Sleep evades me as the days go and Igor isn't back. He said he will take 7 days maximum, and it is the 7th day now.

I know he will return; I just don't feel great when I don't know where he is or when he's far from me. Add that to the child moving around inside me vigorously like they want to make a way out of me.

"Shh, little orc. Your father will be back. Save your strength so you can run around for him, okay?" I rub my belly.

I am also trying to calm the worry that's clawing at my insides. I know I have nothing to be alarmed about so far, but all of this is making me anxious. I don't like this place and I miss my home, my own bed.

I miss my orc and I miss being in his arms. But I know this was important to him. his last act for his old friend. The last debt to pay for what Hanser did for us.

But my former husband is devious. My mind wonders, like I've done the past few days, what must be going through his mind. He knows I'm alive, is he afraid of what I might say about him? That I would out his relationship with Shamus?

I simply don't understand why he'd look for me. I know he doesn't want me anywhere near him.

My mind drifts to my family. My brother and his wife, my father and stepmother. I wonder if Shepherd has told them anything. I wonder. If he did, I wonder what he'd tell them.

I have no doubt the poison he'd feed them, so they already think the worst of me if they ever were to see me again.

I wonder if my father would believe me if I went to him with the truth. I wonder if they'd believe me and take my side? Or they ignore what I say like they always have. How I miss my birth mother.

I remember her black eyes. Where most people have dark brown and brown eyes, my mother's eyes were black. It gave her an air of mystery and power. I still wonder why she left.

I remember that day she left. It was night. She came in my room, and she told me a story about a place far away. She had tickled me, and I slept happy.

The next morning, I had woken up to my father hurling insults I've never heard before at her name. He told me and my brother our mother ran away and left us. There was a letter apparently, but we never saw it.

I wonder what she would say about all this. What she would think. Would she judge me for Igor? Would she understand? Or would she cast me out like everyone in my life has? Would she take my child and love them like a grandmother is supposed to?

I wonder what my father would think of my pregnancy. I wonder what insults my stepmother would send my way. I don't even want to think about my former mother-in-law. That woman hated me more than she hated aging.

Everything that happened to me at the castle, was through her enabling and encouragement. Everything Shepherd did was per her advice. I remember Shamus's words, that Shepherd was never supposed to marry.

I don't know why I'm thinking about my old life so much. I realize that maybe it's because Igor isn't here to fill my space with his presence and his energy. He also isn't here to touch me. I always get lost in him. But that helped me.

Igor saved me more than I think he'll ever know. From the cold emptiness that used to be my life, to the full life I have now. The difference is night and day.

From his patience to his softness for me, to how he steps up for us and his commitment to make my life better and easier at every turn. Our life is my piece of heaven on earth.

Others may never understand what we have but he is my life. I rub my belly. Him and our child, they are my life and what a life. I would choose us over and over and over again.

I close my eyes and I try to focus on Igor. I remember all our good times. From our big milestones to our everyday life. Our life plays in my head picture for picture, one spilling and connecting with the next until sleep steals me away.

The next morning, I am disappointed to wake up alone again. I let Wolfie in. She has been using night to patrol the nearby forest and she usually sleeps during the day when I'm awake. I don't venture far.

I eat breakfast then lunch again. The food is starting to taste dull without him. Wolfie leaves around lunch, and she goes on her patrol. I sit back and I bide my time. The sun goes down and with it my heightened anxiousness.

My whole body is live with nerves firing from all angles. But I try to pace around the cave to expel the energy. Night intensifies and he still doesn't come back. My child moves in my stomach. That gives me a little distraction and I sit down, and I tend to them.

"Sh, little orc. Your father is coming back. Just you wait. He will be back, and he will tell you our favorite story." I find myself smiling. I have berries as a snack, and I lie down again.

I jolt awake when I think I hear something outside. But when I try to listen there's nothing there.

Maybe its Igor. I sit up.

I hope its him. I hope he's back. It is him. Who else could it be? Those are my thoughts before I hear something that freezes the very blood in my veins.

"Aria!" The voice of my tormenter shouts from outside.

No no no no. I probably am still dreaming. I pinch myself. Wake up, Aria. Wake up.

"Aria, I know you are there."

I stop breathing. I am hoping he's just passing by. As my heart's drum deafens my own ears, I hope I am still wrong. That none of this is actually happening.

If I don't breathe so loud, he won't hear me. That helps nothing when I start needing to breathe more as I hear the boots crushing the rocks as they near.

No, I'm wrong. This is a dream.

"Come out, Aria. Be happy. I am here to save you from that monster."

My heart lurches to my throat. Igor. What have they done with him? Did they do something to him? Goddess, did they hurt him?

My breathing comes out in pants now as the rock that encloses the cave shifts. There is nowhere to go and nowhere to hide.

The only way in or out is through that very entrance and by the sounds of boots he isn't alone. So, I sit there and wait for my fate.

"Goddess, please help me and my family." I pray inaudibly as I rock, trying to calm myself and I try to shut out what's happening. I hold my stomach. My child. Oh, my child.

Tears roll down my face. Shepherd is a monster with no mercy. What will he do to my child? He will know it's not his and he will harm my child.

The face of my worst nightmare comes in my face, and he shines a lamp to my face. I look away from him and I cast my eyes down.

Its over for me.

"Hello, queen Aria." The words of the snake chills my already cold body.

"Are you here to kill me?" I manage, and I am glad my voice comes out strong. I know whatever they've decided to do they will do it and no begging will ever save me. Without Igor here, I am defenseless and its just me and my child. I wonder where is Wolfie. Did they harm her too?

Oh, Igor, I wonder where you are. I wonder how you are. I hope you will escape. I hope they didn't find you.

"Don't be so dramatic, queen Aria. The king has been worried sick about you. The whole kingdom mourned your death, but lo, a miracle preserved you for us, and you will come home bearing a gift for the king. He is going to be ecstatic." He chuckles and my blood turns black.

"Just rather kill me, Shamus." My gaze is still away from him, and he still looms over me like a demon meaning to consume me whole.

"Don't be a silly goose. The whole kingdom is waiting for your arrival. Afterall a kingdom without a queen is a naked kingdom." I feel the venom in his words. So, Shepherd hasn't remarried another woman he will torment. Or maybe he decided to not marry again.

But I have more personal, more immediate concerns.

"What have you done to him?"

"You mean the soon to be dead beast?" Shamus's voice is neutral. I turn my face to him. his is trained on me and it is filled with so much loathing. It is even more intense than the last time I saw him. I swallow.

"No, don't kill him. Leave him be."

"Then come with us quietly." He says.

"If I refuse?"

"I'm sure you love that abomination you are carrying. You get my point." He says coldly, deadly.

His hand is still stretched to me. I don't take it, but I get up from the bed.

"Come, your carriage awaits." I hear the satisfaction born from my terror in his tone.

Even as I know I am walking to my end, I still take one step and place it in front of the other. My hope is that the very same powers that sent Wolfie and Igor to find me will help me today.

The men are lining outside with more lamps. The carriage is waiting outside. I look around. I wonder again where Wolfie is. Did they get to her, or she is still searching the parameter? But how could they breach without getting to her first? Wolfie is a keen predator.

I elect to keep my mouth shut as I walk, in case they haven't gotten to her. Maybe she and Igor will save me. My baby kicks as Shamus helps me climb the carriage and he comes in after me. It has no curtains but it has windows but I am guessing it has all the privacy requirements he needs.

Having him here makes my skin shrink and itch. I look out of the glass as the carriage starts moving. My stomach runs cold as every roll of the wheels take me back to hell. I never thought I would be here. I never thought I'd ever go back.

I feel his gaze on me and I don't turn. I know there is nothing I could ever say to make him reconsider. I'm sure he has been praying for my downfall since the day he laid his eyes on me.

I wonder what is going to happen to me now. To my family? Shepherd could decide that my family is guilty by association. I wrap my arms around my chest to try to keep myself warm.

Goddess, please save me. One last time. I will never ask of anything ever again. Just save us.

"You are a one hard-to-kill witch, Aria. How did you survive that fall?" my tormenter asks.

I don't turn to him, however.

"I'm surprised you came after me after the last conversation we had. You could have let me be. I was never coming back." I say instead. In a small way, I'm hoping he understands I want to disappear as much as he wants me gone too.

"Oh, if it were that simple, queen Aria." I sense something under his tone.

I turn to him now. "You could just let me go, Shamus. I am no threat to you and your lover."

Something dark flashes in his eyes. Pain, maybe? Are they alright with Shepherd?

"Oh, but you are. Even in your death Aria you were."

I don't understand his meaning so I furrow my eyebrows. "How so?"

He expels an audible breath through his nose. "The people never fully accepted your death without a body. But they were going to. Then you had to come back."

"Who saw me? Who talked?"

He chuckles a chilling chuckle. "Oh Aria, you know I always thought you were smart, but I guess breeding with that beast has lowered your intelligence." He looks out to the forever night as we continue to roll to my death.

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