All Chapters of Running Away with Alpha's Baby Bump: Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

( Aria’s POV ) The night after the emissary left tasted wrong.Not dangerous, worse. Expectant.The estate slept in layers, wards humming like a breath held too long. I could feel every one of them now, not as spells or structures but as agreements. Promises the land had accepted because it trusted the intent behind them.Trust, I was learning, was a far heavier burden than fear.Kael found me in the lower corridor just before dawn, where the stone remembered older foundations, ones laid before anyone named this place safe. He didn’t ask why I was there. He never did when it mattered.“You’re tracking something,” he said quietly.“Listening for pressure points,” I replied. “Places where choice thins.”His brow furrowed. “That shouldn’t be possible.”“I know,” I said. “But it’s happening anyway.”He exhaled through his nose, the sound controlled. “And what happens when something deliberately presses one?”“Then we see who breaks first,” I said. “The line, or the thing leaning on it.”

(Aria’s POV) History never records the moment the world decides to change. There is no trumpet for it. No thunderclap that names the turning point. Just a quiet recalibration, old powers leaning back in their thrones, ancient forces tightening their grip on truths they thought unbreakable. The Hollow Crown remained sealed. That alone rewrote a thousand prophecies. Scholars would argue for centuries about why the Devourer withdrew. They would call it strategy. Delay. Patience. They would be wrong in a simpler, far more dangerous way. It did not retreat. It waited for something new to emerge. And something did. I felt it the first night the stars shifted. Not moved, or rearranged. Kael noticed at the same time I did. He always did. We stood on the highest balcony of the estate, his arms around me, the bond steady and warm. Below us, the city slept, and unaware that the sky had begun telling a different story. “Those three weren’t aligned before,” he said quietly. “No,” I re

Aria’s POV Dawn arrived without ceremony. No swell of power. No whisper of warning. No shimmer of probability unfolding itself before my eyes. Just light, thin and pale, sliding through the high windows and touching stone like it always had. That terrified me more than thunder ever could. I woke already alert, the way you do on the day something breaks or decides not to. The bond was there, steady, warm, but flat. No pull. No pressure. Like hands linked in the dark without knowing where the floor ended. I sat up slowly. For the first time since I could remember, the future did not lean toward me. I dressed without choosing significance, leather, boots, and cloak. Function over omen. When I opened the door, the estate breathed like a living thing at rest. Guards changed shifts. Torches guttered. Somewhere, someone laughed too loudly over morning bread. Life, unimpressed by tests. Kael waited at the landing. He read my face instantly. “It’s started,” he said. I no

Aria’s POVDawn arrived without ceremony.No swell of power. No whisper of warning. No shimmer of probability unfolding itself before my eyes.Just light, thin and pale, sliding through the high windows and touching stone like it always had.That terrified me more than thunder ever could.I woke already alert, the way you do on the day something breaks or decides not to. The bond was there, steady, warm, but flat. No pull. No pressure. Like hands linked in the dark without knowing where the floor ended.I sat up slowly.For the first time since I could remember, the future did not lean toward me.I dressed without choosing significance, leather, boots, and cloak. Function over omen. When I opened the door, the estate breathed like a living thing at rest. Guards changed shifts. Torches guttered. Somewhere, someone laughed too loudly over morning bread.Life, unimpressed by tests.Kael waited at the landing. He read my face instantly.“It’s started,” he said.I nodded. “I can’t feel the

Aria’s POVThe next arrival came on wind.Not with flame or resonance or visible warning. Just wind, thin, salty, carrying the faint metallic tang of old blood and old iron. It twisted the torches in the council hall before I even felt it, and the estate stirred, aware.Kael was already at my side, silent as shadow. Maeve lingered behind, arms crossed, eyes sharp. Linda knelt near the eastern window, hands pressed against the stone like she could read the air through touch alone. Ren paced the edge of the hall, muttering curses to himself as always. Azrael stayed in the shadowed corner, eyes luminous in the dim torchlight, expression unreadable.“I feel it,” Kael murmured. “Stronger than the last.”I nodded, not trusting words to carry the weight. The bond hummed low, almost imperceptible, but alive. Not alarmed. Curious. Observing.Through the open hall doors, the first figure appeared.He was smaller than I expected, slight and stooped. His clothes were travel-worn but patched repea