The little prince pointed at me and burst into tears. "The Luna's bleeding so much."
Only then did I feel the pain tearing through my belly. My face went bloodless, and I sank to the floor. Somewhere beneath my ribs my wolf lurched and went silent, as if she too had felt the wound open.
While the court omegas stood frozen, not knowing what to do, Kael's Beta finally arrived. Too late.
And he'd brought barely more than a dozen wolves.
The Moon Queen saw it and struck him hard across the face, her Alpha aura cracking through the smoke like a whip. "Where is your War-Alpha Stormbane?"
Garran Thornfield stammered, unable to speak. The Moon Queen understood at once. "So that is the kind of wolf Kael Stormbane is. He left his own Luna to die and went chasing after another."
"Once we are out of this, I will see to it that he pays."
The fire was already creeping toward us, its heat singing the air. I caught the Moon Queen's arm and pleaded with her through her fury.
Only then did she let Garran lead us out.
There were too many highborn she-wolves and too few of Garran's fighters. The protection barely held, so I bit down on the agony, took up a fallen blade, and guarded the rear of our line.
Garran sounded the bond-call signal horn, once and then again, the note rising desperate into the Blood Moon dark. Nothing answered.
The Moon Queen's face grew colder by the moment. "War-Alpha Stormbane certainly keeps a disciplined pack."
Garran flinched, then scrambled to explain. "Alpha. The Alpha went to find Her Majesty. The fighting on that side may be deadlocked."
But before he could finish, Kael stepped out of the hall across from us, Seris Ravenmoor cradled in his arms. Even through the reek of blood and ash, her scent reached me, crushed jasmine over something faintly rotting, sweet honey laced with copper.
Garran opened his mouth and called to him. Kael didn't spare him a single glance.
The Enforcer at his side sneered. "Only Beta Thornfield is soft enough to swallow that female's lies."
"She must have faked another injury and forced the Beta to come fetch you."
The thick brush hid our group from where they stood.
The court omegas went white with rage, a low chorus of growls building in their throats. The Moon Queen was about to erupt when a wave of rogues charged in, fangs bared, eyes flashing feral gold.
I shouted for Garran to cover them and go first, and ended up cut off alone.
Fleeing through the chaos, I somehow ran straight into Kael's party again.
Seeing Seris without a scratch on her, without so much as a tear in the fall of her gown, I clung to one last sliver of hope and begged.
"Kael, I'm begging you. The pup inside me is yours too."
Kael saw me drenched in blood, and the ice in his eyes thawed a little. His nostrils flared as my scent reached him, frostbitten birch and clean snow gone thick with iron. "Didn't I send wolves to find you? How did you end up in such a state?"
Beside him, Seris spoke as though it were nothing. "That's right. Beta Thornfield was with her just now. He called you over."
"How strange that he's nowhere to be seen. Oh. Surely my dear pack-sister didn't harm Beta Thornfield just to win sympathy?"
Kael's face went black as ink in an instant, his aura slamming down over me like a weight that wanted my throat bared. He slapped me hard. "Lyra Frostvale, you'd stoop to something this vicious just to put on a show."
The blow knocked me to the ground, my head ringing.
The accusations from Kael's Enforcer came crashing down on me.
"What a vicious female. Luring the rogue packs into the Crescent Hall to fight for favor wasn't enough. Now you've gone and harmed Beta Thornfield."
"If not for the Alpha's sake, I'd kill you right now to avenge him."
I coughed up a mouthful of blood. "No. I didn't."
Kael's eyes turned colder still, and he kicked me hard. "You still won't admit it."
I slammed into the wall and curled into a ball, the pain wringing me hollow. Deep inside, my wolf pressed herself flat against my bones, too wounded even to whine.
The agony in my belly grew sharper and sharper. As they turned to leave, I forced the words out through gritted teeth.
"The pup. The pup."
Kael didn't waver. At his signal, his Enforcer stepped forward and drove his foot hard into my stomach.
"Still trying to use the pup to threaten the Alpha. A poisonous female like you, who would ever want the cursed thing you'd whelp into the world?"
A wail tore out of me, and beneath it, far below where any voice could reach, my wolf made a sound she had never made before. The blood beneath me gushed faster.
My mind blurred. The small flutter of breath inside my belly grew fainter and fainter, and the warm new-snow trace of him began to thin into nothing.
The tears spilled out of me, and I couldn't stop them. I didn't know I was weeping until I tasted salt and ash on my lips.
Why. Why. This life, I'd given up fighting Seris for anything, and still Kael wouldn't let me go.
My Eron Stormbane. Mama is useless. In the end, I couldn't keep you safe.
