Mothers and sons (part 1)

The Lanark landscape was one of autumnal beauty with amber leaves descending from the trees to form a carpet of gold and crimson across the forest floor. The cool air was filled with the scents Adelaide loved – earthy and leafy, mingling with Egon's own scent of pine and musk.

Egon had mounted Xavier and offered Adela the front seat on the saddle upon the request she made to share a horse, citing exhaustion and the urgency of finding Leopold as reasons. Secretly, she worried about riding separately and wanted to take extra precautions to safeguard her body just in case she might be sharing it with another life.

...Could I be carrying Egon's baby?

As they rode together, she was hyper-aware of the warmth of her husband's embrace, further steadying her against the stable rhythm of the horse's gait, finally finding a sense of ease she hadn't experienced since returning from Varinthia.