Chapter 4: The Covenant Begins

Serena

He looks at me for a long moment, then pulls out his phone.

"I need a healer sent to the residence." His voice is flat, already moving toward the window. "Now, if possible. It's Serena."

*He’s saying my name like it's some medical case. Not like I'm his wife.*

The healer arrives within minutes. I hand him the ultrasound and the clinic's report before he even asks.

"Here." I push the papers into his hands. "Human proof. I want your senses to confirm what's already on this paper."

He studies the images, then presses his palms against my stomach and closes his eyes. I hold my breath, waiting.

He frowns.

"What." The word comes out sharper than I mean it to. "What is it?"

"The human evidence is compelling, Luna." He chooses each word like it costs him something. "But I cannot detect a wolf signature. Without supernatural confirmation, I cannot formally certify this to the council."

"I heard the heartbeat myself. I saw the images on the screen, what more do you need from me?"

"I'm sorry. I wish I had something more useful to tell you."

*Sorry doesn't fix anything. Sorry doesn't make the council believe me.*

When Kael hears the same conclusion, he doesn't accuse me of lying. Not outright. But he doesn't push back against the healer's uncertainty either.

"We'll continue monitoring," he says.

*That's it? That's all you have?*

I don't say it out loud. I don't have to. Watching his face, I understand that some part of him still needs Blackthorn to confirm what I already know in my bones.

...

Later that morning I find Lyra in the hallway outside the kitchens, directing two servants with a list in her hand.

"What exactly are you doing?"

She doesn't look up. "The Covenant has begun, Luna. Some preparations naturally fall to the woman expected to provide Blackthorn's heir."

"There would be no Covenant at all," I say, "if Blackthorn had an heir already."

"Exactly." She finally meets my eyes, and there's nothing soft in her expression now. "Six years is a long time to ask a pack to wait for something you haven't provided."

Kael arrives just in time to hear it, his voice cracking across the hallway before I can respond.

"Lyra." Just her name, sharp enough to make the servants flinch. "You will apologize to your Luna. Now."

She bows her head, apologizing stiffly. It doesn't change anything.

The moment she's gone, I turn on him instead. "Why is she being handed any of my responsibilities at all?"

"The council is preparing for every possible outcome."

"Preparing." I fold my arms. "Blackthorn won't even recognize the child already growing inside me, but they're preparing eagerly for one Lyra hasn't even conceived yet. Do you hear how that sounds, Kael, are you going to keep watching all this happen?"

He doesn't say anything.

...

That afternoon we're summoned before the council. Kael argues on my behalf, tells them I have human medical evidence, asks for more time before anything moves forward.

The elders refuse to bend.

"You accepted the Covenant publicly, Alpha," Corwin says. "You don't get to postpone its requirements indefinitely because your wife produced a piece of paper none of our healers can confirm."

"The first private stage is set for tonight."

*Tonight?* My stomach drops.

* Not next week. Not after they’ve had more time to look into it. Tonight.*

I don't say anything in the council chamber. I don't trust my own voice not to break in front of them.

...

I sit through the rest of the afternoon barely speaking, watching servants prepare Lyra's ceremonial clothes, watching the Covenant chamber being readied down the hall from our bedroom.

"I don't want this," Kael tells me as evening falls, pulling on his formal coat. "I'm still trying to find another way through it."

I don't answer him.

There's a dull ache low in my stomach that's been building since this morning. I press my hand against it, quiet, hoping it'll pass on its own.

It doesn't pass. It just gets worse.

*If I say something, he's going to think I'm inventing this. Another excuse, right when he's about to walk out that door.*

But it hurts. It actually hurts, and some small, furious part of me almost resents my own body for choosing tonight, of all nights, to make itself known.

I press a hand to my abdomen without meaning to, and Kael notices.

"Serena?"

"My stomach hurts." I force the words out even though every part of me expects him not to believe them. "I'm pregnant, remember?"

He hesitates, just for a second. But I see it.

*There it is. That's the look I knew was coming.*

Then there's a knock at the door. A messenger, apologizing, saying the council and Lyra are already waiting.

Kael looks toward the open door.

I watch him actually consider it, actually weigh walking out against what I just told him, and another wave of pain rolls through me hard enough that I reach for his hand without thinking, without any pride left to protect.

"Please, Kael." My fingers dig into his. "Don't leave me tonight."