Chapter 647
Otto stared at Hildegard for a long, stunned moment, still reeling from the revelation.
Pregnant.
Jasmine.
Pregnant.
That was all he could hear in his head.
His breath trembled, but he forced himself to speak.
“What happened?” he whispered. “How… what When What?”
Hildegard closed her eyes, her jaw tightening with an old pain. “She… lost her first baby.”
Otto’s face fell. “What? She never told me why wasn’t I told?”
The more he got informed the darker turn it took.
Hildegard opened her eyes, tired and sharp. “Because you never asked.”
Otto clenched his fists, swallowing hard. “Damn it
Silence fell between them.
A heavy kind.
The kind that carried ghosts.
And now he wished that he had been kinder to her.
To know that she had been through that?
As he imagined her seated in the cell guilt began to wash over him.
Finally Otto whispered, “How many weeks is she?”
“I don’t know,” Hildegard admitted. “Her last pregnancy went very fast.”
Otto frowned. “Fast? What, like she carried nine or ten months instead of eleven?”
Hildegard shook her head. “No. It was… four months.”
Otto stared at her as if she’d grown two heads.
“Four… months?” he repeated. “What the hell? That’s impossible!”
“It happened,” Hildegard said quietly. “Because Jasmine is an unshifted. And Xaden was an Alpha. The baby came too fast. Too strong. Too developed.”
Otto shook his head sharply. “No. That doesn’t explain it. I’ve studied dozens of unshifted pregnancies. The worst complication they have is the difficulty pushing the baby out because their pelvis can’t shift.” His eyes narrowed. “But four months? No. That’s not an unshifted issue.”
Hildegard looked at him uncertainly. “Then what is it?”
Otto exhaled shakily, pacing the room. “I don’t think Jasmine is unshifted. Not fully. Something about her, her instincts, her personality, her hair!, her wolf that doesn’t show none of it adds up.”
His voice lowered to a near whisper.
“Until I figure out what she is… I don’t know how her body will handle childbirth.”
Hildegard’s stomach twisted. “How many unshifted women and their babies have survived childbirth?”
Otto paused as he dreaded the words he was about to say.
“None.”
Hildegard’s breath hitched.
Otto turned to her, eyes sharp. “That’s why we don’t have time. If we reach the distant lands, we might find her uncle Aiden. Someone who knows her lineage. Someone who can help. If we don’t leave… Jasmine could die.”
Hildegard sank into a chair, her whole face tight with dread. “The thought of sneaking her out while pregnant
“She doesn’t know she’s pregnant,” Otto interrupted gently. “And we shouldn’t tell her. Not yet.”
Hildegard glared at him. “You want us to keep that from her?”
“Yes,” Otto said firmly. “At least until the journey begins. The travel will take a month. She won’t be in labor by then. And when she starts to show… I’ll tell her myself.”
Hildegard rubbed her forehead. “I don’t like hiding this.”
“It’s the only way,” Otto insisted. “If we tell her now, she’ll panic. And panic will kill her faster than any guard. Have you even met Jasmine?”
Hildegard breathed heavily, weighing every risk.
Eventually she nodded. “Fine. But someone needs to go with you. A woman. Someone who can help her. Not me.”
“Why not?” Otto demanded.
“Because I need to stay here,” Hildegard said. “Someone has to buy time. Create distractions. Delay the inevitable. I can send for Nanny Nia. She was there during the last one.”
Otto shook his head. “There isn’t time to bring anyone else. And even if we could, I know a witch along the way. She can help Jasmine when the time comes.”
Hildegard hesitated… then nodded reluctantly. “Fine.”
She stood.
“Then we plan. Now.”
Otto took a deep breath. “There’s only one way this works, we use magic.”
Hildegard blinked. “Magic? How in the Goddess’s name did you smuggle magic through these walls? It’s banned.”
Otto grinned faintly. “I have my ways.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Of course you do.”
“The problem,” Otto continued, “is that someone has to stay in Jasmine’s place once she leaves the cell. Otherwise they’ll notice too quickly.”
The room went quiet.
Too quiet.
Hildegard inhaled.
Exhaled.
Then lifted her chin.
“I’ll do it.”
Otto paled. “Hildegard no. You’ll be caught. They’ll sentence you instead.”
“I don’t care,” she said fiercely. “I could never live with myself knowing Jasmine and her unborn baby died while I watched from the sidelines.”
Otto’s throat tightened. “I don’t want you to die. I understand dying for her might seem like being a great Martyr but sweet Selene.”
“I’ll kill myself if anything happens to that girl. If stupid Cherry and that imposter succeeds.” Hildegard stated.
“You hate her don’t you.” He said with a cocky grin.
“I hate that bitch!” She said and turned to him. “Will you let me do this or not?”
Otto swallowed hard, then nodded. “Fine.”
“When you enter the cell,” Otto explained, “I have a magical clone that will hide you from being detected. It will let you walk through the bars as long as they’re not lined with silver. Which fortunately for us, they aren’t.”
Hildegard traced the edge of the cape. “And Jasmine?”
“She’ll wear it after you switch clothes,” Otto said. “Then she will slip out.”
Hildegard frowned. “There’s no way out of the palace. Every exit is guarded. Every forest path watched. And the main gate? Impossible.”
Otto leaned on the table. “We’ll find something.”
Hildegard paced.
Then suddenly it hit her!
She had an epiphany.
She froze.
Her eyes widened.
“The sea.”
Otto blinked. “What?”
“The forest that leads to the sea,” Hildegard said quickly. “It’s barely guarded. The wolves refuse to go near siren waters. And sirens refuse to cross wolf land.”
Otto’s eyes widened. “A neutral dead zone.”
Hildegard nodded fiercely. “Exactly.
No guards.
No eyes.
No patrols.”
“The sea path,” Otto whispered. “Of course.”
Hildegard leaned in.
“That,” she said, “is the way you two will escape.”