The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 375

The Shadows of Doubt

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The Shadows of Doubt

The morning light was pale and indifferent, casting long shadows across the small bedroom. Iva sat on the edge of the bed, her hands clasped in her lap, her mind still swirling with the remnants of her dream.

The Moon Goddess’s words echoed in her mind, persistent and haunting.

*Open your eyes. Look beyond appearances. The truth is waiting for you.*

She had replayed the dream a hundred times since waking, searching for meaning, for direction, for anything that might guide her through the maze of confusion and pain that had become her life.

If she had been the girl she was before-before the trauma, before the violation-she would have rushed to Nick, eager to share the message, desperate for his guidance and comfort. She would have clung to him, trusting him implicitly, believing that he would help her decipher

the Goddess’s words.

But something had changed.

Something in the tone of the Goddess’s voice, in the weight of her words, made Iva hesitate. Made her pause. Made her question.

Especially now.

After what Nick had done.

After he had broken her trust in the most brutal way possible.

She flinched at the memory-the weight of him, the roughness of his hands, the violation that had shattered something inside her. She had loved him. She had trusted him. She had believed that he was her salvation, her refuge, her future.

And he had taken all of that and crushed it.

They were mates. The bond was real. But where before she had enjoyed his proximity, had craved his touch, now she couldn’t help herself from recoiling whenever he drew near.

She saw the regret in his eyes. The shame. The desperate hope that she might forgive him.

But she didn’t have it in her.

At least, not yet.

Maybe in time, she would find it in her heart to move past what he had done. Maybe the bond

The Shadows of Doubt

would heal, and they would find their way back to each other.

But what he had done was despicable.

Especially considering her condition.

She touched her belly, feeling the gentle swell of her pregnancy. Her pup had survived- against all odds, against the violence and the stress and the trauma. It was a miracle. A small, precious miracle that reminded her that there was still hope, still light, still something worth fighting for.

She knew that, according to Nick and her father, she should hate this child. She should see it as a reminder of the horrors she had endured.

But each time she touched her stomach and felt him move, her heart skipped a beat.

In happiness.

In wonder.

In love.

She was more confused than ever.

A knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts.

“Iva?” Her father’s voice came through, careful and gentle. “May I come in?”

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“Yes.”

The door creaked open, and Rhys stepped inside. His face was lined with worry, his eyes shadowed with exhaustion. He crossed the room slowly, as if approaching a wounded animal, and sat on the edge of the chair near the bed.

“How are you feeling?” he asked softly.

Iva’s instinct was to brush off the question, to say she was fine and move on. But something

in his tone-the genuine concern, the vulnerability-made her pause.

“I’m… managing,” she said carefully.

Rhys nodded, his eyes searching her face.

“That’s not an answer,” he said gently. “But I understand if you’re not ready to talk.”

The Shadows of Doubt

Iva was quiet for a moment.

She wanted to ask him something. Something that had been on her mind for a while, something she had never dared to voice.

+25 Pants

“How did you make your relationship work for so many years with my mother?” she asked finally.

The question hung in the air.

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