1

It was an unremarkable autumn evening. From the second floor of Caleb Eyre's country estate came the cries and groans of his wife, Malia, who was about to be relieved of her burden. She had not seen her husband for more than two months, which is not surprising, since he had recently received the position of adviser to the head of the Western Lands.

Their hasty marriage could not be called a happy one, if the dark ones have such at all. Malia was barely sixteen at the time of the marriage ritual, and in essence she was still a child. However, her father and fiancé did not care much, because this marriage was beneficial to both families.

Until today, only three kinds of founders have survived, and the Malia family belonged to one of them. Her husband Caleb, although he did not belong to the great houses, was nevertheless generously endowed with the magic of darkness, and besides, from childhood he had been friends with the current viceroy. Thus, at a fairly young age, he received an honorary position, and a little later acquired a great surname, borrowed from his young wife. But this ambitious Caleb was not enough. Immediately after the wedding, he set himself a new goal - to acquire offspring.

Only men possessed the magic of darkness, it almost did not manifest itself in women, affecting only their appearance. The distinguishing features of all the dark ones were black hair and black eyes. Cases when dormant magic nevertheless manifested itself in a woman were considered rare and always ended in the madness of the bearer and her sudden death. The Primordial Darkness, which was revered by all the dark ones, obviously did not love her daughters, making their bodies and minds weak and unable to contain the power. Dark women rarely lived past the age of thirty or thirty-five, unless they died earlier in childbirth.

Almost every third dark pregnancy ended in either a miscarriage or the death of a child in infancy. But if boys still continued to be born, then girls with dark blood became almost a miracle. However, nothing wonderful awaited these poor things. From childhood, they were closely watched by relatives, nannies and doctors, as if expecting that darkness could appear in her at any moment, and then the sealing awaited the girl. If the dark one managed to survive during the ritual, she was sent away from high society, to live out her short life.

The birth of such a girl entailed a lot of problems, and if, on the one hand, it was possible to profitably marry her, then, on the other hand, this was weakness and shame. Surely society would prefer to immediately get rid of such a burden, but the main feature of the dark ones was that they did not have children from ordinary people.

Caleb worked every night on the task, and when Malia, after three months of trying, nevertheless became pregnant, she breathed a sigh of relief and now every night she began to pray to the Firstborn to give them a boy. Alive and healthy.

The pregnancy was very difficult, and the doctors advised the exhausted Malia to leave the capital of the Western Lands in order to spend the rest of her term away from the bustle of the city. She followed the recommendations and temporarily moved to her husband's country estate, where her sister Eliza soon joined her.

When the pregnancy exhausting the soul and body came to an end, Malia was cowardly frightened, but at the same time she was happy. Soon, very soon, she will take her son in her arms, he will be strong, and Caleb will finally stop considering her a useless thing.

“Lady, you must try a little more, the child is already on the way,” said the midwife, specially summoned from the capital.

Malia felt unbearable pain, she understood that something was going wrong, but Nan assured her every moment of the opposite. Eliza stood at the head of the bed and wringed her hands, unable to help her beloved sister.

“Everyone goes through this,” Nan said, her eyes showing no sympathy.

Cursing her husband, Malia mustered the last of her strength and pushed the child out. Silence fell in the chambers, the newly-made mother lost consciousness for a moment.

"It's a boy, lady, you're incredibly lucky," the midwife said enthusiastically, as if it was her merit. Eliza stepped towards the shriveled, bluish child and did not find the courage to touch the defenseless creature. The baby stirred and squeaked as the midwife wiped him down with rags.

“I have to show it to my father, but since the adviser is not here, his grandfather will take the baby,” the midwife informed the equally pale sisters.

“Wait, can’t you see that my sister is sick? Help her! Eliza demanded.

“I'll be right back and help her,” Nan spat, as if she was doing a great favor and not doing her job. “Now the main thing is to introduce him to the family and show him to the priest.

When the door slammed shut behind the midwife, the confused Eliza took her sister by the hand and began to pray to the Firstborn. She was two years older than Malia, she herself had recently married and even dreamed of children until that day. But not now.

Malia suddenly groaned softly and arched her back.

"Eliza, help me," she whispered, barely audible.

- What should I do? How can I help you? the older sister darted around the room.

“Baby…another one.

- Oh, Primordial! I'll call Nan, - Eliza rushed to the door.

"No, she's of no use, please stay with me," Malia pleaded, clutching the sheets in pain.

Before Eliza had time to realize what was happening, her younger sister gave birth to another baby. It was unbelievable, the twins had not been born to the dark ones for a hundred years. Overcoming fear and disgust, Eliza took the baby in her arms, and her smile immediately faded, the child did not breathe.

“It’s a girl,” she said, bringing her to her mother’s chest.

Malia was silent for a whole minute, looking at her lifeless daughter, tears flowed from her eyes, she suddenly became very cold, as if all her vitality had left her at once. She tightly squeezed the child, as if she wanted to merge with him into one whole and closed her eyes with all her might. Eliza sat next to her and silently sobbed. It's for the best, she thought faintly to herself.

When Malia exhausted herself, she saw that her chambers were filled with darkness, her heart sank in a bad premonition, the child sighed hoarsely and squeaked. Eliza recoiled against the wall and froze there like a stone statue. The darkness thickened and rushed into the body of the girl.

“This is bad, very bad,” Eliza wailed. - What should we do?

“You have to save her,” Malia said poignantly. Please save my daughter!

- What are you talking about? How can I save her?

- Hide her! - Malia frantically searched for options, she already loved this girl and did not wish her the fate that awaits her, if she stays with her.

- How to hide? Where? For concealing the dark, you can lose your head, and if it still turns out to be gifted, then we are all finished! Eliza almost screamed at her sister.

- Hide it where no one will look for the dark one. Maybe everything will work out, and she will not become gifted? Sobbing, Malia clutched her daughter to her chest.

There was almost no time left for talking, Nan was due to return any minute, and then there would be no chance that they would be able to hide the child. Eliza exhaled sharply, finally venturing into the utter madness her sister had begged for.

Nan returned to the room and ran into Eliza rushing out the door. Why was she wearing a cloak? Nan thought thoughtfully. But she quickly brushed aside this thought and took up childbirth.

Eliza spent several days with the child, hiding him from everyone. This turned out to be a very difficult task, and it even seemed to her that from the constant fear of being discovered, she herself would soon develop the madness of the dark ones. Not finding a better option, she placed the child in a poor family, promising a lot of money for silence.

For a whole year, Eliza managed to transfer to the poor the payment for raising her niece. But one day the messenger returned with terrible news: the village where the girl grew up burned down. The dark one mourned her niece like her own daughter, but Malia decided not to say anything. Soon her sister gave birth to another boy and, never recovering from childbirth, lost her mind.