---- This child was cursed.


    Thats why she had been drowning it in the well.


    This baby...


    was the offspring of an elemental man and a witch.


    But ording to the memories of this body I now inhabited, some births.


    ---- 188, ELECTRA DE LA CROIX SIGRID The scream lodged in my throat, my eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets as my trembling hands lifted the poor creature, barely clinging to life.


    Its pale skin was covered in horrible ck markings, like cursed patterns crawling across its tiny frameeven its face was tainted.


    It didnt cry.


    I could feel its weak little heart faltering, barely beating.


    Then, it opened its mismatched eyesone of each colorstaring upat the bitch who had been drowning it in the well.


    "Mydy, is something wrong?" A voice behind me made my whole body seize up.


    Twasnt alone.


    Goddess, I had to y along, I had to be this vile womanbecause if they found me out, I was dead.


    "Nothing is wrong, Grimm.


    I''ll finish quickly, go prepare the carriage." Itis already ready." "Then go check it again, or are you deaf?!" I snapped, channeling every ounce of contempt I could muster, praying the tremor in this unfamiliar voice would go unnoticed.


    When I heard his footsteps retreat, I turned awaystanding in the ---- middle of this strange forest, where all the trees were ck, twisted like the heart of this witch.


    I walked fast, putting as much distance as possible between me and that death well, scanning my surroundings.


    No one was there.


    So, I did the only thing I could think of to save this poor, dying baby.


    I tore open the long wool coat draped over me, then my ck blouse, tucking the infant against my bare chest, desperately trying to infuse warmth into its rigid little body before sealing my coat shut around it.


    "Hold on, baby.


    For the Goddesss sake, hold on," I begged, moving deeper into the forest, searching for shelter, anything to keep it safe.


    I couldnt be seen carrying this childno one could know I had saved it, 1 found a massive tree, its trunk hollowed out at the base.


    With my free hand, I pushed aside the overgrown weeds, bracing myself in case some wild animal had made its home there.


    But the animals...


    they didnt seem toe here.


    I expanded my sensesstill struggling to adjust to this woman''s magicbut it seemed safe enough.


    I sat on the dead leaves, whispering a healing incantation, breathing life into the baby.


    When I heard its soft whimper, and its corpse-like skin took on a healthier tone, I sighed in relief.