In the Shadows~zayn au~Completed ✅EDITING

~Chapter 90: Pain and Reciprocation~

Whew!! It's been a little while since my last update and once more I'll apologize!! It's been a crazy couple of weeks! I'm a year older, despite my failure to update my age on any of my social media sites, and I've been doing a lot of brain-storming and planning for the coming chapters. I want to give you guys the best so bear with me, please!!

I'd like to thank all of my new readers!! There are several of you, and my notifications are full of votes and lovely comments and it makes me so freakin happy!! I don't want to leave anyone out, so I won't name everyone, but just know that I do my best to see every vote and comment. Unfortunately, Wattpad doesn't always alert me to them and so I miss out on some 😔 but I try to reply or thank each of you individually. I love you guys so much and thank you for bringing my story this far!! 😍

Quick note: Mind of Mine is fooking incredible 😍😭🙌🏼👌🏼and I'm so ecstatic that his debut album had such incredible music. Personal top favorites (I love them all but): Drunk, Rear View, Fool For You, TIO, and Golden (a Target bonus track) are the ones that I've had on repeat the most.

Without further ado, here is the chapter!! Kalysta had slept in the middle of the day after talking to Delia about a potential problem and GO:

Thanks to the early hour she'd gone to bed, Kalysta woke late in the evening. She was glad to wake, though, for her mind had chosen to concoct a dream of the worst sort. It hadn't been visually reminiscent of her marriage, but it held the fear and anguish she'd felt during that time. She was drenched in sweat and needed to rid her mind of the sickening residue left by the dream, so she got up and found Delia in the next room.

The woman was still awake, sewing black clothing to supplement Kalysta's wardrobe during the time of mourning. "Milady, I had hoped you would sleep through the night," she sighed. "You're no doubt in need of rest a lot of rest."

"I'm still not sleeping very well," Kalysta admitted. "Would you be able to have a bath drawn for me? I'm feeling a bit foul."

Delia's face pinched with an expression of pity. "Of course I can, Milady." She stood and set aside the garment she'd been working on.

Kalysta went back to bed and curled up under the covers as she waited. There was something comforting about being able to hide beneath the blankets. It didn't shut out her thoughts entirely, but it certainly helped.

It wasn't long before Delia came to fetch her. "The water is ready," she prompted.

Kalysta stood, shedding her wrinkled dress on the way to the bathing room.

"Would you like help washing your hair?" Delia asked.

"Yes please."

The bath was steaming a bit, a perfect temperature. Kalysta submerged her body and soaked for a bit, letting the warmth calm her tense muscles. Her mind calmed as well and she thought steadily about the past few days. Delia ran a comb through her hair and that soothed her further.

"I'm sorry for being harsh with you earlier," Kalysta murmured.

"No need to apologize, Milady," Delia responded. "It's not an easy topic to discuss."

"What am I going to do?" Kalysta breathed, scared at the very thought.

"You'll do what's necessary, even if it's not easy," Delia said. "No choice is easy in a situation like this."

"I don't want a reminder of him, especially that kind of reminder."

"The child would be half you," Delia reminded her. "I doubt it will cause you too much heartache, particularly once you feel it within you. Your love for it will overwhelm any reminder of pain. That's the wonder of loving a child."