Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Ritual
We bolted. Arrows whistled past my ear. Darius yanked me sideways as a spear buried itself where my head had been. We sprinted through the outer ring, wolves howling behind us. I drew my sword mid-stride and slashed at a guard who lunged from the shadows. Steel bit deep. Hot blood sprayed my face.
Darius shifted one arm and tore through two more attackers. Our gammas fought at our backs, buying seconds. My lungs screamed. Legs pumped harder. We hit the tree line and kept going, crashing through branches that whipped our skin raw. Howls rose in a chorus, closer than before.
We reached the creek bed and slid down the bank. Darius shoved me behind a fallen log and covered me with his body as the first pursuit wolves leaped overhead. I held my breath, heart hammering against his chest. Their paws thundered past. One paused, sniffing, then continued when a captain called them deeper into the woods.
We waited until silence returned, then crept out and ran again. Dawn found us miles away, exhausted and bleeding from a dozen small cuts. The gammas had caught up, one limping badly. We didn’t stop until we crossed our own border markers.
Garrick met us at a forward outpost, face pale. I waved off healers and demanded a fresh horse. "Get me home. Now!"
The ride back passed in a blur of pain and rage. Every jolt reminded me of the words I had heard. My children’s hearts. A ritual. Immortality built on their small bodies. The bond pulled tight with Darius’s shared fury, but I kept my own storm locked down until we reached the keep.
Kane and Rylan waited in the bailey. I slid off the horse and told them everything in clipped sentences while healers worked on our wounds. Their faces hardened into masks of cold murder. Kane’s knife appeared in his hand without him seeming to move. Rylan’s knuckles turned white around his axe handle.
We gathered in the war room after I checked on the children. Lila slept curled around her siblings, one arm protectively over Thorne. Elara clutched a wooden wolf in her tiny fist. The sight nearly broke me.
"They descend from the witch herself," I said quietly once the door closed. "She plans to drain the twins to reverse and claim the curse. Eternal life for her followers. Our babies are the key."
Darius slammed a fist on the table. "We end her line. Completely."
The kings’ anger fed mine through the bond until it burned clean and focused. No more small raids. No more waiting. We would carve a path straight to that pavilion and rip the threat out by the roots.
But first we had to survive the days ahead. Spies could already be moving among us. Supplies needed guarding. And my children could never be left unwatched again.
I touched the map where the enemy camp lay and felt centuries of hatred staring back. The original curse had finally found its true heir, and she wore my family’s future like a crown she meant to steal.
Night fell heavy over Frostfang. I stood on the balcony with the cold wind cutting through my cloak and made a silent vow that tasted like blood and iron.
They would never lay a hand on my children.
Not while any of us still drew breath.
I carried that promise down from the balcony and straight into our chambers like a live coal. The kings followed close behind. The moment the heavy door shut, the weight of what I had overheard in that enemy tent crashed over us all. I paced the room once, then stopped in front of them.
"They plan to cut out our children’s hearts while they still beat," I said, voice low and rough. "Not kill them clean. Drain them slow under some ritual moon so the witch’s bloodline can twist your curse into their own eternal power. That woman carries the original line. She called them the key."
Darius’s ice-blue eyes went flat with lethal calm. Kane’s scarred hands flexed open and closed at his sides. Rylan’s jaw worked like he wanted to bite through iron.
"We knew they wanted the twins," Darius said finally. "But this... this is different."
"It changes nothing and everything." I stepped closer until I could feel the heat coming off all three of them.
"I need to know where you stand if it comes down to choices no parent should ever face. If saving them means feeding the curse forever. If protecting them costs every wolf in this keep. Tell me now, raw, no shielding me. Because I will burn the world down for them, and I need to know you will stand in the fire with me without hesitation."
Silence stretched thick between us. Kane spoke first, voice gravel-rough. "I watched my father’s sins poison our blood before we could walk. I won’t let that poison touch them. I would chain myself to the moon if it kept them breathing one more day. No hesitation."
Rylan’s reckless edge cracked open. "I laugh and swing my axe because the alternative is thinking too hard about how easily everything good gets taken. Those three small lives in the next room? They’re the first thing that ever made me scared of dying. I’d walk into that pavilion alone and paint every banner with my own blood if it bought them safety."
Darius reached out and gripped the back of my neck, forehead resting against mine.
"I was born to rule a broken legacy. You gave me something whole. If I have to choose between our bloodline and theirs, I choose them. Every single time. No crown, no kingdom, no curse is worth their lives. I would end myself before I let them suffer for our past."
The raw honesty in their voices cracked something open inside my chest. Tears burned my eyes but I didn’t let them fall. Instead I pulled all three closer, hands fisting in their tunics, breathing them in.
The fear didn’t vanish. It simply found its place beside the love and the rage. We stood locked together until the worst of the trembling passed.
A soft sound came from the inner room. We moved as one.
Lila was already awake, sitting up in the big bed with watchful eyes. Thorne and Elara stirred beside her. When they saw us they lit up with tired morning joy. Thorne pushed himself onto all fours, then slowly rose on unsteady legs. Elara did the same right beside him, mirroring her brother’s movements with perfect little determination.
They looked at each other. Something passed between them in that wordless way only twins seem to share. Then, as if deciding together, they took their first coordinated steps. Thorne wobbled forward. Elara matched him exactly. Two steps. Three. Four. They crossed the fur rug together, tiny hands reaching for us, faces split with proud, gummy smiles.
Lila clapped and cheered softly. "They did it at the same time. Like they planned it."
I dropped to my knees and caught them both as they tumbled into my arms, laughing. Their small bodies pressed warm and alive against me.
Thorne grabbed my braid with one chubby fist. Elara patted my cheek and babbled a string of sounds that almost formed real words.
The simple miracle of their coordinated steps hit harder after the night’s revelations. They moved together because they already understood they were stronger that way.
The kings knelt with me. Darius supported Thorne’s back. Kane let Elara climb his arm like a tree. Rylan pulled Lila onto his lap so she could join the huddle. For long minutes none of us spoke. We simply held what mattered most while the fire crackled and the world outside waited with teeth bared.
Later, after the children ate and played and finally settled for a nap, we returned to the war table. The conversation from the night before had cleared the air. No more unspoken fears between us. Only clear purpose.
"We hit their supply lines at three points tonight," I said, tracing routes on the map. "Small, fast teams. Burn what we can’t carry. Leave witnesses to spread fear. They think our children are their salvation. We show them those children are their doom."
Kane nodded. "I’ll take the western wagons."
Rylan claimed the eastern route with a sharp grin that didn’t reach his eyes. Darius would coordinate from the ridges with archers.
I would remain at the keep to hold everything together, but the promise we made to each other still burned between us. If the worst came, we already knew our answer.
As the teams prepared to ride out under moonlight, I stood at the nursery door watching my three children sleep. Lila had one arm thrown protectively over her siblings again. Thorne’s tiny hand rested on Elara’s back. They breathed in the same rhythm.
The north wanted to steal their future for ancient power.
We would teach them that some bloodlines refuse to be used.
I touched the doorframe and whispered the only truth that mattered anymore.
"You will grow up free."
Then I turned and walked toward the bailey where steel waited. The kings’ eyes met mine across the torchlight. No more words needed. We had already said everything that counted.
Tonight the north would bleed for daring to name my children their salvation.
And tomorrow we would plan the next cut.
