Chapter 5

Three days since I came up to the Ridge. Ethan only made it up here once.

The first day, he brought the rations. He tried to get close to me, and I shut him down cold.

He left with a black look on his face and never came back.

The grass basket where the food goes has been empty ever since.

Maybe he forgot. Maybe Cynthia found some excuse to keep him busy and he never made it out the door.

The firewood in the corner is damp. I don't even have the strength to coax a flame out of it anymore.

Cold air that cuts right through the animal hide I've wrapped myself in. I curl up tighter, both hands pressed hard against the low, dragging ache in my belly.

I lift my eyes to the marks I scratched into the wall the day I arrived.

Tonight is the Blood Moon.

Another cramp hits, bad enough to wring cold sweat out of me.

Then, out of nowhere, I start laughing.

I pull myself into a smaller knot and just laugh until there's no sound left.

Because I've been secretly taking musk powder this whole time, this pregnancy was already hanging by a thread. And this place runs so much colder than the valley below. This pup was never going to make it.

The tears come without warning. Hot and fast. I cry for my own stupidity. I cry because I gave up my whole life, my whole world, for a male who didn't deserve a single year of it.

Then a warm rush moves down the inside of my thigh.

I reach down with a trembling hand and turn my palm over.

Bright red.

I lie back and stare up at the black ceiling. I feel it happening. The small life inside me slipping away, quiet and unhurried, like it was never really mine to keep.

In the dark, my mouth curves into something that isn't quite a smile.

It's alright. Go, little one. Ethan didn't deserve to be your father anyway.

And I'm going home.

The bone ring slides off my finger and Cynthiads on the empty hide beside me.