A FEW HOURS BEFORE
The wind outside Alpha Hunter’s stronghold had stilled, the night sinking into a graveyard silence.
Shadows coiled around the iron-stone towers like serpents, and even the wolves who usually patrolled the grounds walked with unease, their instincts whispering of something... wrong.
In the highest chamber of the eastern wing, the one barred from inside, the one cloaked from the outside world .
It was here Jasmine had finally managed to sleep.
Her hair sprawled in waves across the pillow, dark curls damp with sweat.
One arm cradled her slightly swollen belly, the other curled over her chest like a shield.
Her child kicked lightly under her palm, a quiet thump-thump-thump as though sensing the air had changed.
And it had.
For the shadows had bent.
And someone was already in the room.
Princess Chery stood by the window, her tall figure cloaked in night-black silk that shimmered faintly even in the dim moonlight.
Her eyes glinted violet, serpentine, as she studied Jasmine — the pregnant traitor, the half-blood stain her family should have erased years ago.
But this time... she would be thorough.
She was not here physically, just her spilt away from her body in astral projection.
Appearing physically would be too risky.
She crossed into the room with the ease of a ghost and then she stopped by the edge of the bed, lips curling into a cold smile.
Jasmine stirred, her brow furrowing. She whimpered softly, clutching her stomach tighter.
Cherry sprinkled a few dust over Jasmine and twirled her finger until Jasmine had absorbed it.
Chery tilted her head, studying the girl.
"So fragile," she whispered. "Yet so stubborn."
Jasmine stirred to her side and shifted on her pillow.
And then her lashes fluttered open.
And then she jolted upright — eyes wild, breath caught — staring straight at the woman before her.
"Who—" her voice cracked. "What... Princess Cherry! Wh.. how... how are you here? What are you doing here?"
Chery gave a lilting laugh. "Now, now, no need for theatrics. You’ve met ghosts before, haven’t you, sweet Jasmine? Consider me... the echo of a bad dream. Or better yet—your reckoning."
Jasmine’s hand immediately flew to her stomach as if to shield her child from whatever this woman was.
"Don’t worry I don’t care about your baby." Cherry said waving her hand. "Not yet at least."
Jasmine recoiled.
"You shouldn’t be here," she hissed, voice trembling. "You can’t be here."
"And yet," Chery said softly, stepping closer, "here I am."
The wind outside shifted again, rattling the windowpanes.
Jasmine was shaking now, as if her child could tell of her disfort.
As if it knew that something was wrong.
She felt the kick.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
Chery’s smile widened. "You should be asking what I’ve already taken."
She reached out, her hand surprisingly gentle as she swept a stray curl behind Jasmine’s ear.
"You’re quite the messiah now, aren’t you? Pregnant. Hidden away like some cherished treasure. It’s pathetic." Cherry said.
"I don’t care what you think of me."
"Oh, but you should," Chery whispered.
"What do you even want from me?" Jasmine asked. "I’m a nobody. If Toh hate me because of what my father did to you, then you’re too late to the party. He is dead."
Cherry’s face twitched. "You’re right. You are nobody."
Cherry’s hand moved again , but this time, with a flash of cold steel, she slipped a small ceremonial blade from her sleeve. Jasmine gasped and jerked back, but it was too late.
Snip.
A thick lock of her ginger curls fell into Chery’s palm.
"You—!" Jasmine tried to lunge forward, but her body failed her. The pressure of the magic in the room was suffocating.
Chery held the hair up, inspecting it like silk.
"Such a rich scent," she purred. "Blood. Moonlight. Betrayal."
Jasmine’s breath caught. Her heart pounded so hard she thought the baby might feel it.
"What are you doing?"
"Leaving you behind," Chery whispered. "Where you belong."
She reached into a pouch tied to her belt — black leather, etched with runes only the oldest witches remembered — and placed the curl into a crystal vial.
With a flick of her fingers, she drew a rune in the air, and it lit with fire.
"Your lover has returned," Chery said casually. "He clawed his way back to that precious pack of his. And now... I will make sure they think you followed him."
Jasmine’s eyes widened in horror.
"No," she whispered. "No, don’t do this—"
Chery turned from her, already walking toward the window, where the breeze had picked up.
"You see, my darling," she said, glancing over her shoulder, "if they think you’re free... they won’t e looking. You’ll rot here, right under their noses. Forgotten."
"HE’LL E FOR ME!"
That was a scream now — hoarse, broken, pure grief.
Chery paused at the windowsill.
"I hope he does," she said coldly. "So I can kill him myself."
And with that — she stepped into the wind.
Jasmine rushed forward on unsteady legs, reaching the window just as the air shimmered, and Chery was gone.
Gone with her scent.
Gone with her hope.
Gone with her chance.
Jasmine collapsed to her knees, sobbing into her hands as her baby kicked again, frantic and afraid.
In that instant Jasmine jumped up from sleep.
She was gasping and breathing so heavily she felt her heart was going to explode.
She hurriedly looked around but her new prison looked just the same.
There was no Cherry.
She hurriedly touched her stomach and hair.
Her baby was fine.
Her hair was okay.
She heaved a sigh of relief and told herself that it was just a nightmare.
~~~~~~~~~
Somewhere beyond the eastern woods...
Chery walked through the forest, her bare feet untouched by thorns or blood.
She stopped only once , by the river Xaden had collapsed.
She dripped the strands of Jasmine’s hair across the bark of a broken tree, smearing it carefully in the bloodstained moss Xaden had left behind.
"Perfect," she whispered.
Then she drew her dagger and whispered three ancient words. The hair shimmered, fusing into the trail, spreading its essence.
The forest breathed.
Now, anyone who followed the trail would smell Jasmine.
Now, Erik and his wolves would turn back.
Now... Jasmine would be alone.
Chery smiled to herself, satisfied, then vanished into the night once more.
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