Her tears fell in jagged, silent hitches as she felt the skin where Roland's malice had planted a living, breathing proof of her ruin.
"You weep?" her father sneered, his fingers digging into her shoulder with crushing strength. "Do you dare play the part of the innocent now? All these years I have groomed you, polished you to be the crown of our lineage, only for you to bring this filth upon our name? Tell me this instant... who is the father?"
"I... I do not know," Alisha whispered, her voice fractured. It was the haunting truth; she had been with Lucius in the glow of love, and only days later, she was forced into the shadows by Roland. The timeline was a blurred smear of joy and terror.
Another slap, more vicious than the first, rocked her very soul. "You will tell me his name!" her father roared. "The physician says the child cannot be removed because of some drug you ingested. Do not play the fool with me—who is the father?"
