MasukThe labor came fast and hard, exactly as Freya had warned twins often did, and Bonita found herself gripping Kael’s hand through hours that blurred together in a haze of pain and effort she’d almost forgotten from her previous births. “You’re doing well,” Freya said steadily, moving between instructions with the calm efficiency of decades of practice. “First one’s close now, Luna. Just a little longer.” The girls had been sent to wait with Bertram’s wife in another part of the house, though Bonita could hear Lila’s occasional anxious question carrying faintly through the walls, quickly hushed by whoever was minding them. Mira, Bonita suspected, was likely pacing rather than sitting still, too old now to be fully distracted from what was happening. Kael stayed through all of it, his composure cracking only slightly at the more difficult moments, his hand never once leaving hers. “Almost there,” Freya said, and moments later, the sharp cry of a newborn filled the room. “A boy,” Fre
The months passed with the same uneasy rhythm — quiet stretches of ordinary life interrupted by small reminders that danger, however distant it felt some days, hadn’t actually gone anywhere. Bonita’s pregnancy entered its final stretch, Freya visiting more frequently now, monitoring both boys with careful attention given the added strain twins placed on a body that had already survived so much in recent years. “Strong heartbeats, both of them,” Freya reported during one visit, her weathered hands moving with practiced ease. “You’re carrying them well, Luna, though I’d expect them early, given how crowded things have gotten in there.” “Early meaning how early,” Bonita asked. “A few weeks, perhaps,” Freya said. “Twins rarely wait for their full time. Best to have everything prepared sooner rather than later.” The household threw itself into preparation with enthusiasm, the girls helping Bonita ready a nursery large enough for two, Rosa insisting on painting small designs along one
They told Corin and Ilsa the following morning, both of whom listened with the same grave attention Bonita had come to expect from them whenever ancient danger reared its head again. “A Sundering child,” Corin repeated slowly, turning the term over with visible fascination beneath his concern. “I’ve encountered the phrase once, in a fragment so damaged I dismissed most of it as unreliable. If Aldric’s information holds true, it changes considerably how I understand everything we’ve learned about Amira since the beginning.” “Does it change how we protect her,” Kael asked. “Practically speaking.” “Possibly,” Corin said. “If her power extends as far as foresight and battle-influence, we may need to consider protecting her differently as she grows — not simply shielding her from physical danger, but perhaps guarding against anyone who might seek to exploit such power for their own purposes.” “And the boys,” Ilsa asked. “What Aldric said about one of them being capable of harming the H
Kael’s hand found Bonita’s shoulder, protective and alert. “Who are you,” he demanded. “And how do you know what she carries.” “My name is Aldric,” the stranger said. “I’ve spent forty years tracing old bloodlines and older prophecies, following whispers most mages dismiss as superstition too dangerous to investigate closely. I felt something shift in the world months ago, Alpha — the same shift, I suspect, that brought your daughter Amira into being marked as she was.” “Explain yourself plainly,” Kael said, “or this conversation ends now.” Aldric nodded, accepting the demand without offense. “The child already born to you — Amira — carries more than a simple ward against the thing you call the Hollow. I’ve read fragments across three territories that most scholars consider unrelated pieces, and I believe, put together, they describe something far larger than any single mage has previously understood.” “What is she,” Bonita asked, old fear and fierce protectiveness rising together
The confirmation came three weeks later, exactly as Freya had suspected — twins, both boys, according to the healer’s careful examination, the news sending a fresh wave of celebration through the household that lasted well into the evening. “Two sons,” Kael said, still visibly stunned by the news even hours after Freya had delivered it. “Bonita, I hardly know what to say.” “Say you’ll help me pick names eventually,” Bonita said, laughing at his continued disbelief. “Preferably before they arrive, rather than after.” The celebration was interrupted only briefly by a rider arriving at the settlement’s gate late that evening, carrying news from an unexpected source — one of Kael’s border contacts, relaying information gathered from Blackthorn territory through channels that had remained quietly active since the trading post disaster. “Word is spreading through Blackthorn as well,” the rider reported to Kael and Bonita both, once he’d been brought before them. “Selene is with child. C
The sickness started three weeks later, subtle at first — a faint queasiness in the mornings that Bonita initially dismissed as simple tiredness, easily explained by the household’s still-recovering rhythms. By the fifth morning of it, though, Rhea’s absence made itself felt in an unexpected way. There was no one with quite her instincts to notice the pattern before Bonita herself fully registered it, and it was Ilsa, of all people, who first raised the question over breakfast, watching Bonita push her food around her plate with visible discomfort. “You’ve been like this all week,” Ilsa observed carefully. “Pale in the mornings, tired earlier than usual in the evenings. I don’t mean to overstep, Luna, but has it occurred to you what this might mean?” Bonita blinked, the obvious answer arriving with a small jolt of surprise that she hadn’t considered it sooner. “You think I’m pregnant.” “I think it would explain quite a lot,” Ilsa said gently. “Should I send for the healer?” Bonit







