Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Second Pregnancy With Twins
Darius looked up from the map he had spread on the table. "How many?"
"Enough to make a real push. They’re not coming for the walls this time. They’re coming for the queen and the children."
Rylan’s axe scraped against the floor as he stood. "Then we don’t wait for them to reach us. We take the fight to them."
I looked down at Lila, her small mouth still working at my breast. She was four months old and already the center of everything. And now there were two more on the way. The thought of my father’s allies coming for them made something cold and sharp settle in my chest.
I finished nursing and handed Lila to Darius. "We don’t wait. We hit them before they can organize. Small team. We go for their command group. Make them bleed enough that the outer packs think twice about joining him."
Darius met my eyes. "You’re carrying twins. The sickness is back. The curse will test us again on the next full moon."
"I know," I said. "And I’m still going. The pack needs to see me out there. They need to see all of us together. I’m not the girl they sent north in chains. I’m the queen who stood in a hall full of blood and held this keep together. And I’m the one who’s going to end this."
The bond tightened. I felt their fear, their protectiveness, and underneath it their respect. They knew I wasn’t asking permission.
Rylan’s grin came back, sharp and ready. "Then we ride together. All of us. Like always."
Kane nodded once. "We leave at dawn."
I looked at the three of them, then at Lila in Darius’s arms. The bond hummed fierce and warm between the four of us, the curse quiet for now, but the shadow was still there at the edges.
The North had chosen us once.
Now it was time to remind my father’s allies exactly what that choice meant.
The next morning we rode out before the sun cleared the ridge. The snow was almost gone, revealing black rock and the first green shoots pushing through the ground. Spring was coming, slow and stubborn, but it was coming. And with it would come the next full moon.
*****************
Weeks slipped by in a rhythm that felt almost normal. Lila was five months old now, crawling across the furs like she owned the chambers, her dark curls bouncing every time she pulled herself up on the edge of the bed. She had started babbling, little sounds that almost sounded like words when she reached for Darius’s face or tugged at Rylan’s hair. The keep had grown used to the sound of her laughter echoing down the stone corridors. Some of the older wolves even left small toys outside the door — a carved wolf, a soft leather ball, a rattle made from dried seeds.
The second pregnancy was showing now. My belly had rounded noticeably, the twins making their presence known with small flutters that turned into kicks when the brothers placed their hands on me at night. The morning sickness had eased a little, but the tiredness hit me harder than it had with Lila. I moved slower through the halls, one hand often resting on the curve of my stomach out of habit.
Darius barely left my side. He sat beside me in the war room every morning, his hand on my knee under the table while we went over scout reports and supply lists. Kane doubled the guard on the nursery and the training yard without being asked. Rylan carried Lila on his shoulder during the afternoons, letting her tug at his hair while he checked the walls and the outer patrols.
One afternoon I was in the training yard with the women and older pups. The snow had melted completely, revealing patches of new grass and the first wildflowers pushing through the mud. I had a wooden practice blade in my hand, showing a young mother named Mara how to shift her weight for a proper thrust. Lila sat in a basket at the edge of the yard, chewing on a soft leather strip and watching everything with wide eyes.
Mara wiped sweat from her face after the drill and looked at my belly. "Twins. The pack is still talking about it. Some are saying it’s a blessing. Others are saying the curse will come back stronger now that there are two more on the way."
I lowered the blade and rested my free hand on the curve of my stomach. One of the twins kicked hard, as if answering her. "The curse is weaker than it was. The witch made sure of that. But fear is what my father wants. He wants them to believe the children are the reason everything is falling apart."
Mara nodded, but her eyes flicked toward the keep. "There’s been talk in the lower halls. Someone saying the prisoner in the cells is still sending messages out. Someone helping him."
I felt the bond tighten. Darius was on the wall above us, watching. Kane was in the armory. Rylan was somewhere near the gates. I kept my voice steady. "Who is saying it?"
Mara hesitated. "No names. Just whispers. A guard who was on duty last week said he saw someone near the cells at night. Someone who shouldn’t have been there."
I thanked her and ended the session early. The words followed me back to the chambers. Someone helping my father. Someone inside these walls who had already taken gold once and might be willing to take it again.
Darius met me at the door. He took Lila from the sling and held her against his chest, his ice-blue eyes searching my face. "You’re pale. What happened?"
I told him about Mara’s words. Kane and Rylan arrived minutes later, drawn by the bond. The four of us sat around the table while Lila played with a carved wolf on the furs.
Kane’s voice was low. "We check every guard who has been near the cells in the last month. Every wolf who has family in the south. Every one who has spoken to the prisoner."
Rylan’s hand tightened on his axe. "If someone is helping him, we find them before the next full moon. I can feel the wolf getting restless already. Six weeks until it peaks again."
I pressed my hand to my belly. The twins kicked again, stronger this time, two distinct movements that made me catch my breath. The bond hummed with the brothers’ protectiveness, but underneath it was the same shadow that never fully went away.
That night we stayed close. Darius and Kane took turns holding Lila while she nursed. Rylan paced the room, but he stopped every few minutes to press his hand to my stomach, feeling the twins move. The curse was quiet for now, but the full moon was coming, and with it the test.
The keep had settled into an uneasy quiet by the time the torches were doused for the night.
Lila was seven months old and had finally fallen asleep after a long evening of crawling across the furs and grabbing at everything in reach.
I lay on my side in the big bed, one hand resting on the rounded curve of my belly where the twins kicked in steady, overlapping rhythms. The second pregnancy was showing more every day, my body adjusting slower this time, the tiredness sinking deeper into my bones.
Darius lay behind me, his arm draped over my waist, his breath warm against my neck. Kane sat on the other side of the bed, back against the headboard, a whetstone moving slowly along the edge of his knife. Rylan stood by the window, staring out at the dark ridges, his axe propped within easy reach. None of them had slept properly in days. The curse was quiet between full moons, but the memory of the last one still lingered in the way their hands twitched and their eyes scanned every shadow.
I closed my eyes and tried to rest. The plan for tomorrow was set. We would ride south with a small team and strike the supply lines my father’s remaining allies were using. Cut them off before they could build momentum. It was the right move. But something in the air felt off, a tension that had nothing to do with the curse.
A soft scrape sounded from the lower levels, too faint to be a guard changing shift. Kane’s whetstone stopped mid-stroke. Rylan turned from the window. Darius’s arm tightened around me.
Then the scream came; sharp, cut off fast.
We were on our feet in the next breath. I scooped Lila into my arms, wrapping her in a blanket as the brothers moved. Darius grabbed his blade. Kane had his knife ready. Rylan snatched his axe and was already at the door.
The corridor outside the chambers was dark. Torches flickered at the far end. Footsteps pounded from the direction of the cells. A second scream echoed up the stairs, followed by the clash of steel on stone.
Darius took the lead, claws already pushing through his fingertips. "Stay behind me."
We ran.
The lower corridor leading to the cells was chaos. Two guards lay on the stone, blood pooling around them. A third was slumped against the wall, clutching his side, eyes wide with shock. The heavy cell door at the end stood open. Chains lay coiled on the floor, links broken clean.
My father was gone.
