Chapter 16
The next time I heard anything about Colton was almost a year later.
My sister-in-law had made a remarkable recovery by then. That afternoon, we were sitting in the courtyard, working on embroidery when the butler returned from his trip to the Raventon to deliver medicine.
He brought with him a piece of news that made my hand still in mid-stitch.
Something had happened at the Alexandra Estate.
The prince consort-who had vanished from public life-had broken his leg.
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Worse, people were whispering that he’d lost his mind, and spent his days muttering nonsense, laughing one moment
and weeping the next.
It wasn’t exactly a secret anymore.
Princess Alexandra had always been dangerously controlling. At first, she’d merely placed a few attendants to keep
constant watch over him. Then came the next step: forbidding him from ever leaving the estate. Visitors were banned.
Letters went unanswered.
And every maidservant who had once served Colton was replaced by Alexandra’s own private security guard.
But Colton was a trained soldier. He managed to escape twice by climbing over the estate walls-only to find his strength
failing more and more with each attempt.
One day, Alexandra smiled at him sweetly and said,
“Don’t worry, darling. The herbs I’ve added to your meals only weaken your reflexes. They won’t kill you.”
That was the breaking point.
Colton managed to slip away again, this time making it to his family estate and begging his father-now a cabinet official
-to help him annul the marriage.
But his father looked conflicted and said, “We owe everything to the Princess. This marriage isn’t perfect, but what
marriage ever is? Just endure it for a while longer.”
And just like that, he sent Colton back to Alexandra, bowing and apologizing, asking her to be more understanding.
“So how did he end up with a broken leg?” I asked, voice low.
The butler hesitated before answering.
“A maid from the estate said… he fell out of a tree.”
“A red maple tree. A tall one. The trees bloomed unusually well this winter, and apparently, the prince consort climbed one
to pick flowers… to give to someone. He fell. Broke his leg. Since then, he hasn’t been the same.”
My sister-in-law glanced at me, a knowing look in her eyes.
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She remembered the story-how Colton once left maple leaf on my windowsill.
But I didn’t look up. I held up the pair of embroidered baby shoes I’d finished stitching and asked with a smile, “What do you think? Aren’t they lovely?”
“They are,” she replied, running her fingers gently over the little tigers I’d sewn on the toes. Her gaze dropped to my
stomach.
“Do you think it’s a boy or a girl? Have you picked out a name?”
I placed my hand on my belly, my voice warm and full of quiet hope.
“No matter boy or girl, I just want them to be healthy.”
“Damon said we could call them Aurora.”
We were people who had clawed our way through the mud.
All I wished for was that our child could be born into the light-
Bright and beautiful as the sunlight.
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