Claimed by the vampire prince

Chapter 432: Chapter 432

The moment Thalora crossed the threshold, her gaze was immediately drawn to the bed. Circe lay there, her body rigid with pain, her face contorted in silent suffering. A sheen of sweat clung to her skin, and her breathing came in shallow, uneven bursts. Then Thalora saw it, the crimson stain spreading across the hem of Circe’s cream-colored dress.

Her heart dropped sharply, as though it had been dragged down into the depths of her stomach.

"Take me closer to her," Thalora said, her voice trembling now with urgency and rising panic. She needed to know what was wrong. Seeing her daughter in such agony felt like a blade had been driven straight through her chest. The distance between them, however small, was unbearable. She needed to be near her, needed to make this right.

The maid hesitated only long enough to glance at Nieah for permission. Nieah gave a small, decisive dip of her chin.

Moments later, Thalora was carefully lowered onto the edge of Circe’s bed.

Without hesitation, she reached for her daughter’s hand and clasped it tightly. The contact alone sent a jolt through her, and she closed her eyes as she allowed her magic to flow freely. It seeped from her being into Circe’s body, gentle at first, then stronger. It moved through her like an unseen current, searching, probing, unraveling the source of her pain.

At the same time, Thalora tried to ease her suffering, dulling the sharp edges of the agony that wracked her daughter’s body.

The process took several, agonizing moments.

Then she felt it. A second heartbeat. It was faint and fragile, and entirely distinct from Circe’s heartbeat. For a fleeting second, Thalora could scarcely believe it, but her magic did not lie. There was life growing within her daughter’s womb and that life was slipping away.

All she felt was horror as she reached deeper with her magic. That was when she sensed something foreign and toxic in Circe’s system, poisoning her from within. Snuffing out the fragile life inside her. freewebnøvel.coɱ

"She needs a physician. A midwife," Nieah said anxiously from the side, her voice tight with fear as she watched Thalora work. "I believe she might be with child."

Her next words seemed to weigh heavily upon her, as though speaking them might make them irrevocably real. "I think she is having a miscarriage."

Her voice broke slightly on the last word. She spoke those words at the exact moment Thalora reached the same devastating conclusion.

Thalora did not hesitate. She poured more of her magic into Circe. It surged through her daughter’s body, seeking out the toxins and pushing back against their effects. At the same time, she wove a protective barrier around Circe’s vital organs, shielding them from further harm in case the poison had already begun to spread beyond the womb.

Then, with a focused burst of power, she drove the toxins out.

Circe’s reaction was immediate. Her body jerked violently as a sharp cry tore from her throat. Her hands flew to her stomach, clutching it as waves of pain overtook her.

When the pain became unbearable, she wrenched herself free from Thalora’s grasp and turned sharply onto her side. A moment later, she vomited onto the floor.

There was little in her stomach to bring up as she had not eaten that day so what came was mostly bitter bile.

She continued to heave for several moments, her body trembling with the effort.

Only when the worst of it had passed did Thalora finally pull her gaze away. She turned to Nieah. The worry that had filled her expression moments before had not vanished but now, it was accompanied by something far more dangerous.

Rage. It burned in her fierce grey eyes—eyes so strikingly similar to Circe’s.

"You are right," Thalora said. "The princess is with child and will require a midwife. Preferably one with great experience, someone capable of attending to her at all times, given the condition she is in."

The maid, who had been watching in stunned silence, finally found her voice.

"You helped her... with your magic," she said. It was not a question.

Anyone familiar with the fae knew that many of them possessed the ability to heal through magic. What Thalora had done could be nothing else.

"I did. But I wasn’t fast enough. The toxins in her body had already done a measure of damage. If she continues with the pregnancy, it is bound to be a difficult one."

Thalora’s voice wavered as she spoke. She glanced back at her daughter, who had collapsed against the bed, utterly weak and spent. Tears pricked at the corners of Thalora’s eyes as she added softly, "I only wish there was more I could have done for her."

"What toxins?" Nieah demanded, her eyes widening in alarm as those words settled over her. "Are you saying someone did this to her?"

"Yes," Thalora said bluntly, though the single word seemed to cost her. It broke her heart to admit that someone had tried to harm Circe in such a cruel and deliberate way.

The maid stood quietly to the side, watching the tense exchange between the two women. Her hands clenched nervously at her sides as something took up space in her mind, something she had witnessed just hours earlier. Speaking up might invite trouble, perhaps more than she could handle, and there was always the chance she might be mistaken. But the thought of staying silent, of carrying that doubt with her, felt far worse. It was the kind of burden that would follow her for the rest of her life.

"I think I know who did it," she said at last, her voice cutting through the charged air as she stepped forward. "This morning, I saw Mirelle take something from her pocket and pour it into the tea you made for her highness, mistress Nieah."

Nieah frowned deeply, confusion flashing across her face. "I didn’t make that tea," she said. "Mirelle did."

The maid swallowed hard before continuing, her voice quieter now, laced with guilt. "I didn’t think much of it at the time, but afterward, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I saw and the way Mirelle behaved. It felt wrong. I should have said something sooner."

But she wasn’t even able to finish before Nieah cut in sharply, her patience snapping under the mounting tension. "Where is she?"

The maid shook her head morosely, her gaze dropping to the floor. "I haven’t seen her since this morning."

"Have someone clean up this mess." Nieah said, referring to the vomit on the floor. Then she cursed under her breath, the sound low and furious, before turning on her heel and rushing out of the room like she was on a war path, no doubt intent on hunting Mirelle down and forcing her to answer for what she had done.