Chapter 17

Vetta nodded and ran her hands down his stomach and back to his chest again. “You dug for hours. I disobeyed orders and went to help you. Me and Chad. Do you remember what happened next?”

“They whipped you both. Twenty lashes. They took Chad and I back to his cell and kept us without food and water for two days. And you,” he trailed off and his eyes darkened.

“The king set the guards on me, and they raped me. I lost my baby then.” Vetta closed her eyes in pain. She could still remember the agony of what she went through on that very day, but her pain wasn’t because of the baby she lost. She was relieved to lose the baby. The only child she wanted to give birth to was the child of Lucien. No other child was welcome to her.

Lucien remembered that day vividly, and it erased most of the coldness from his eyes. Only to be replaced by pain and pity for her. He dropped the book and gave her his full attention.

“I am sorry you had to go through that because of me, Ve