Page 85 of King of Flesh and Bone

Anger seethed beneath my skin at the unfairness of this, my foolishness over wanting rot for the likes of them. Enosh could turn the three of them into cups for all I cared, and I would drink from them gladly. Wicked, wayward mortals!

“We should kill her,” Rose hissed. “We can tell the priests she attacked us and fell onto a knife. If she’s the one, they won’t care. And if she’s not… they won’t care, either.”

Pa whimpered.

I gripped my knife tighter.

Henry smacked his lips. “Might get us into trouble with the provost. Let’s just grab her and march her straight back.”

“And what if she makes such a ruckus that others snatch her from us, huh? It’s bad enough that I have to share with the two of you.”

“Almost don’t care about those coins anymore.” The stranger shifted his weight back as he pulled a knife from his mud-crusted leather boots, pointing it straight at my belly. “I say we kill her. Who wants to take chances when she might as well have the devil’s babe in her belly? World’s bad enough without the King’s spawn.”

“No!” Pa thrust himself away from the door. “By Helfa, how can you—”

Henry pushed against Pa’s chest. “Stay out of it, old man.”

Pa’s spine crashed against the wooden frame, ripping a bloody yelp from him before he collapsed to the ground.

“Pa!”

I hurried toward him.

Pain seared across my scalp. One tug, and the stranger pulled me back by my hair, nearly ripping me off balance.

Cr-shk!

Stabbing pain shot into my belly. It reached all the way through to my spine, from where it spread across my entire body. My knees wobbled and specks of darkness clouded my vision.

What… what was happening?

The ground shook.

I shuffled back.

I stared at the man.

He stared at my belly.

My gaze dropped to the frayed cotton of my dress, soaked red a hand-width to the right of my navel. Coldness encapsulated my skin, numbing me into the paralysis of shock.

My baby…

No.

No. No. No.

“Something’s not right,” Henry mumbled as another tremble shook the earth beneath my unsteady legs and screams resonated from the village center behind him. “Ground’s shaking like it did when they captured him. What if she’s truly his wife? What if the King’s sending corpses after us?”

The stranger tightened his grip where he still held on to my hair. “Then we best make sure the child’s gone.”

Another stab.

And another.

At the thirdcshof metal gliding into flesh, my legs gave out underneath me. My back hit the quivering ground to the sound of the blade clanking onto the frozen mud, shuffling feet, and screams… so many screams. The ground ripped open beside me. Trees swayed. Birds took flight.

Darkness hushed around the edges of my vision as the weight of the world squeezed down on me.

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