Flashback: It's a secret

Luciana stared at Nicholas, whose eyes were shut and whose breathing was so faint one could think he was dead, and sniffed.

She had tried to use her magic to heal him; she had tried to extract the poison, but nothing worked. 

"Nicholas, please don't do this to me; I need you. Our baby needs you," Luciana begged, holding his large cold hand with her small ones and placing it against her cheeks. 

Nicholas was lying on a bed made from leaves, and a little fire was burning by the side to disperse the cold in the cave. They were in a cave they found in the forest to attend to Nicholas. 

It was already dawn, but he was still asleep.

They had left the capital and had used the forest route since it was safer, and it would at least make it difficult for David's men to track them that way.