Nightmares.

My heavy dream was back. It formed into even clearer details. I already knew what was about to happen, but it was always so painful it took my breath away. 

I watched my body a bit from above, standing right in front of myself. His eyes were filled with madness, looking at some small object in his palm. My palm. It didn't matter. As every night, I tried to look away as my head slowly bowed down to glance at the piece of my beloved wife.

What will it be tonight? Another finger without a nail? Her ear, with the golden jewel I gave her this spring, still in her earlobe? 

 An unbearable sense of dread enveloped me. The sickening thrill ruled over me, overshadowing any remnants of sanity as my gaze stopped at his hand with a second eye of hers. Last weak was the first one and now -

"Love - wake up." Her voice reached my ears and I finally teared up from the nightmare.

I counted her fingers, unable to stop myself, still in delirium.

Two, four, five, all ten, without the slightest bruise or scar. I moved my focus on her ears, quickly tucking her hair out of the way to be able to see for myself.

"Maximilian. You are scaring me." her soft voice pierced my panic attack and I was finally able to look into her eyes.

Instead of the two black holes I expected, her green irises watched me partly hidden under her long eyelashes. 

"I'm sorry Valleria." I groaned and carefully squeezed her in my embrace. 

She is alive. Alive and in one piece. The relief was so great I almost fainted.

"You said it's getting better," she whispered, while her nails gently stroked across my back, sending pleasant shivers through my whole body.

'I lied, love. It got worse.'

"Don't worry about me. Anyway, why are you awake? Is our little one making it hard for you to fall asleep?" I asked with my palm on her lower abdomen, already nicely rounded and big.

That old woman, whom Valleria insisted on having at hand instead of a royal medic, said it could be any day now.

"Yes, but I nap through the whole day anyway. I feel a bit better now. It's strange, but I can breathe easier since yesterday." her warm hand covered mine and I was finally able to calm down.

It was still dark outside, but I was sure I would not be able to fall asleep anyway.

"Help me get up, I want to take a bath. It always helps a lot." Valleria sat up with clear difficulties. 

I left her partly submerged in the warm water, accompanied by a young maid. Her round belly, the sole reason for her struggles and my greatest joy, still persistently holding on to its little treasure.

I went to check the prison. I didn't tell my wife yet, but one of the hunters captured a gravid wolf and brought her into the cell on my command. She bared her teeth every time someone stepped closer to the iron bars, yet gratefully ate any piece of meat she got. 

Her pups just started to roam around and I sat down and waited for them to come closer, overcome with curiosity, so I could make them used to a human's touch and smell.

I definitely didn't want to give her all five pups, one is still a threat, but manageable with good training.

Focusing on that gentle yet aggressive biting of one of these tiny wolves, I decided to train it on my own, reluctant to entrust something this important to the rough hands of that man managing my hounds. 

My duties found me shortly after and I had to leave these balls of fur behind.