293 Shadows at Breakfast

    +8 Points

    293 Shadows at Breakfast

    Mara

    Three Months Later

    I woke up aching from head to toe, again. The weight of being two weeks from my due date was no joke. Every bone felt like it was negotiating a truce with gravity, and I’d lost count of how many times I visited the bathroom each night. Still, I pushed myself up from the bed.

    Lucian was already on the couch,ptop open, eyes locked in thatser-focused way he got when he was deep into something. He looked calm, handsome,pletely unaware of how hard it was to simply exist

    in this very pregnant body.

    First things first: the bathroom. Nature wasn’t waiting for anyone.

    I returned to the room a few minutester, freshly relieved, teeth brushed, and a little more human. Lucian

    was still working.

    “Good morning, darling,” he said, finally looking up with a warm smile.

    I sank into the other couch with a groan. “Barely,” I muttered.

    He closed hisptop and walked over to kiss me, first on the lips, then on my belly.

    “What are you doing?” I asked, watching him with narrowed eyes.

    “Searching for a real vacation home,” he said, his grin smug. “By the beach. In Driftwake.”

    I raised an eyebrow. “You mean a baby escape n?”

    “Exactly that.”

    I tilted my head. “And the names? Have you decided?”

    His face gave him away before he said a word. That guilty husband look. The one that screamed ‘I forgot

    again’.

    “Lucian,” I groaned, already annoyed.

    He dropped to a squat by my feet and started massaging them. Smart man.

    “Don’t worry, darling. We’ll sort it out soon,” he said soothingly.

    I pulled my foot away slightly, not letting him off the hook.

    “I don’t want a repeat of Richard. You didn’t even think, you just blurted the first name that came to mind. This time, it needs to be special”

    He took my foot back gently and kept massaging. “You choose the names you’re mostfortable with. We’ll talk about them. Decide together.”

     293 Shadows at Breakfast

    It wasn’t exactly an answer, but it was Lucian’s version of I’ll try.

    He stood a momentter. It was breakfast time.

    +8 Points

    I didn’t need a clock to know it, our rhythm had be that predictable. What I wasn’t looking forward to

    was the mood at the table. Alpha Vander would be there, and he hadn’t been himself since Martha left.

    He barely spoke. He barely ate. He was present but not really there.

    Three months had passed, but the shadow of her absence still lingered in every room he walked into.

    I doubted that would change anytime soon.

    And as much as I disliked how he used to treat her, I found myself hoping, for his sake, that she would

    return.

    Because the man sitting at our table each morning wasn’t Alpha Vander.

    He was just… Vander. Lost. Waiting.

    I had tried reaching Martha several times. No response. It felt intentional, like she didn’t want to be found. But I wasn’t ready to give up. I decided I’d try again after breakfast. Maybe this time, she’d pick up. I just

    wanted to ask her toe home.

    Lucian and I showered together, something we’d made a habit of these days. I hadn’t truly appreciated the size of our shower until my belly grew. Now, it felt like a small sanctuary. Lucian washed me gently, like I was something precious, and though I sometimes rolled my eyes at how pampered he made me feel, I secretly loved it. We joked, sshed, lingered too long. It was our soft ce before the rest of the world

    crept in.

    After drying off, I pulled on my short free-flowing gown and let out a quiet grumble.

    “What’s the matter, darling?” Lucian asked, already pulling on a shirt.

    I nced at the bedroom door. “I’m not looking forward to breakfast.”

    He sighed, understanding instantly.

    “I still don’t get why she left,” he muttered, clearly still holding onto his frustration. “It’s not like Martha was perfect. And my father apologized. I know he meant it.”

    I turned and looked at him, my expression soft but serious. “Lucian, she’s hurting. You’ve seen how he treated her. Do you honestly think I’d stay if you spoke to me the way your father spoke to her? If you

    humiliated me like that? Made me feel disposable?”

    He looked down, jaw tight. I could see the defense building in his head, but he didn’t speak.

    “I think he believed she’d never leave,” I continued. “He convinced himself he was doing her a favor by keeping her around, and so he never saw the need to change. She was always supposed to stay. But she

    didn’t.”

     293 Shadows at Breakfast

    +8 Points

    Lucian shook his head. “My father’s jealous, Mara. Possessive. I learned he didn’t let my mother out of his

    sight either.”

    I turned sharply toward him. “Did he throw your mother out? Embarrass her in public?”

    Silence.

    That was the answer.

    “Martha needs time to heal,” I said, voice softening. “And if he really wants her back, he needs to let her

    take it.”

    Lucian didn’t argue further. He just nodded. I knew he didn’t agree with everything I said, but he wasn’t

    going to fight me on it. Probably because his grandaunt Lydia had moved in with us, and she was very

    sensitive to tension. She and Katyah were a blessing, though. The house felt warmer with them around.

    Lighter.

    They’d brought new energy into the breakfast lounge, into all of us, really. Even in the presence of Vander’s

    brooding silence, Lydia and Katyah brought a kind of joy we all leaned into. We were even taking sign

    avoiding breakfast altogether.

    Because it was hard.

    It was hard sitting across from a man who’d once ruled the ind and now couldn’t even find the words to

    fill a room.

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