LOGINLII: That Night~XENOS~"Ask him what he did." Roenna's words lingered in my mind long after she spoke them.I looked at her, searching her face for an explanation, but she seemed just as bewildered as I was. Her fingers were wrapped tightly around mine, and there was something in her eyes that told me she wasn't playing games.I turned to Landrace. He looked perfectly ordinary, perfectly composed, and perfectly unaware of why a king might suddenly question him.My mate's reaction had been anything but ordinary. Roenna had flinched at his approach.Her wolf had reacted to him in a way she didn't look like she understood. Somehow, that same wolf had asked me to question him.I didn't understand what any of it meant.But I had learned never to dismiss my mate's instincts."Landrace."The healer straightened. "Your Majesty?""What did you do?” I held his gaze.His eyebrows rose..For a moment, he simply stared at me, as though he expected me to explain the question. Then he gave a small
LI: The Voice From Inside~ROENNA~The moment Xenos walked back into the room, I knew something was wrong.He didn't say anything. He simply crossed the distance between us, wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me against his chest with a desperation that made my heart ache.I stiffened for a second, surprised by the suddenness of it, before slowly melting into his embrace.His arms tightened around and I closed my eyes."I'm sorry," I whispered, but he didn't respond.I lifted my head slightly, but he only pressed me closer, his chin resting against my hair. Beneath my cheek, his heart hammered against his chest, beating so rapidly that I could feel every frantic thud.He was frightened. My Xenos, the man who commanded an entire kingdom without blinking, was frightened because of me."I'm sorry for making you worry," I repeated, my voice barely audible. "I didn't mean to scare you."
L: Think!~XENOS~Lowell had been staring at me for the better part of a minute.I knew that look. It was the look he usually wore when he had something unpleasant to say and was deciding whether I was in the right mood to hear it. Apparently, he had finally decided that my mood was irrelevant.“What?” I asked.He folded his arms across his chest. “I might not have enough evidence. I might not have any evidence at all, Xen. But what has happened in the last five years? Or have you suddenly forgotten?”“What's that supposed to mean?” My eyes narrowed slightly.“You know exactly what I mean.”I looked away from him, my attention drifting toward the closed door behind which Roenna was being attended to. I could still hear the faint movements inside the room, the occasional murmur of Franca's voice, but I couldn't make out their words.My mate was in there, recovering from an episode that had nearly driven me out of my mind.Our child was in there, too and somewhere in the middle of all
XLIX: Is It Random?~ROENNA~"She told me my baby would die." My voice trembled as I repeated the words, my hands tightening around Xenos's."Who told you that, Roenna?" His eyes searched mine, desperation evident in every line of his face. "Tell me what you remember."“I…” I swallowed, struggling to steady my breathing. "I don't know who she was. I couldn't see her face.""Then tell me what you saw.""She was tall, fair, and beautiful. At least, I think she was. She had something covering her face, an ancient cloak that made it impossible for me to see her properly."Xenos's jaw tightened as his palm grazed my skin. "Did she touch you? Did she mention her name?"I shook my head."No. But there was something about her voice..." I paused, trying to find the right words. "She sounded so certain, Xenos. She didn't say my baby would die like someone predicting the future. She said it as if she had already decided it. Like she was demanding something.""Demanding something?” His expressio
XLVIII: Who Told You?~XENOS~I hadn't moved from Roenna's bedside since morning. Not when Lowell came in twice to ask about the council or when the palace guards came to inform me that several matters required my attention.Nothing mattered. Not while she was lying there unconscious.The first time this happened, I had been there when Roenna lost consciousness, but I hadn't stayed until she woke. I had convinced myself that there were things I needed to handle, that the kingdom couldn't stop because my mate was sick, and that Landrace and the rest of the medical team could take care of her.I had been wrong. By the time she opened her eyes that day, I wasn there, but after she woke up was the exact moment she needed me the most… and I was gone. I wasn't making that mistake again.I sat beside her bed, my eyes fixed on her face as I watched every movement of her chest.She had barely moved for hours.
XLVII: Surviving Everything, But This~XENOS~I stared at Landrace. For a moment, I couldn't understand the words he had just spoken.The curse. Again.It was the only thing I could hear loudly in my ears, despite the chaos around me.Lowell had just walked into the room, and his eyes immediately went to Roenna lying unconscious on the bed. His expression changed when he noticed the state she was in, but he didn't ask me anything.He looked at me instead. I must have looked worse than I felt because Lowell walked straight toward me and pulled me into his arms.I didn't move. I simply stood there, allowing him to hold me for a few seconds while I stared over his shoulder at Roenna.He didn't ask what happened. Perhaps he already knew that whatever had brought me to this point wasn't something I could explain without breaking apart.He eventually released me and turned toward Landrace. "What happened?"Landrace explained everything.He told Lowell about Roenna's sudden pain, how none o







