1344, The Iron woods
Daphne Ulfsson gripped the ropes tighter as a scream escaped her clenched lips, five hours had gone by since she went into labor and the baby still hadn't been born, all that she'd manage to release was blood, a lot of blood. Daphne could feel her consciousness fading, she looked to her right and there was Elsbeth Fontenay, the mate of the packs healer, doing her best to keep both Daphne and her baby alive. She was crying, and so was Daphne, they could feel it, either the baby or it's mother was going to die.
She thought of her mate Harald, and with his face on her mind Daphne closed her eyes.
Harald Ulfsson sat alone in his quarters, heartbroken. Like all werewolves, he had felt it the moment his mate died, like someone had stabbed his head and heart, a pain the alpha would never recover from. But there would be time to mourn later, the pack had matters he needed to tend to. As he rose to his feet he felt it again, the same pain but stronger this time, so strong that it brought him to his knees.
"He's still in there Harald, our son"
Her voice, Daphne's voice. He didn't even notice the tears dropping as they slid down his face as he made his way to her chambers. It was what he had dreaded most, the time when he would have to look at her lifeless form and finally accept that she was truly dead. As he opened the doors all eyes fell on him and all the midwives bowed slightly in the present of Harald the Vast, he paid them no heed as he walked to the large bed where she lay. Her hair was the color of the night and her usually flushed face was pale, had her eyes been open they would have twinkled like sapphires, like they always did when she saw him. Daphne was beautiful, even in death. His Daphne.
Harald knelt beside the bed and took her cold hand as he kissed her forehead. He cursed when his eyes fell on her swollen stomach. It was at this point that Elsbeth found the courage to speak.
"Sire, the child.." she paused as she saw his tears, unsure of how to proceed, for she had grown up with Harald and not once had the alpha cried. While she struggled to organize her thoughts, he spoke.
"The child is alive." It wasn't a question.
"Yes sire"
"What do you do in situations such as these, witch?" His voice was suddenly coated in bitterness.
"We.. open her up to retrieve the baby"
Every fiber of the alpha's being tensed visibly, he closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. He looked at Daphne's face once more, placing his palm against her cheek.
Harald nodded slightly "It's what she'd have wanted." He rose to his feet and walked away from the bed but stopped besides Elsbeth and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Do right by her Elsbeth, I beg you" . Her heart broke for him, so did her voice as she replied
"Yes sire."
The alpha walked out of the room. Daphne, his Daphne, was dead. The burial was a solemn event. The entire pack gathered as their alpha set fire to the corpse of his mate. In his arms was a baby boy no more than a few days old, and it was already clear that his life may be as tragic as his birth, for the child was born mute with strange markings on his tongue and the sides of his mouth. To the pack the boy was cursed, but to Harald, this was his son, the child Daphne died to give him. His Daphne.
1352, The Iron woods
Gisela Fontenay sat on a rock picking belladonnas, the flowers had caught the attention of the five year old as she was on her way to see her father. There were never any flowers there so she wanted to pick them all for her father. However a sudden shriek on her right startled her causing the flowers she had collected to fall to the ground. Upset, little Gisela looked up at her aunt Malaina.
"You scared me Aunt Mally, now look what you've caused"
Malaina grabbed the girls hands and wiped them on her own skirt, she cast a sideways glance at the flowers on the ground. Belladonnas were a bad omen. She sighed and impatiently pulled Gisela away from the flower patch. She loved her brother's daughter and had been her primary caretaker ever since the girls mother, Elsbeth, disappeared two years ago. But sometimes the girl was just too much for her. Who plucks belladonnas for their father?
"Listen Gisela, I intend to make a pie for your father but haven't got any butter left at home, so I'll be on my way to Jon's and you'll be on your way to your father," she stopped walking to look Gisela dead in the eyes, slightly frightening the little girl. "Do not stop for any reason until you reach your pa, am I clear Gisela?"
She nodded, but crossed her little fingers behind her. Malaina obviously didn't see this so her face softened and she pat Gisela lovingly on the head.
"Now be on your way, if you're good I'll make you a little raisin cake tonight"
Gisela skipped away happily and soon her aunt was out of sight. Only then did she stop by another flower patch to pick a daisy. No way she was going to meet her father empty handed.
***
Aeson Fontenay put dried lavender into the fireplace the scent would help Harald fall asleep. On the other side of the room the alpha sat at a large oak table, his poor health visible on his face, his brown hair streaked with grey fell like a mane over his shoulders, the scar on his face added to his rough appearance. He gulped down the contents of his wooden mug and grimaced.
" Your concoctions are getting fouler by the day Aeson"
The healer laughed. He moved to the table and occupied the seat closest to Harald
"How are your wounds feeling today?" he asked as he sat. Harald snorted and drowsily signaled to the maids at the door to bring him mead. They both stepped out.
" I feel like shit, which is good since I couldn't feel like anything yesterday" Harald answered as he scratched his beard. From the corner of his eye he saw his son Fenrir seated in a corner against the fireplace and smiled. The boy had a presence that was as silent as he was mute, Aeson and the maids had not noticed him there. Returning his attention to the healer he asked,
"How's the yellow-eyed lad?"
"Gisela?" Aeson replied "She's the same as last time you met her, still getting in and out of trouble. How's Fenrir?"
"Quiet as always, but still manages to entertain his old man"
The maids returned with a jar of mead each. One was tense and it made Aeson uneasy, but Harald didn't notice. Aeson frowned, Harald had been making an amazing recovery but his health had suddenly plummeted two nights ago and it had been a struggle to get him to the next morning alive. Now, the man was not nearly as sharp or strong as he was merely a shell of his old glory. With his eyes firmly on the maids, Aeson poured mead into two more mugs and asked the maids to drink. Although confused, they drank without hesitation and only then could Aeson calm down.
A while later Gisela came barging in with a large daisy. When she saw the alpha, she bowed slightly then proceeded to climb unto his lap and pin the daisy in his long hair, amidst the loud laughter of Harald and her father.
That night Harald dreamt of daisies, and like every night for the past seven years, he dreamt of Daphne. His Daphne.
He was with her that night.