All Chapters of Carrying His Claim: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Kieran didn't speak right away, and neither did I. We sat together in the low light of his study, the fire burning down between us, warriors still combing the treeline somewhere beyond these walls, the whole household holding itself in the particular, watchful quiet that followed any real scare. It felt strange, almost improper, to stop in the middle of all of it and give the truest thing either of us knew its own moment. And yet I understood, sitting there with my bruised wrist resting in his careful hands, that this was exactly why it mattered.I thought of every other version of this moment I'd imagined over the months, softer settings, better lighting, a life where the words could arrive without the taste of adrenaline still in my mouth. None of those imagined moments had ever felt as real as the one I was actually sitting inside, with my heart still unsteady from fear and his hands trembling slightly around mine, both of us stripped of every careful defense we'd spent so long bui

Gideon found Kieran and me together in the study two days after the false alarm, a formal letter in his hand and an expression grim enough that I felt my stomach tighten before he'd said a single word."Fenwood's withdrawn formal recognition of the succession," he said, setting the letter on the desk between us. "Effective immediately. Their Alpha cites the Council's own unresolved review as justification, stating that Fenwood can't in good conscience maintain full diplomatic ties to a succession its own governing body hasn't formally sanctioned."Kieran picked up the letter, reading it with the same controlled stillness I'd learned to recognize as him absorbing a blow before allowing himself to react to it. "They're using our own Council's caution as cover for exactly the outcome Blackmoor's been engineering since Redwater first pulled away.""That's precisely what they're doing." Gideon's jaw tightened. "It's clever, honestly, in the way that makes it considerably harder to counter.

Aldric's response arrived the following afternoon, faster than any of us had expected, carried by a rider who'd clearly pushed hard to outrun the timeline everyone had assumed a proper reply would require. I understood, watching Selene break the seal in the war council chamber, that whatever her father had written was going to matter considerably more than simple correspondence. The whole chamber seemed to hold its breath around her, every warrior and Council representative present understanding, without needing it explained, exactly how much weight this particular letter carried.She read it in silence, her expression giving away little at first, and when she finally looked up, something careful and troubled had settled into her features."My father's offering a conditional response," she said, her voice steady despite whatever she was clearly working to control beneath it. "He'll commit a portion of Thorne's forces, enough to meaningfully reinforce our position, but only if I public

I woke a little before dawn to a tightening low across my belly that I recognized immediately, having felt its weaker cousin only a week earlier, though this one arrived with a force that stole the breath clean out of me.I lay still a moment, waiting for it to pass the way the earlier ones had, and instead felt it deepen, spreading into my lower back with an intensity that made me gasp aloud. By the time it finally released its grip, I understood, with a certainty that had nothing to do with Ottilie's earlier reassurances, that this wasn't another false alarm.I called out, and the warrior stationed outside my door was inside within seconds, alarm written plainly across his young face. "Ms. Vance?""Get Ottilie," I managed, breathing carefully through the words. "I think it's actually happening."He was gone before I'd finished the sentence, and I lay back against my pillows, one hand pressed to my stomach, listening to the compound beyond my walls, the low, urgent hum of a household

I pushed because Ottilie told me to, because my body had stopped offering any other option. After all, somewhere beneath the pain and the fear and the distant, terrible sounds of a battle I couldn't see, some older, more primal part of me had simply taken over, narrowing the entire world down to this single, consuming task."That's it," Ottilie said, her voice sharp with focused urgency. "Good, Runa. Again, with the next one."Dessa gripped my hand on one side, her face streaked with tears she didn't bother wiping away, murmuring a steady stream of encouragement I only half registered through the roaring in my own ears. Another messenger's voice carried faintly from beyond the door, too muffled now for me to make out the words, and I understood, even through the haze of labor, that whatever news he carried, nobody in this room intended to share it with me until this was finished.I pushed again, and again, time losing whatever shape it had held before, nothing left but the rhythm Otti