Chapter 2

Ayla Korr

For a few seconds, no one said anything.

Neither did I.

Vesper’s hand remained resting over her belly when the first murmurs began around the table.

Pregnant.

The word seemed to have gotten stuck somewhere between my chest and my throat.

I looked at her.

Then at Darian.

He had stood up.

“You’re pregnant?”

There was no coldness in his voice now. There was something else, something completely unfamiliar to me.

Passion.

Vesper nodded.

“My healer examined me this morning. I wanted to be sure before telling you.”

Darian’s eyes dropped to her hand, to her belly.

And then it happened.

He smiled.

And that made everything around me go dark.

In the first year of our marriage, when my cycle was six days late, Darian found me sitting on the bed counting dates for the third time.

He hadn’t said much.

He had simply knelt in front of me, placed his hand over my belly, and smiled that way.

Two days later, I started bleeding.

I never saw that expression again.

Until now.

“Darian?”

Lord Hale’s voice cut through the hall.

Vesper’s father looked as surprised as everyone else. His eyes moved from his daughter to the man beside me.

“Is there something I should know?”

Darian didn’t look at me at any moment.

Not for a second.

It was as if I didn’t even exist.

“The child is mine.”

That was all.

Four words.

I already knew Vesper and Darian had a history.

Everyone knew.

Before my marriage, no one would have found it strange to see Vesper Hale sitting beside him at a ceremony. They were inseparable. They grew up together. Hunted together.

When my father offered the union between the Varens and the Korrs, I heard whispers for weeks about the woman who should have taken my place.

But after the marriage...

I didn’t know.

Suspecting was one thing.

Hearing my husband declare before the Council that another woman was carrying his child was something completely different.

“Ayla.”

My father spoke quietly.

I only realized I was standing when I saw him on his feet beside me, and felt his hand close around my wrist beneath the table.

“Sit down.”

I looked at him.

“Father, I—”

“Don’t embarrass me any more than this...”

Everyone heard, and they behaved as though he was right.

My eyes burned.

I hadn’t even done anything.

I hadn’t screamed.

I hadn’t cried.

I could barely breathe.

I just wanted to get out of there.

Even so, I obeyed.

I sat back down.

Garrick released my wrist and straightened his sleeve as if nothing had happened.

“We have already caused enough problems for this house,” he murmured. “Don’t add another.”

We have.

Funny how the plural always disappeared when it was time to pay.

Across the table, Councilor Maelor cleared his throat.

“Evidently, this changes the situation.”

The murmurs grew louder.

People who, minutes earlier, had been discussing my body as a problem to be solved were now talking about Vesper as if I had ceased to exist.

“How many weeks?”

“Has the healer confirmed the pup’s health?”

“Is it already possible to determine anything about his strength?”

Vesper answered delicately.

Seven weeks.

Everything seemed normal.

It was still early.

Each answer entered me like a thick needle.

Seven weeks...

I tried to remember where Darian had been seven weeks earlier.

I stopped.

No...

I didn’t want to know.

“If the child carries the expected strength,” one of the men said, “at least the matter of succession is no longer urgent.”

My fingers tightened around the fabric of my dress.

Two years.

For two years, that room had told me that the future of two houses depended on my womb.

Now all it took was another woman getting pregnant and, suddenly, I was nothing more than an inconvenience sitting at the table.

“We should not rush,” Maelor said. “The union between the houses still has specific obligations, there is still a debt to be paid!”

“Naturally,” my father replied far too quickly.

Vesper finally looked at me.

Her eyes softened. She looked like an angel in front of everyone as she looked at me, as if she pitied me, as if I were... an anomaly.

“Ayla...”

I didn’t answer.

She walked toward me.

Darian followed her movement with his eyes.

“I wanted to tell you before.”

I tried to remain calm as I listened to her say that with such tranquility.

“I didn’t want you to find out this way.”

I took a deep breath.

“It’s all right.”

My voice barely sounded like mine.

Vesper bent down slightly, moving closer.

“I know how hard you tried.”

My stomach contracted.

She touched my hand.

I wanted to pull it away.

I couldn’t.

“You’ve spent so long suffering over this,” she continued sweetly. “Maybe now you won’t need to put all that weight on yourself anymore.”

I felt something move inside me.

My wolf.

So small, so weak.

But even so, for an instant, I felt something like a growl.

So low that perhaps I had imagined it.

“What admirable consideration,” my father said.

I looked at him.

He genuinely looked relieved.

“Vesper is right, Ayla. Perhaps this will finally relieve some of the pressure on all of us.”

On all of us.

I almost asked whether anyone in that room had woken up with blood on their sheets every month.

Whether anyone there had swallowed bitter herbs until they vomited.

Whether they had lain in a bed knowing their own husband was there because the Council had marked the most fertile days of the cycle.

But I stayed quiet.

I looked at my father.

I knew what would happen if I disobeyed.

Vesper squeezed my fingers before letting go.

“I hope you can be happy for us.”

Us.

She went back to Darian’s side.

And he didn’t correct her.

Lord Hale began discussing security. One councilor spoke about healers. Another mentioned protocols for a pregnancy potentially connected to the succession.

I watched Darian.

I waited for him to look at me at some point.

He didn’t need to apologize.

He didn’t need to explain.

I would have accepted almost anything.

A look.

A sign that he remembered his wife was sitting three steps away.

Nothing.

“Vesper should not remain alone during the first few months,” Lord Hale said.

“She can return to her home,” someone suggested.

Darian finally spoke.

“No.”

The hall went silent.

Vesper looked at him.

“Darian...”

“If you are carrying my child, you will remain under my protection.”

My chest tightened.

“The Korr estate has guards, healers, and everything necessary,” he continued. “There is no reason to put you at risk somewhere else.”

Lord Hale seemed to consider it.

“I agree.”

Maelor nodded.

“In that case, the rooms in the Alpha wing would be the safest. Especially the ones next to yours.”

The ones next to his.

My room was in that wing too.

I was the wife.

At least on paper.

The meeting began to dissolve around me.

Chairs scraping.

Men talking.

My father discussing something with Maelor.

Caelan looking at me as though he wanted to come closer and didn’t know how.

I stood up, blind.

I needed to get out of there before my legs forgot how to work.

“Ayla.”

I stopped.

It was Darian.

For one ridiculous second, something inside me lit up.

Maybe he would finally ask if I was all right.

I turned.

He was standing beside Vesper.

Her hand rested on his arm.

“Yes?”

Darian didn’t even seem to notice the effort I made to keep my voice steady.

“Tell the servants to prepare the rooms next to mine.”

It took me a moment to understand.

He continued:

“Vesper will stay there starting today.”