SOFIA

"SOFIA!" my fiance Vidar screamed, his voice thick with rage.

I ran desperately, not realizing I'd gone too deep into the forest. A place forbidden to those who didn't know it — luckily, I'd known it since childhood, but unluckily, my family knew it just as well.

Branches struck my face without mercy while I heard the horses' hooves closing in behind me. The anxiety and the pounding of my heart were louder, more powerful than anything else.

My feet ached, but I couldn't stop. I had to keep running. I couldn't stop, I mustn't stop.

Before I knew it, I reached a ravine that was quite deep, and without hesitating, I jumped. As I did, I clearly heard Vidar's voice in the wind, calling my name one last time. It was distant, loaded with rage, with frustration.

The wind buzzed in my ears, drowning out every other sound. Soon the weight of my body began to drop lower and lower until I fell into the deepest darkness of the night.

I felt the crack of bush branches breaking as I fell until I finally hit the ground. I got up and ran. I ran and ran without knowing where I was going. I just wanted to be free and start a life far from everything and everyone.

Then I stopped when I heard a soft but persistent groan. Curiosity got the better of me, and I came to a cave not far away. Inside was the figure of a wounded man — the smell of blood saturated everything. I approached carefully, and when I saw him a little more closely, I knew this was no ordinary man. He was a noble.

His crescent-moon seal made it all the more obvious. I didn't think twice and simply healed his wounds with my witch powers. I knelt beside him, my fingers glowing with a faint light, the white energy of my magic flowing as a healer's gift, ideal for mending wounds like these. I murmured words under my breath, words in a forgotten ancient tongue that only healer witches knew. The magic flowed — though the wounds were complex, they would heal. Some were deep, while others were less so despite the excessive bleeding. The torn flesh closed, soothing the physical damage.

When I finished, I sighed with relief. He would recover. I couldn't see his face because of the darkness, but it didn't matter. I was about to leave when he grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward him. His warm breath brushed my neck in a way that made me shiver.

My inner witch felt the deep need to see his thoughts, but I didn't let her. I had to leave — yet this unknown man in steel armor wouldn't let me.

Then I felt his face, burning hot to the touch. It wasn't just his breath. I checked the pulse at his neck — racing. He was breathing with difficulty, sweating, complaining about heat. It was a cool night and the cave was cold. On top of that, the man was saying incoherent things I couldn't make sense of. He was drugged, and from the looks of it, with a very powerful aphrodisiac.

Without warning, he tore my white dress, exposing my corset, which he ripped apart without a second thought. He took me by the back of my neck and kissed me. I tried to pull away, but desire won out, and my inner witch finally let herself go. She took control.

I felt every caress of his, making me shiver in ways I never imagined I could feel. We broke the kiss. I tried to see his face — it was too dark, I couldn't see anything.

We joined our lips in a deep kiss charged with unmatched desire and passion. Soon I felt his hands gripping my waist more firmly. I responded by pulling him closer. We deepened the kiss even further.

I felt him move his hands from my waist. I heard him remove the armor, cold to the touch, and let it drop to the ground. He gripped my waist again, lowering me onto the remnants of my dress. He looked at my shoulders and kissed them with desire and lust. I stripped away the rest of his armor and threw it far. I felt his warm kisses on my neck, down to my breasts, which he didn't hesitate to kiss, lick, and suck.

I gasped, gripping his arms. His kisses traveled down to my abdomen. I screamed with pleasure. He didn't look up as he removed the rest of my undergarments. He smiled wickedly and kept kissing my abdomen until he reached my most intimate part, which he kissed and licked until I gasped and moaned so loudly that the forest animals fled to hide after hearing me scream with pleasure. He left my clit in peace, positioned himself over me, and removed his chain mail along with the gambeson. I looked at his torso — it was perfect, so masculine, so strong.

The scars across his pectorals were faded lines, but well-defined. The ones on his abdomen were more pronounced, the marks harder to hide. I looked at them and touched them. He flinched at first but then yielded to my touch, to the brush of my fingers. He took my hands and pinned them above my head, then kissed my neck with the same wild, accelerated rhythm that drove me wild.

I dug my nails into his back with every kiss and bite he gave me. Without thinking, I used magic to remove the rest of his clothing. He pulled off his underwear. I looked at his member and didn't think it would be that large — I even doubted it would fit. He wasn't gentle. He was rough, savage, and fast as he thrust inside me, making me dig my nails into his shoulders. It was painful at first, but then pleasure consumed me completely.

We switched positions. I moved to his neck, leaving kisses, licks, and small bites that made him sigh. I continued until I reached his chest and followed the path down until I finally reached his abdomen. He looked at me and I simply smiled. A few kisses on his member were driving him mad. He wanted to take me right then, and he did — he gripped my waist firmly and set me on top of his strong, perfect thighs.

I took his face in my hands and kissed his forehead as an apology. He, in turn, took one of my breasts and licked it until I gasped, then did the same with the other, and I collapsed against his shoulder.

After that, I knew I had to leave, and I did. But I made sure he wouldn't be cold — I lit a fire and left, praying we would never meet again.

As I was leaving the cave, something on the ground in the darkness began to glow. I approached, without the slightest idea of what the hell I was doing. In the end, I looked more closely and it was just a silver crescent-moon pendant. I took it between my fingers, looked at it, and for some reason put it on.

Something told me it would be useful in the future.

I didn't look back and simply left without thinking too much about it.

TWO MONTHS LATER...

SOFIA

The months passed and my life grew quieter, more monotonous. After fleeing Vidar, I'd taken refuge in a nearby village inhabited mostly by lycanthropes and witches. It was perfect for me — settling in was easy, and it allowed me to work as an assistant in an apothecary.

The woman who hired me was named Ida. Middle-aged, grey eyes, grey hair, and very thin. She dressed simply, without drawing attention — dark, muted colors. She wore a coif that held her grey hair and hid it away.

When Ida first saw me with nothing but my white dress, torn at the skirt and the chest, she thought I'd been violated. But I told her the truth. She said nothing and simply took me home, fed me, and offered me a job.

I accepted because I truly had nowhere else to go.

While I was working on an ointment for insect bites, I started feeling nauseous. I put a hand on my chest and took a deep breath, trying to calm down, but it was practically impossible.

"Are you all right, Sofia?" Ida asked, stopping the elixir she was making in the cauldron, which was steaming with a scent of cinnamon and apple, when she noticed what was happening. I nodded, but she didn't believe me. She studied me closely and simply came out with it. "You're pregnant, child." I nearly dropped the mortar on the floor when I heard those words. "You've got a life growing inside you," she said, touching my still-flat belly.

"That can't be..." And then I remembered that night two months ago. The mysterious man in armor.

"Do you want to abort it?" she asked, her voice flat and deep. Instinctively, I placed my hand over my still-flat belly and shook my head. She smiled with understanding and took my hand. "This little one growing inside you is going to be someone extraordinary."

I was sure of it. But I had no idea who the man in armor was — I hadn't even seen his face. All I remembered was his body and the taste of his lips.

"It's my baby, and it deserves to live. Besides, in this place, it'll grow up protected by the Silver Moon Kingdom," I said, taking the crescent-moon pendant between my fingers — the pendant that after that encounter with that man had become the only memento tying me to that night.

The only thing I was going to give my child as a reminder of the man who'd fathered it.

"Why do you keep wearing that necklace?" Ida asked, looking at the pendant with the same disdain I knew so well. She hated keeping mementos she didn't consider useful for some spell or medicine.

"This will be the only thing my child has from the man who fathered it. Because I don't know if they'll ever meet him."

She said nothing, just nodded and went back to making the elixir. I put my hand on my still-flat belly and knew I was no longer alone. I would have my family.

I finished the ointment and sent it by magic to the family that had ordered it. After a long day of work, I simply went to sleep — I was too exhausted to worry about anything else. Only my baby mattered.

SOFIA

The months passed and my pregnancy thrived. I was about five months along, and without realizing it, my baby was kicking like a little warrior.

As I watched the sun peek over the mountains, its light brushing the village houses without hurry, without worry.

"Good morning, sweetheart. Now let's get to work." I felt a kick — as if my baby understood what I was telling it, and somehow I knew that was exactly the case.

I got out of bed with some discomfort in my back. I picked up the pendant I wore every day as a reminder that it would be the only keepsake my child would have of their unknown father. And I put it on.

From my small wardrobe, I took a flowing cream-colored tunic dress with long, wide sleeves and a draped neckline. The fabric was soft and light, linen, with subtle pleats that highlighted my pregnancy.

I tied my hair in a braid over my shoulder. I slipped on a pair of light brown leather shoes. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw someone different — more serene, more resolute.

I went downstairs to the apothecary. Slowly, listening to the creak of the steps beneath my feet. The place was already saturated with its usual aroma: lavender, resin, crushed leaves. Ida wasn't there yet, but everything was in its place, as if the shop breathed on its own.

The herbs kept piling up, the orders never stopped, but now there were pauses. Mandatory breaks. Infusions specially prepared by me.

I made a list of what was missing. A special order had arrived at the apothecary the night before. The army of the Silver Moon Kingdom needed healing preparations, and in large quantities.

And that meant I had to go out.

......

The forest greeted me with its dense silence. I walked along the familiar paths, gathering each herb, each root with precision. Time passed without me noticing — I was focused on my task when I felt the air change. It was subtle, but I felt it. An invisible pressure, as if someone were watching me from the shadows.

The baby moved hard inside me. A kick. Then another. More intense.

"Easy..." I whispered, instinctively, though my pulse was starting to quicken. And then I looked up. I saw no one. But I knew I wasn't alone out here.

I put a hand on my belly, feeling the baby's kicks. They were strong, constant — like the flutter of a butterfly, soft but persistent.

In that instant, the silence stopped being natural, simple. It grew denser, heavier...

I didn't need to know that someone was watching. My instinct, sharpened by magic and by something deeper that had taken root the moment I learned there was a life growing inside me, screamed at me to leave.

"Let's go..." I whispered, my hand still on my belly.

I didn't run. That would've been worse. Instead, I adjusted the basket against my hip and began walking at a steady pace back along the path. Every crunch beneath my feet was a reminder not to run — just walk. Every shadow seemed to stretch longer than usual. But I didn't look back. I mustn't.

My breathing was barely controlled, though my pulse was quickening little by little. I felt that presence keeping pace with me... Not overhead, not attacking... just watching.

Waiting. When I finally spotted the apothecary through the trees, an invisible tension eased just slightly in my chest. I pushed the door open harder than necessary. The jingle of the bell announced my arrival. The interior of the apothecary enveloped me at once: the warmth, the scent of herbs, the quiet murmur of jars, and the faint bubbling of the alembic. A refuge. A protected circle.

I closed the door behind me.

And then... I did look. Nothing. But the feeling hadn't entirely disappeared. I set the basket on the counter, releasing a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

"Did something happen?" Ida's voice came from the back, though she hadn't appeared yet. I hesitated, just for a moment.

I hesitated for a second.

"The forest... was strange."

A brief silence. Then slow footsteps approaching. The great witch Ida appeared, her eyes sweeping me from head to toe... lingering briefly on my belly.

"Don't go out tomorrow," she said finally, with a calm that was anything but reassuring. "And today... close up earlier than usual."

I nodded. But just as I turned to organize the herbs, I felt it again. Closer. Much closer. As if whatever had been watching me knew exactly where I was, and that terrified me.