Birth ofthe shadow

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Chapter Two: Birth of the Shadow

The morning was gray—cold without rain, yet the air carried a weight that could not be explained.

In Prince Louis’s office, papers lay scattered, a candle half-burned, while he sat reading a report of a new rebellion rising in the north. He did not know that, in the eastern wing of the palace, his wife Eleanor was screaming in agony… alone.

General James entered suddenly, without warning. His face was graver than usual, his voice low, but sharp:

— “Your Highness… you must come. Now.”

Louis rose in alarm:

— “What has happened?”

James hesitated, then met his eyes directly:

— “Lady Eleanor… she went into labor this morning.”

Louis froze in place, as though the words had not entered his ears the first time. Slowly, he said:

— “But… no one told me… the physician never said she was ready.”

James replied in a hushed tone:

— “The physician was summoned only when it was too late. Come…”

Louis ran through the corridors, the general close behind, until they reached Eleanor’s chamber. He flung the door open—

and was met with a scene that hollowed his chest.

Duchess Alicia stood near the bed, her eyes wet, while the physician sat in silence beside Eleanor’s lifeless body.

In Alicia’s arms, a small infant wailed softly… Ella.

Louis advanced with hesitant steps, staring at his wife’s face—

still, peaceful, without pain, without voice, without life.

— “No…” he whispered. “No, this cannot be…”

The physician spoke with sorrow heavy in his words:

— “We lost her shortly after the birth. The bleeding… we could not stop it.”

Louis’s eyes lingered on the doctor, then on the child in Alicia’s arms—her cries cutting through the silence, her eyes already open… gray, like her mother’s.

He was silent. Too silent. His gaze clung to the infant’s face.

And then, his voice came out bitter, almost breaking:

— “Then she is the reason…”

Alicia stared at him in shock:

— “What are you saying?”

He turned his face away, answering coldly:

— “If she had not been born… Eleanor would still be here. This child… she took everything.”

Alicia gasped, holding the infant closer to her chest, while the physician looked at General James, as though something dangerous had just begun.

— “My lord,” the physician said, “the child needs a name, and—”

Louis cut him off:

— “Name her Ella. As her mother wished. Then… see to her care. I do not wish to see her now.”

He turned and left the chamber, leaving behind a wound too deep to be spoken, and a child whose life began with a burden of guilt she never deserved.