Ex-Alpha's Regret: Siren's Comeback novel Chapter 37

POV: Seraphina

For two days, I existed in a state of suspended terror. Every moment was a battle to keep my secret safe, to shield the fragile life inside me from the hostile world of this manor. I drank the strengthening herbs the old doctor had given me, pretending they were simple teas. I forced myself to eat, even when nausea roiled in my stomach. And I waited. I waited for Elias's message that Martha was safe, which would be the signal that I could finally contact Jax and set my own escape back in motion.

Sylvie was watching me. I felt her eyes on me constantly, a predatory gaze that missed nothing. She was circling, sniffing the air for any sign of weakness. She found her moment to strike while I was in the rose garden, the one place I still went to feel a connection to my mother.

"Seraphina, darling," she cooed, appearing at my side as silently as a cat. "I was just thinking about you."

I didn't answer, simply continued pruning a dead blossom from a bush.

"I heard the most distressing news today," she went on, her voice dripping with a false, syrupy concern that made my skin crawl. "From a friend who has dealings in the lower city. It's about your old servant. Martha, was it?"

My fingers froze on the rose stem. A thorn pricked my thumb, a tiny bead of blood welling up, dark red against my pale skin.

"She said Martha's having a terribly difficult time," Sylvie sighed, a perfect imitation of pity. "It's so tragic. An old, lone Omega, cast out from the protection of an Alpha's estate… The rogues and vagrants in those parts can be so… cruel. They have no respect for the old ways."

She was telling me that my escape was no longer just my own. It was tied to Martha's life. If I disappeared, Sylvie would make sure the old servant paid the price.

I was trapped. Again. Chained to this place not by Damian's power, but by my own conscience.

My hand instinctively, protectively, covered the slight swell of my abdomen.