Member-only story
FICTION | SERIAL FICTION
Revenge of the Ravens — Prologue
Birth and Death
Robert Blackwell paced up and down the corridor outside his beloved wife’s chambers. Her pregnancy had been difficult from the very beginning. She’d been plagued by severe cramps, bleeding, and extreme nausea. It was as though the unearthly creature in her womb wanted to inflict as much pain and misery upon its mother as possible before it was even borne. With each passing month, Robert grew to hate the child.
Hours passed. Night became dawn and an otherworldly mist had settled along the moors outside his castle. Robert found himself staring out one of the windows a few feet away from Olivia’s chamber door. He could no longer bear her screams and the midwife had barred the door to keep him out.
As the mist swirled, so too did the thoughts in his mind. He loved Olivia above all else. The past nine months had been hell. He couldn’t stand to be away from her, so he’d hired a manager for his estate. Day and night, only he took care of his wife, turning the maids and the cook away. In the mornings, he bathed away the sweat that lingered upon her skin from nightmares and endless birthing pains. During the days, he’d sat in a chair by her bed. Sometimes he’d read to her. Other times, he’d held the chamber pot in one hand and her hair back with his…
