Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 308

Chapter 308

Natalia’s POV

After that experience, the nausea was affecting me more than usual that day. After checking on Max and Jane- and ensuring that they were both okay, which they were, happily playing with some wooden toys that my father gave them I retired to my room to rest.

I had been dozing on my bed for the better part of the day in between bouts of sickness when I heard the sound of someone knocking on my door after dinnertime. Stirring from a half–waking–dream involving spilt wine and torn needlework, I sat up groggily and called out, “Come in.”

To my surprise, it wasn’t my father or David, or even Celeste, who entered my room a moment later. It was a woman I’d never seen before in the distinctive cream–colored robes that the healers wore.

She looked young, perhaps no older than nineteen, and had a nervous look about her. I must have never noticed her because she was likely one of the lower–ranking healers who usually performed clerical work in the back office where I wouldn’t run into her.

“Natalia?” she asked softly, stepping into the room.

“Yes?” I sat up a little straighter, fighting another wave of nausea as I did. “Can I help you?” I wondered if someone had sent her to check on me since I wasn’t feeling well.

The healer wrung her hands nervously. “It’s Max. His fever spiked again about an hour ago, and he’s been asking for you. The head healer thinks you should come right away.‘

My blood went cold. Max had been doing so much better over the past few days. The healers had even said he might not need them soon.

“How bad is it?” I asked, already swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

“Bad enough that they sent me to get you instead of waiting until morning.”

That was all I needed to hear. I quickly slipped my shoes on, then followed the healer out of my room and toward the medical wing.

“This way,” the healer said, gesturing to a small door behind which was a narrow spiral staircase leading down. “It’s faster to get to the medical wing here.”

I nodded and followed her, too worried about Max to think much of it.

But I soon regretted it.

Because halfway down those narrow stone steps, shrouded in darkness, were two male figures dressed in dark

cloaks.

“She’s all yours,” the healer said, already retreating. I heard the door slam shut behind me, leaving me alone with the men.

I didn’t have a chance to run, or even cry out, before they surged forward. One of them grabbed me and shoved me against the wall while another pressed a cloth against my face. It smelled foul, like chemicals and herbs.

1/2

And then everything went dark.

*20 Bonus

Celeste’s POV

I’d been pacing my room for what felt like hours. I hardly dared to open the hidden compartment and check to see if Karl had received my note deep down, I feared that he had completely forgotten about the compartment.

After all, it had been years since we last used it. Years since those tender early days of our young love, way back before Mother’s training hardened me into the perfect little weapon.

Well, I wasn’t so perfect now, was 17 All it took was a fetus and two six–year–olds to change me, and soon, I would likely meet the same fate as my siblings who had defied Mother.

But Karl didn’t know that. And for all I knew, even if he found the note by some miracle, I doubted he would help me after everything I had done.

Finally, I decided to check. I took a deep breath and carefully pulled the brick out of the wall. My breath caught as I realized that the note was indeed gone–but there was no answer. Just an empty space where it had once been.

My heart sank. Karl must have found the note but decided I was lying. Or perhaps he had taken it directly to David and Alexander as proof of my betrayal. I wouldn’t be able to keep it hidden anymore once they read that note; they would know that Mother had been plotting against them for years, and if she got punished, then she would certainly drag me down with her.

I slipped the stone back into place and sank to the floor, fighting the familiar sting of tears. My head pounded, lip still aching where she’d hit me, scalp still burning. But all of it felt far away beneath the agony I felt in my heart.

Despite everything my mother had taught me on my father’s command, they couldn’t rip the softness out of my heart that I felt toward children. The thought of those little babies being ripped to shreds by Mother’s cohorts in the forest made a sob catch on my tongue.

COIN BUNDLE: get more free bonus