“When will you divorce him and throw her out the door?”
“As soon as she gives birth to a son, my love.”
“Don’t you want us to be without a child?” I heard my husband’s voice—Lord Hor and his stepsister Ophelia—through what felt like sleep. Another labor battle turned out to be painful, and I lost my sense of space. I woke up to the sweet cry of a newborn.
“You have an heir, my lord. A pure-blood dragon.”
“I’ll take him!” Ophelia shrieked.
“My baby!” I moaned—and stretched out my hands, but I was weak, and between my legs the pull of the unseen tug was heavy. I only managed to see the edge of the swaddling cloth as she carried the bundle away.
The midwife didn’t hurry to help me.
“What should we do with the lady, my lord?” the midwife asked. “She’s opened bleeding.”
He looked at me with contempt, the kind he had once reserved only for servants.
“She did her job. Give her ten gold coins and throw her out of the gates.”