only things Jonas could rember.
***
The next morning, he had woken up, feeling refreshed and in control. He looked to his side and found a female form sprawled on his sheets, her face obscured by a tangle of red hair.
H scread.
Gwen woke up and hurriedly picked up her clothes, trying in vain to conceal her nakedness.
Jonas stood over her, glaring at her with so much anger that she shrunk into herself. She grimaced
"You." Jonas snarled as he took another intimidating step towards her. "You, filthy thing. How could you ever think I could love soone like you? How could you ever conceive that idea?"
He took another step and Gwen retreated farther and farther. She wished the walls would open up and swallow her.
"I do not know what you did to . Love potions? Did you take a strand of my hair have you been spying on , looking out for places I have visited so you can take a piece of
I have shed behind for your nasty charms?"
Gwen remained whimpering.
"Answer !" Jonas roars. Gwen flinches and mutters, "Nono."
Jonas sighed. He ran his hands through his hair and looked at her again, this ti, with a hint of tiredness and disgust in his eyes.
"Leave my chambers. I never want to see you again. Ever."
***
After that day, Gwen kept to herself. Jonas avoided speaking to redith and coming to the house when it was ti for dinner.
Whenever Gwenn saw him in the markets, being smothered with kisses from another girl, she bowed her head and increased her pace, pausing frequently to lay her hands protectively on her growing baby bump.
***
It happened on a cold, stormy night. redith had gone out to attend a ball, and Jonas had sped off on a horse with the girl he loved. She was a brown-eyed brunette nad Catherina.
Gwen was in the house all alone when the contractions beca increasingly painful. It was as through her insides were being torn apart with a pincer, her bones being pulled away from her muscles
She walked slowly to the place where the servants were gathered, talking under the light of the moon.
When they saw her, they exclaid. But redith was already too tired out from all the walking.
"My baby" was all she whispered before falling to the ground. The servants rushed to her, pulled her up and took her into a safe place. They lit lanterns, gathered towels, and heated a knife on a stove, driven by the singular urgency of saving the baby.
When the knife was sufficiently heated, they opened up her womb expertly and brought out the baby. A frail girl who was already turning blue.
With a few thumps on her back, she let out a shrill cry and the color slowly returned to her face. The maids cleaned her up and swaddled her in clothes, grateful that she had taken her first breath. But for Gwen, she had taken her last.
*******
Now, the story truly begins here. The child was nad Kate, and she grew up with her mother's hair and eyes, and her father's fine features.
She was reclusive, but she had an great ability to observe. She was brilliant, thoughtful, and kind. redith loved her so much that it almost hurt. She resolved not to love her the way she had loved her son.
So, she gave her freedom to do things how she wanted, to make her own decisions. But most of the ti, Kate wanted to stay indoors and read books with thick spines at the study.
The love redith had for her also stemd from a place of guilt. Knowing that her decision to go to a ball that night had made her complicit to Gwen's death made her feel like a monster.
For nights after that, she dreamt of noting but her hands being red, sullied with thick blood, and of Gwen's contorted face, screaming with pain, and of Gwen's accusing finger pointing at her.
It continued for months, like an endless loop with no reprieve. She was also scared to touch the baby the first ti, for the fear that she would be struck by a curse.
Of course, she had gotten what she wanted but it no longer felt right. Kate was the child from the prophecy.
redith had carried out the test, the test was a sacred one that had not been used in her family for decades. It involved taking a strand of hair from the one who is said to possess the magical powers.
After that, the hair had to be slathered in their blood, then plunged into a certain potion which would remain colorless if the person was not a witch, and which turned blue to indicate if the person was.
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