CROWNED BY BLOOD
I felt it every waking hour power building inside me like a storm gathering strength, tightening like a bowstring drawn to its absolute limit, My body strained under forces that seemed to bend reality around them, but my will remained unbroken, forged in the crucible of loss into something harder than steel.
At night, when the camp settled into uneasy quiet, I sat by the fire with my hands pressed to my swelling belly, whispering promises to the life stirring within me.
"You'll be born into a world remade," I murmured, feeling the responding flutter of movement. I'll make sure there is no more shadow puppeteers neither will there be wars fought for the entertainment of ancient tyrants. I pro