The Siren's Voice Calls

Chapter 30

-Lydia's POV-

I believe it was about a few weeks since being brought to the cave when I began to feel sick to my stomach and was throwing up, not able to hold anything down when I ate. It scared me to death because I knew what was causing my sickness and I did not want it to be true. Jacob and Fergus both had a feeling as to why I was puking all the time and joked about whose it could belong to. The two of them had become like bonded brothers since the day they chose to share me with one another. Because of what I went through over the past several weeks, I felt disgusting and dirty; not sure if I contracted an infection from those filthy dogs or not. No woman should ever have to experience what those men did to me at all, let alone on a nightly basis. Every night I prayed for a miracle, but every night I was still alone in the dark, bound to endure the torment for their pleasure. The only thing I was thankful for was recently being left alone since the day I started being sick every day.

One day a couple weeks later, I sat up to eat some bread that was given to me. All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen and dropped the piece of bread as I fell over, holding my stomach. I screamed out in agony the more the pain grew, feeling like I was being stabbed multiple times. The noise I made was so loud it was alerting everyone in the cave. No one could understand what was causing the severe pain I was in, but I suspected what was wrong with me. Jacob and Fergus broke their way through the small crowd, having been summoned from outside, and stood above me. By the time they appeared, my dress was soaked in thick crimson liquid from the pool of blood on the ground beneath me. I dared to look up at Jacob to see the anger in his expression. "You did this on purpose, didn't you!?" he accused me as he knelt down to hit me in the face again. "It was mine, so you deliberately did something to end it!" "Please, no... I didn't... I didn't do anything," I cried out, my breathing difficult. "The two of ye get 'im outta 'ere before he turns!" Fergus ordered two of his men after he sensed Jacob was about to lose control and transform. He then ordered two others to clean up my mess off the ground and get me something else to wear, so they didn't have to stare at the blood stain.

A couple days had gone by and I was still sweating with a high fever. I knew something was wrong because it wasn't normal to feel like that after losing a pregnancy, or so I thought. Jacob continued to accuse me of doing it on purpose just so I could die and no longer have to be with him. "She better not die on me!!" he said to Fergus. "Jacob, I'll hae someone fetch a druid tae heal 'er," Fergus offered. Later that evening, I opened my heavy eyelids to see a woman in a dark green robe. "Why hae ye brought me 'ere?" She asked Fergus as she eyed me. "Yer tae heal 'er. She's not tae die, aye?" "What hae ye done tae 'er?" she asked in bewilderment, seeing the state my body was in. "Dat's no yer concern! Do as I say an' be done wi' it." The woman knelt down and whispered, asking me for my name. "L-Lydia...," I spoke hoarsely. "What ails ye, child?" she asked me with pity in her eyes. "I... I miscarried," I said as I felt myself crying again. My body convulsed, being consumed by both heat waves and the chills. "How long ago?" "T-Two days..." Knowing what could be wrong after feeling my temperature, she placed one hand on my shoulder and asked me to lay still. She then reached up under my dress with her other hand and stuck it up inside me. I screamed in pain as I felt her fingers digging around and pulling; my body tensing up on instinct.

Suddenly, she pulled her arm out, holding something bloody in her hand, having just pulled it out of me. "What is that!?" Jacob spoke out in question. "Tis good ye called fer me tae come when ye did. Dis young lass coulda died wi' 'er placenta rottin' inside 'er," the druid woman answered. I watched her take the leftover placenta and wrap it in heavy cloth and put it in her bag. Apparently, she wanted to save it for some druid purpose, but I didn't care what was done with it at that time. All I cared about was that the burning sensation at my core was no longer there. She stood up and gave the men instructions on how to treat me if they wanted me to survive, especially in a cave in my weakened state. Before she was allowed to leave, Fergus stopped her and threatened, "Yer tae keep yer mooth shut o' what ye saw 'ere, aye? Or I'll ki' ye. Dinnae say a word tae no one! Ye ken?" She nodded in reply, turned to look at me one last time with sad eyes, and then she left. I laid there in despair of everything I lost. Not just my life with the Bartholys, but also of losing the life that was inside of me. Despite me not wanting a child from any of those men, it still broke me to lose it. Feeling like crying myself to sleep again, I reached out once more with my mind to the one I cared most about as I laid there in silence. 'Please find me...'