Pained

The pains in Asteria’s abdomen were sharp, as if she was being clawed apart from the inside out. She gritted her fangs, nearly ripping a hole in the side of her own mouth and stretched her back, running a hand along the bulge in her stomach, waiting for the moment to pass. Thoughts of calling for the doctor, if Hines could even be labeled as such, crossed her mind, but she knew this was only a growing pain, not anything to be too alarmed about, so she rested her head back on the red satin pillowcase and took a few more deep breaths.

The girl had been there again. She’d felt her in her head. And this time, Asteria had been in too much pain to ward her off, which meant, after all of these weeks of keeping her secret from her enemy, they would know. She’d hoped to prevent them from finding out until after the delivery since Hines thought it shouldn’t be too much longer, perhaps a month’s time at most, but since keeping them in the dark was no longer