The Lycan King’s Broken Mate
Nyra
Dawn has not yet decided whether to arrive fully; pearlescent light seeps faintly through the tall windows of the Moon Hall. The flames of the oil lamps quiver in small, uncertain crowns on the rims of copper cups, and the stones, as though breathing with the castle’s lungs, exhale cool mist after each of my breaths. From deep within my body, a slow, mercurial current begins to flow—first only a warm touch along the inner curve of my thigh, then one sure, heated wave that declares an undeniable truth: the waters have broken, my children have set out on their journey, and there is no door left through which this moment could ever be shut again.