Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Caius, Torin & Veil Brothers
"Then they know what it costs," Darius answered. "And they still came asking."
I pressed both hands to my belly where the twins had gone quiet again, as if saving their strength. The due date sat three weeks out at most, maybe less. My body knew it. The bond knew it.
Lila climbed into my lap and rested her head against the tight curve, one small ear pressed there like she was listening for her siblings. The weight of her helped settle the ache for a moment.
We didn’t sleep much. The bond kept us linked through the dark hours, four minds turning over the same questions.
Who they were?
What they wanted?
How far they were willing to push?
When the first gray light crept over the ridges I was already dressed, cloak pinned tight, short blade strapped to my thigh. My boots felt too tight around my swollen ankles but I laced them anyway. Lila woke and watched me from the furs, eyes wide and serious.
"Mama go wolf?" she asked.
I kissed her forehead and let Rylan lift her so she could wrap her arms around my neck one last time. "Mama goes to talk. You stay with Garrick and keep the fires warm and be a good girl while mommy is gone, okay baby?"
The kings waited in the bailey with twenty mounted men behind them. The horses stamped and blew steam. Garrick stood at the gate, hand on his sword, face calm.
I swung up my horse with Darius’s help, the mare shifting under the extra weight but holding steady. The bond pulled us forward as one when we rode out, snow crunching under hooves, breath fogging in the cold dawn air.
The split rock appeared on the horizon like a broken tooth. Three riders waited there, cloaks dark against the white, horses still. No banners. No colors. Just three men who sat their saddles like they had been born in them.
The middle one lifted a hand when we stopped fifty yards short which was the agreed distance. His voice carried clear and loud across the snow.
"Well well well, if it isn’t the cursed kings of Frostfang and the human queen who broke the witch’s line. We’ve watched you build. We’ve watched you bleed. We ask for parley. Not war. Not yet."
Darius spoke first, voice flat and cold. "Spare me the pep talk. You came to our land. State your names and your business or turn your horses east and keep riding."
The middle rider pushed his hood back. His face was sharp, eyes the color of old blood. The two beside him did the same. Triplets. Same jaw, same build, same feral edge in the way they held themselves. The bond between the four of us flared hot and warning.
"I am Caius," the middle one said. "These are my brothers; Torin and Veyl. We carry the same curse you once did. Our wolves hunt for a mate the way yours did. We heard the stories. We came to see if the North still has room for more than one set of kings."
The twins rolled hard inside me, a sudden fierce pressure that made me grip the saddle horn. Kane’s horse shifted closer to mine without a word. Rylan’s axe rested loose across his thighs. Darius’s hand stayed near his blade.
I leaned forward and let my voice carry. "The North has room for those who earn it. You’ve watched us. You know what we protect. State your terms or ride on."
Caius smiled, small and sharp. "Our terms are simple. A meeting inside your walls. One hour. No blades drawn. We talk about the curse, the bloodline, the children you carry. Then we decide if we fight for what we want or leave you to it."
The wind picked up, carrying snow across the open ground between us. The bond screamed in my chest, four wolves pacing hard behind my ribs. Lila’s face flashed in my mind, small and trusting back in the nursery. The twins kicked again, lower and harder, a reminder that the due date wasn’t waiting.
I looked at the three of them and felt the keep at my back, solid and full of the people we had bled for. The line we had drawn in the snow was still there.
"Tomorrow at noon," I said. "You ride in under white cloth. One hour. Then you ride out or we end this where you stand."
Caius inclined his head once. The three of them turned their horses without another word and disappeared into the white.
We rode back slower, the bond tight and burning. The twins pressed low and restless. My back ached with every stride. But the keep rose ahead of us, walls high and gates open, Garrick waiting at the top with Lila on his shoulder.
The eastern wolves had finally stepped into the light.
And tomorrow we would see exactly what kind of fire they carried.
*************************
Dawn finally came hard and cold. I rode out with the kings at my back, belly so low and heavy the saddle pressed against it with every step the mare took.
The twins in my belly had dropped even farther overnight, a constant grinding pressure that made my hips ache and my breath short.
My cloak barely closed over the curve anymore. I kept one hand on the reins and the other braced on the pommel, teeth locked against the sharp twinges that shot up my spine when the horse lunged through deeper drifts.
The split rock waited ahead, black against the white field, fifty yards inside our markers like we had demanded.
The three brothers sat their horses in a loose line under a strip of white cloth tied to a spear. Caius in the middle, with a black hood back, blood-red eyes fixed on us. Torin and Veyl flanked him, identical sharp faces, same feral stillness. No blades drawn. At least not yet.
We stopped twenty paces short. Darius on my right, Kane on my left, Rylan a half-step behind. The bond burned between us, four wolves pacing hard under our skin.
My back screamed when I swung down, but I landed on my own feet and stayed upright. The snow crunched under my boots as I walked towards them. The twins rolled slow and heavy, as if they felt the eyes on us too.
Caius spoke first. "You came. Good, I was beginning to think you wouldn’t. Like I said yesterday, we watched you build this place from nothing. Watched the human queen turn three mad wolves into kings. That’s quite impressive."
His voice carried clean across the snow, low and smooth. Torin shifted in his saddle, amber gaze flicking to my belly. Veyl smiled, small and sharp, like he already knew how this would end.
Darius didn’t waste words. "You asked for a meeting. State it."
Caius leaned forward, elbows on the pommel while restating what he said the previous day.
"We carry the same curse your father earned. Our wolves tear at us every full moon. We’ve lost two mates already. They couldn’t hold the bond. Then we heard about you."
His red eyes locked on mine. "A human woman with latent alpha blood who broke the witch’s line. You carry twins. You turned the curse into something that holds. We want that strength for our own mate."
The words landed like a slap. The bond flared hot in my chest. Kane’s horse edged closer to mine until our knees almost touched. Rylan’s axe scraped free an inch, then stopped.
"You think my blood is something you can borrow," I said. My voice stayed flat even though the twins kicked hard enough to steal my breath for a second.
Torin laughed once, short and ugly. "No no no, not borrow. Share. Your bond is stable. Your children carry the broken curse in their veins. Bring one of them into our line and our wolves settle. Or come with us yourself. The North has three kings. It can spare its queen for a season."
Veyl’s smile widened. "We’re not asking to fight today. We’re offering a trade. One child. Or you. In return we leave your keep untouched. Refuse, and we take what we need when the full moon rises next. Your walls won’t matter then.".
The snow felt colder against my neck. My back burned with the weight of the twins and the rage rising behind my ribs. Lila’s face flashed in my mind, small and trusting back in the nursery. The twins rolled again, lower, urgent, like they already knew the threat in the air.
Darius spoke without raising his voice. "You ride onto our land, under white cloth, and threaten our children. That ends one way and you know which way that is so I need not explain myself."
Kane’s knife was in his hand now, blade flat against his thigh. Rylan had the axe free, resting across his saddle. The bond screamed between us, four wolves ready to tear the world open.
