เข้าสู่ระบบI woke with the High Priestess’s words still sitting in my chest.*They may have been waiting for the royal bloodline to return.*I looked at my own reflection and felt the weight of everything now surrounding my children. Yesterday, they were simply mine. Today, the kingdom called them heirs, the ancient records tied them to something enormous, an enemy might have been waiting for them specifically, and kingdoms were beginning to take interest.I refused to let fear make decisions in my place.*Whatever happens next, I will not let anyone turn my children into the reason kingdoms destroy each other.*-----Lucien summoned the inner circle privately — myself, Rowan, Aldren, Kael, the High Priestess, the physician.Rowan presented the map found in the old passage. My wing, marked. The maternity section, marked. The archive, marked. Every connecting route, marked, and recently.Whoever had made it understood this palace with unsettling precision.We all understood, sitting with it, that
I woke thinking of the two distinct pulses from the night before, and made myself set the thought aside deliberately. My first concern remained the twins, not ancient predictions.The physician confirmed both babies healthy and stable. “Could the reaction from the archive have harmed them?” I asked.“Nothing physical indicates danger,” he reassured me.I felt relief, though unease lingered underneath it. I decided to continue my normal routine rather than spend every hour buried in prophecy.-----Rowan had already reinforced my wing quietly, reviewing every entrance, guard rotation, servant assignment, and medical access point. Unlike previous incidents, nothing appeared obviously wrong. Every credential checked out. Every corridor stayed secured. Every order looked authentic.That, oddly, unsettled him more than obvious tampering would have.“After everything with the manipulated schedules,” he told Lucien, “we can’t assume the palace is secure simply because the paperwork looks cor
I woke after an uneasy night, remembering the pendant’s reaction beside the royal insignia.Perhaps it had simply been the ancient archive responding to my blood. I didn’t tell anyone yet. I didn’t want every unusual sensation from here forward turning into another prophecy discussion.The twins remained healthy, the physician confirmed at my next examination.Still, I noticed something. The pendant felt warmer than usual. Not painful. Simply different.-----Everything appeared normal during the examination itself, both heartbeats strong and steady.“Could the twins be affected by the ancient bloodline somehow?” I asked.The physician admitted plainly that ordinary medicine couldn’t explain anything supernatural. He reminded me, gently, that pregnancy alone produced plenty of unfamiliar sensations without needing an ancient explanation at all.I accepted it, at least outwardly.Then he paused.The pendant had reacted faintly during the exam itself.“What happened?” I asked.He didn’t
I stood before the sealed archive with the High Priestess, the ancient seal still holding the faint pulse it had just given off.I didn’t touch it. She looked visibly unsettled, more than I’d seen from her before.“Is it responding to my blood?” I asked.“Possibly,” she said. “But something about the timing concerns me.” The seal hadn’t reacted to anyone in generations. It had only stirred now, after the court publicly acknowledged the twins.I understood, hearing that, that their existence itself might be triggering something far older than either of us fully grasped.-----Lucien arrived once word of the reaction reached him, Rowan close behind. Kael joined not long after.We debated whether opening the archive was wise at all. The High Priestess warned the records had been sealed deliberately.“Why?” Lucien asked.She explained that previous generations of the royal family had never fully understood the prophecy themselves. The archive had been sealed out of fear that someone might
Kael’s advisors reported that several Blackwood houses had reached out directly, demanding confirmation of what half the kingdom already believed. Some argued that if the children were truly his, Blackwood held legitimate interest in their future. Others believed he should acknowledge them publicly before another kingdom claimed the narrative first.“Continued silence could make Blackwood appear weak,” his beta warned.Kael refused to make any public declaration without my permission. His private knowledge, he understood plainly, gave him no right to expose mine.He remembered the man he’d once been — the one who made decisions about me without ever asking. He refused to become that man again.-----I woke to a political atmosphere that had shifted dramatically overnight. My pregnancy had stopped being simply a royal matter. Noble houses now discussed the twins as though they might unite two powerful bloodlines outright, some pushing me toward Blackwood, others fearing the influence t
The noble's question still hung over the court.*Your Highness, if these are royal heirs, surely the kingdom has the right to know who their father is.*Silence filled the Great Court. I looked around at the gathered nobles, understanding this had stopped being curiosity long ago. The father represented another bloodline, another kingdom, another political weight pressing against everything I'd tried to protect.I glanced briefly toward Kael. He didn't move. He didn't speak for me.That restraint mattered more than anything he could have said aloud.The noble pressed again, framing his question as royal responsibility."The kingdom has been informed that I am carrying two children," I said calmly. "That is the information I have chosen to make public."He argued royal heirs couldn't have an unknown father."They are not unknown," I corrected. "Their father simply isn't information the court is entitled to yet."Parentage remained private, I made clear, unless and until I chose otherwi







