Page 1 of Halfblood Deceived

I

PART ONE

Chained by fear

Bound by lies

Drowned in tears

Encased in bitter ice

Forgotten and forsaken

When will she awaken?

CHAPTER 1

Aella stared at the single line on the pregnancy test. Relief and apprehension battled for dominance in her chest. She could barely draw enough air into her lungs.

Bracing her hands on the icy marble counter, she looked at her reflection in the ornate mirror and winced. Her normally milky skin had taken on a chalk-like-coloring, making the constellation of freckles across her nose and over her cheekbones pop starkly. Her lips were red and chapped from all the biting she had submitted them to. With her messy mahogany hair covering her bare shoulders and the long white nightgown, she looked like a ghost, and felt like one too.

The door to the bathroom unlocked, and she jumped like a startled cat.

“I told you I’d come out when I am ready,” she said, her voice whisper-low.

Micah, her husband, all but yanked the pregnancy test from her hands, mouth twisting into a frown. “You know I’m not a patient male.”

Gritting her teeth, she met his brown eyes in the mirror. Her throat tightened and her gut twisted into a knot at the disappointment and dark anger on his face. She remembered a time when his face was beautiful to her. When his smile created butterflies and not stinging bees in her stomach. Aella supposed he was still handsome with his thick brown hair, sun-tanned skin, muscular build, and angular features. But it was as if the ugliness that had festered in her heart after his many disappointed remarks had clouded her eyes.

Or maybe you’ve finally opened them, whispered a voice in her head.

Micah threw the test into the basket by the toilet, his aim true as always. He gripped her chin, compelling eye contact that turned Aella’s insides to stone. “I guess you’ll have to try harder, hmm?”

Aella winced inwardly but forced herself to nod even if she wanted to cry. It was her duty to give him a child. Her duty as a wife and a gargoyle was to give birth to another warrior, like her husband. Or a baby girl who one day would have the honor of becoming the wife of a brave gargoyle, as Aella had.

Honor.

Sacrifice.

Duty.

Concepts that had once given Aella a purpose and now felt like a noose around her neck.

Because she was weak.

She was a terrible wife.

Micah reminded her of it all the time.

But she didn’t know how to stop being a bad wife.

Worse than that, she didn’t know if she wanted to stop being one.

Micah wrapped his arm around Aella’s shoulders as he lifted the silk nightgown up her legs. “I was certain you were pregnant this time, considering you’ve gained weight.”

Her heart seemed to plummet into a void.

She had lost weight in the last couple of weeks, actually. And she ran an hour daily on the treadmill like Micah wanted. Still, her figure remained obstinately full. Her stomach was mostly flat but soft, her thighs thick.

---