Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Who Sent You?
The teams left under moonlight. I watched from the wall until their torches became distant sparks, then turned my focus inward. The keep felt watchful tonight. Every shadow stretched longer. I doubled the nursery guard and walked the corridors myself, checking doors and faces. Sleep stayed far away.
Near the deepest hour, a muffled cry cut through the quiet. I ran.
The nursery door stood ajar. One guard lay slumped against the wall, throat opened clean. Inside, a lean figure in servant’s gray bent over the bed where my children slept. Steel glinted in his hand above Thorne’s small chest.
I didn’t shout. I moved.
My shoulder slammed him sideways before the blade fell. We crashed into the low table, scattering carved toys. The man twisted like a snake, knife slashing at my ribs. I caught his wrist, twisted hard, and heard bone snap. He screamed. I drove my knee into his gut and pinned him to the floor.
Lila woke first, eyes wide. "Mama!"
"Stay on the bed," I ordered, voice steady even as rage roared through me. Thorne and Elara stirred, confused whimpers filling the room. The assassin bucked beneath me, spitting curses in a northern dialect.
"You’re too late," he hissed through pain-clenched teeth. "Others are already inside. The blood will flow tonight."
I pressed my forearm across his throat until his face purpled. "Who sent you?"
He laughed, a wet broken sound. "The true heir. Your whelps die so we can live forever."
Boots thundered in the hall. Kane burst through first, knife already out. Rylan followed, axe raised. Darius came last, ice-blue eyes scanning for more threats. They secured the room in seconds while I kept the assassin pinned.
"Take the children to the safe chamber," I told them. "Now."
Kane scooped up all three at once, Lila clinging to his neck. Rylan and Darius cleared the corridor ahead. Once they vanished around the corner I hauled the spy to his feet and dragged him down to the bailey myself. Blood from his broken wrist left a trail on the stone.
By the time I reached the open yard, torches flared to life. The pack poured out, half-dressed and armed, faces hard in the firelight. I threw the man to his knees in the center. Garrick arrived, sword drawn.
"This one came for my children with a knife," I announced, loud enough for every ear. "While we bleed on the borders, traitors walk among us wearing our own colors. He serves the northern witch-blood who wants to carve out my twins’ hearts for power."
The pack’s silence turned deadly. Growls rose. Someone spat on the ground near the spy.
He lifted his head, defiant even with a broken arm. "Your line ends here. The old blood claims what’s owed."
I drew my sword. The steel rang clear in the cold air. "Then take this message back to your mistress."
One clean stroke. His head rolled across the stones. I stood over the body, breathing hard, blood on my blade and no regret in my chest.
The pack erupted. Not cheers exactly, something deeper. Fists slammed against shields. Voices swore oaths. Calder stepped forward from the crowd, the same gamma who had challenged me days earlier. He dropped to one knee. Others followed until the entire bailey knelt.
"No more doubt," Calder called out. "You bleed with us. You kill for us. Frostfang stands behind you, my queen."
I nodded once and sheathed my sword. "Then prepare. We hit them harder at dawn. No mercy for anyone who reaches for our children."
The body was dragged away. I stayed long enough to see the pack disperse with new purpose, then walked back inside on legs that wanted to shake. The kings waited in the safe chamber. Lila had finally dozed off against Kane’s chest. Thorne and Elara slept between Darius and Rylan, small hands clutching tunics.
I joined them on the wide bed, sliding in carefully. Darius pulled me against his side. Kane rested a scarred hand on my thigh. Rylan reached across and brushed hair from my face, his touch gentler than usual.
For a long while none of us spoke. The children’s even breathing filled the quiet. Thorne made a small sound in his sleep and nestled closer to his father. Elara’s tiny fingers flexed around Rylan’s thumb.
"They almost reached them tonight," I whispered.
"But they didn’t," Darius answered, voice low steel. "And they never will."
The bond between us wrapped tighter, carrying shared terror and shared relief. I felt their love for the children like a second heartbeat. No grand declarations. Just the four of us guarding what mattered most while the keep stirred around us.
Dawn would bring more fighting. More blood. But in this small circle, with my family warm and alive against me, I found the strength I needed to keep going.
The north had sent a knife into our home.
We answered with steel and unity.
And we were only getting started.
****************
Dawn crept over the ridges while I carried the children up the narrow stairs to the eastern wall. Lila insisted on walking most of the way herself, her small hand gripping mine. Thorne balanced on my left hip, Elara on the right. The cold morning air nipped at our faces but none of them complained. They wanted to see the sun rise over the land they would inherit.
The kings joined us at the top. Darius took Thorne so I could adjust my cloak around Elara. Kane stood at my shoulder, silent and steady. Rylan leaned against the parapet, axe propped nearby, his usual restless energy coiled tight this morning.
I looked out across the territory we had bled to hold. Smoke still rose from the burned farms in the distance, thin gray fingers against the pale sky.
Below us the bailey stirred with purpose—riders preparing, forges ringing, women drilling with blades. The pack moved like one body now. Last night’s assassin had welded them together in a way speeches never could.
Lila pressed against my leg and pointed north. "That’s where the bad ones live?"
"Yes," I said. "Far beyond those peaks."
She nodded solemnly, as if filing the information away for later. Thorne reached out and touched the stone crenellation, patting it like a friend. Elara babbled softly and rested her head on my shoulder, warm and trusting. Their small weights anchored me better than any crown.
Darius shifted Thorne higher in his arms. "Vespera is dead. Her camp broken. Yet this new threat feels heavier. Like the old curse found fresh teeth."
"It did," I answered. "But we are not the same people who faced her. We’ve seen what they’re willing to do to our children. That knowledge cuts both ways."
Kane spoke low. "The prisoner last night confirmed their ritual needs living blood. They won’t stop with one attempt. More will come."
Rylan turned from the view, eyes hard. "Then we stop being reactive. We choose the ground. We choose the moment. No more waiting for their knives in the dark."
I met each of their gazes in turn. The bond thrummed between us, carrying agreement and the shared fire that had only grown sharper since the assassin’s blood hit the bailey stones.
"Vespera was the shadow we knew. This woman and her followers are something older and hungrier. They don’t just want territory or revenge. They want to unmake our family to remake their power. That makes them dangerous. But it also makes them predictable. They will keep reaching for the twins."
Lila looked up at me, fierce little expression. "I bite them if they try."
Despite everything, a rough laugh escaped me. I smoothed her hair. "You might have to one day. But not today. Today we get stronger."
The children’s presence on the wall sent a clear message through the keep. Pack members glanced up as they moved below, seeing their queen and kings standing open with the next generation. Some raised fists. Others simply straightened their shoulders and walked taller. We were not hiding. We were claiming every inch of this dawn.
A rider galloped through the gates moments later, horse lathered. He dismounted fast and climbed the stairs two at a time. Garrick followed close behind.
"My queen," the scout said, still catching his breath. "The northern force is on the move. Not small raids this time. Columns of them, wagons, wolves in formation. They crossed the third ridge at first light. Heading south in strength. Three days at most before they reach our outer holdings."
The news landed heavy but not unexpected. I handed Elara to Rylan and stepped to the edge of the wall, eyes fixed on the distant horizon where the mountains met the sky. Wind tugged at my cloak. The children stayed quiet, sensing the shift.
Darius moved to my side. "We knew this hour would come."
"We did." I turned back to the kings. "Vespera’s fall taught us how to survive one monster. This new one wants to wear our children’s futures like armor. We won’t give them the chance."
Kane’s scarred hand found mine. "Then we meet them before they cross the river. Choose the ground where their numbers work against them."
