ayes's huma

hing else away. I was once Ava Monroe, a perfumer with a

ows where he told me to wait. He held her close, his hand resting on the small of her back. Chloe leaned h

s the poison that

ars. It echoed in the cavernous hall, a painful reminder of what I could never have. He looked hap

against my stomach, my breath catching in my throat. It was too soon. The baby, our seventh, was only three mo

uld let me go. He would release my family's company from his grip. It was a lie, I knew it was a lie, b

ip to keep from crying out, the metallic taste of blood filling my

ed from his face, replaced by a cold, hard mask. He said something to Chlo

me, his tall frame blocking out the light from the party below. The air grew thick wi

he asked, hi

rely audible. I couldn't look at him. I st

and disgust. Not for the child we were losing, but for

ngers digging into my fle

was beautiful, all white and gold, but to me, it was a prison. He

front of the bed like a caged animal. "One

y stomach as another wave of pain washed over m

y doesn't fix this. Do you know what your parents did to my mother? Do

tant gray, burned with a fire I knew all too well. It was the fire of pure

was supposed to enhance human connection. It destroyed her. It made

e," I cried. "T

And you will pay for their sins. You, your body, your scent. You are the

mask. "The doctor will be here in an hour to collect

forced pregnancy, loss, and torment. Each time a child was conceived, my body would produce the rare, potent ingredients of my family's formula in a highly

ope snapped. I lay on the bed, bleeding and empty, and I knew I couldn't do

I forced myself to walk. I found the small, velvet-lined box where I kept the ashes of my last chi

. No one stopped me. I was invisible, a ghost in my own home. I walked out the

is was it. This was my release. I took a step o

ack from the edge with brutal force. I fell to the pa

ly's formula, the very thing he had used to destroy me. He had ripped it in two. His face wa

with an emotion I couldn't name. He grabbed my shoulders and

e, amidst the scattered ashes of our child, I saw a tear trace a path down his cheek.