CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Thump...thump..thump........ thump...thump... thump. Was it her heart or a dull pounding of some carpenter? She did not really mind. Her eyes were fixed on the white cotton. The bulk in it. The child in it. Her sister in it. The Lord was by her side, his woodsy smell filled her nostrils, but not as much as the smell of myrrh, of herbs and blood. Death indeed had a stench. The head warrior stood by the king. Another guard she hadn't looked at stood by her side. A front the throne was the physician and Diana. The servant a sobbing mess, her nose runny. Her clothes long soaked with the salty dam that flowed down her eyes. Selene could hear her hiccup but her eyes remained in the bandaged bulk. Her responsibility. She had failed. Oh she wished she could cry. But then tears seemed to have dried up at their source. "Woman. What happened?" Edgar said, his voice laced with pure wrath The servant fell on her knees. "I do not know...I do not understand" she begged with a sob "The child