The Pilgrimage Trap

Summary

On my way to St. Alaric’s Abbey for thanksgiving prayers, we were ambushed by brigands. Seraphina, my husband’s childhood companion, shoved me from the carriage. I fell, gravely injured, and the life stirring within my womb began to ebb away, a crimson stain spreading.

My husband, Alaric, arrived with his knights. He swept the blood-streaked Seraphina into his arms, then cast a look of utter contempt at me, sprawled in the dirt. “Isabelle, did you orchestrate this whole ordeal to harm Seraphina? You knew her heart is frail, easily startled. You venomous shrew!”