The Hidden King's Stolen Wife-Chapter 271: In A Jar

Soleia’s chest heaved up before it fell back down. Then, she slowly blinked her eyes open.

Her eyelids felt as though there was gravel weighing it down, and her eyes felt as if there was sand in them. They were so dry that she wanted to rub, but when she tried to raise her hand, she realized that she was being held down.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she mustered as much energy as she could to look over to her left. The sight she saw caused her heart to melt.

Rafael was fast asleep, tightly clutching onto her hand as though he was about to drown and she was her only lifeline. He had a frown etched into his face even while asleep, and his lips were slightly parted. If she squinted, she could even see them subtly moving as he spoke in his sleep.

He looked tired.

There were dark rings under his eyes, and his skin looked much more sickly than she remembered him, especially during their days in Vramid when he spent more time out in the open fields than inside the palace walls. There were wrinkles set into his forehead, and Soleia slowly raised her hand, wanting nothing more than to smooth them out.

Suddenly, the door to her chambers creaked open, and in stepped Orion. Soleia raised her eyes just in time to see him enter, and when he realized she was awake, his eyes widened with surprise.

He had a tray of food in his hands, and using his foot, he kicked the door shut. Even through the soft click of the door closing behind him, Rafael didn’t even flinch. He was too dead asleep.

When he walked over, Orion placed the tray down on the bedside table before raising his hand, wanting to nudge Rafael awake. He was stopped by Soleia.

"Let him sleep," she croaked, her voice much more hoarse than she expected. She pinched her lips and swallowed, but her mouth was so dry that there was no saliva left to lubricate her throat.

As if he could read her mind, Orion reached for the water jug and poured Soleia a glass. She quickly chugged it down. The water that she hadn’t caught in time trickled past her lips and down her neck, disappearing into the fabric of her collar. Once she was done, she sighed.

She hadn’t felt this parched in a long time.

"How long was I out for?" Soleia asked once she felt much better. She muttered a quick word of thanks when Orion took the glass from her hand, placing it back in its original spot.

"Almost a week," Orion replied. He leaned against the wall right next to the four-poster bed, folding his arms across his chest. Then, he nudged his chin towards Rafael’s direction. "That’s how long he’s been here."

Soleia looked down, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Has it been that long?" she asked. Then, her eyebrows shot up on her forehead. "How are your injuries?" The questions flew out faster than Orion could answer them. "What about my baby? What happened? Are they―"

Rafael stirred in his sleep before Soleia could fire all that was on her mind. Her voice was raised, after all, and it quickly disturbed him from his slumber. He groaned, cracked his eyes open, and then froze when he realized that Soleia was staring right at him.

At first, Rafael blinked dazedly at her, but when he realized that the image of Soleia, wide awake and full of spirit, was not disappearing no matter how quickly he blinked, he quickly shot up. He got up so quickly that his chair rocked, nearly falling backward if it weren’t for the fact that Orion stuck out his foot to push the chair back on its legs before it could fall.

"Soleia!" Rafael croaked. "You’re... I... How are you feeling?"

"I’m fine," Soleia said. She smiled and shook her head. "Never mind about me. What happened, Rafael? How did the surgery go?"

"I’ll be outside if you need me," Orion said stiffly. Then, before Soleia or Rafael could say another word, he left them alone, shutting the door behind him.

Silence filled the room, and Rafael helped adjust Soleia’s pillows so that she could sit up comfortably before he straightened up in his own chair. They stared at each other for a second before sighing.

"The fetuses are fine," Rafael said. "It’s... difficult to explain right now, but we managed to save it."

Soleia’s hand reached for her stomach, but before she could heave a sigh of relief, Rafael continued to speak.

"But there’s only one child in your womb right now. The other is kept in the infirmary."

"Kept in the infirmary?" Soleia echoed, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Her heart instantly dropped to her stomach. "But I thought you said that it’s fine."

"It is," Rafael said. "Or at least, it’s alive. Raziel, God rest his soul, had some research documents that proved more useful than his person was."

Soleia regretted asking the moment Rafael started to explain. Almost. Her morbid curiosity kept her far more intrigued than she was disgusted, but seeing that this was her own flesh and blood Rafael was currently describing, she couldn’t find it in her to shut him up or stop him from speaking more.

"He found a way to artificially grow a child outside of a mother’s womb using healing magic. It is highly tricky, and his experiments have resulted in more failures than successes. But in one instance, he managed to keep the fetus alive for six months before it eventually died."

"So..." Soleia said hesitantly, her face turning pale, "you’re telling me that one of my children is currently growing in a jar somewhere in the infirmary?"

Rafael pinched his lips tightly together.

"Yes," he said truthfully. "It is currently sustained using my healing magic. We are not yet sure whether or not it will grow to full term, but we’re doing everything that we can to sustain it for as long as we can."

Soleia felt sick. She grabbed the corner of her duvet, flinging it off her body as she ignored the protests of every inch of her limbs, screaming at her to get back into bed. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

"I want to see it."