LOGINXLVIII: 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
XLVI: What I Fear~XENOS~The moment Roenna groaned, I knew something was wrong.It wasn't the kind of sound someone made because they were uncomfortable. There was pain in it, deep enough to make my entire body tense."Roenna?" She didn't answer me. Her hands immediately went to her stomach, and she bent forward, squeezing her eyes shut as another wave of pain passed through her."Roenna." I caught her before she could lose her balance. "What's wrong?"“I…” She shook her head. "I don't know," she whispered, but even those words sounded strained.Then another cry escaped her. I didn't think."Get the royal doctor!" I barked immediately. My voice cut through the corridor, and the guards moved immediately. "Get Landrace. Get the entire medical team. Now."I turned back to Roenna. She was crying.I had seen her cry before. I had held her while she cried only moments ago, but this was different. There was no sadness in her tears now. She looked terrified, and every time the pain tighten
XLV: What Is Wrong?~ROENNA~"What condition?" Xenos was still holding me when he asked, his eyes searching mine as though he feared the answer might take something away from him.I blinked back my tears. For a brief moment, I considered keeping the words to myself. I could have told him I wanted time, that I needed space to think, or that I wanted him to make me feel like the only woman in his world again, but those were not the things frightening me most.I could survive being angry with him and the awkwardness of having Odessa and Xenon in the palace. I could even learn to live with the fact that the man I loved had a child whose existence I had never known about.What I didn't know how to survive was loving someone who had stopped loving me without telling me."I might sound a little insecure," I began, my voice unsteady, "and perhaps as though I'm giving up on us before anything has even happened."He didn't interrupt me, but I noticed the way his arms tightened around me. I sa
XLIV: On One Condition~ROENNA~I didn't expect it from him.He was the man who ruled an entire territory, whose words could send hundreds of people into motion, whose decisions could change the lives of people he had never met.I didn't expect to find him on his knees before me, his arms wrapped around my waist, looking up at me as though I held something far more valuable than his crown.I kept my head straight, refusing to look down at him.If I did, he would see the tears gathering in my eyes, and I wasn't ready to let him see them. I wasn't ready to give him that part of me when I couldn't even understand what was happening inside my own chest."Roenna." His voice was quiet, and I stared at the wall at the far end of the corridor. "I know I have wronged you since yesterday."My fingers curled against my palms."I ruined a moment that should have been sacred between us. A moment that should have belonged to you and me alone." He paused, and I heard him draw a shaky breath. "Inste
XLIII: HOW MUCH?~XENOS~I knew it was a trap. It was obvious in the way Odessa stood there, waiting for my answer with that carefully composed expression. She had asked the same question twice now, and I knew she wouldn't stop until I gave her something she could use."Your Majesty?" She asked again, but I didn't respond. My attention remained on the woman in my arms.Roenna hadn't moved an inch since I pulled her against me. Her forehead rested against my chest, her fingers curled into my shirt, and her breathing was still uneven.I could hear her heartbeat. It was racing.Every beat pressed against my chest, reminding me that even though she wasn't crying, even though she hadn't shouted or accused me of anything, she wasn't okay.She was far from okay and I hated that I had become one of the reasons for it.Another small hiccup escaped her. My arms tightened instinctively around her waist."Roenna," I whispered, lowering my head, pressing my cheek against her hair. I wanted to a







