Gabriel smiled coldly. "Patience. Let the ashes cool before you rake the fire. I just need to make public the truth about Seliora’s pregnancy."
Williams raised a brow. "And then?"
"Then we watch Luciver’s House of Cards fall."
*****
Luna’s eyes snapped open in the pitch black. Her breath ca fast, shallow. The sheets tangled around her legs felt foreign.
"Damien..." she gasped.
Her body jolted upward.
"Relax," ca a calm, echoing voice that floated around the dark room. "He’s still asleep in the room next to you."
Luna jumped at the sound, whipping her head toward the source, but there was no one there. "Morvakar?" she called out, stepping cautiously off the bed.
"Yes, yes. No need to shriek." Morvakar replied.
Luna rolled her eyes and padded barefoot to the door, opening it into a narrow hallway lit only by a flickering torch at the far end.
"Which damned room?" Luna snapped. Her patience had frayed down to threads, and her pulse was a drumbeat of rising panic.
"To your right," Morvakar’s voice ca once more.
She turned sharply, her heart lurching in her chest as she flung the door open and stord inside.
"You should move carefully," Morvakar’s voice echoed again.
She ignored him, her full attention falling on the man lying motionless in the bed. The sight of Damien made the air leave her lungs in a rush.
Luna dropped to her knees beside him and grasped his cold hand between hers.
"You put to sleep, didn’t you?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, too tired to carry the anger it intended.
"It was the only way to calm you down," Morvakar replied, still unseen. "And thank the goddess I did. You were stressing the child."
"You really like to take away people’s free will, don’t you?"
Luna was still staring at Damien’s face, tracing the curve of his cheekbone with her thumb, so she didn’t imdiately register what he’d said.
Then the words filtered through the haze of grief and exhaustion.
"What child?" she asked into the air.
Silence.
"Morvakar!" she barked, leaping to her feet.
Nothing.
Luna glanced once more at Damien and then, stord out of the room.
"Stupid sorcerer!" she growled, half-jumping every third step as she descended the crooked stone staircase of the old castle.
She burst into the living area.
Morvakar was sitting cross-legged, reading a book.
He didn’t even look up. "For soone with vampire genes making up almost half of her system, you are still so damn stubborn. You did hear tell you to move carefully, no?"
"What child, Morvakar?" Luna asked again. She knew the answer. Deep in her bones, she already knew. But she needed to hear it. Needed the words spoken aloud.
"You are with child," Morvakar replied plainly.
Luna’s breath caught mid-inhale. "I am?" she asked.
Morvakar rolled his eyes dramatically. "How many tis do you need to hear it for it to sink in?"
"Oh my goddess... Oh my goddess," she whispered, repeating it as the reality started to seep into her bones. Her smile wavered.
Her father.
Magnus. The mighty Alpha King. Her rock. Her protector.
He would never know.
He would never et his grandchild.
He had died not knowing she was with child. Her face crumpled. Her lips parted in a silent sob as the grief thundered into her chest.
"If you are going to cry," Morvakar said, grimacing slightly and peering over the rim of his book, "I suggest you do it sowhere else. I do not possess the skill to deal with crying pregnant won."
But Luna wasn’t listening anymore. The dam inside her had burst. She slid down to the ground slowly. Her fingers curled over her chest, where it hurt most.
Morvakar finally shut the book he was reading, and tossed it with a thump onto the nearby armchair. With a resigned sigh, he got to his feet and strode across the room to where Luna sat crumpled on the floor, her shoulders trembling with sobs.
Without saying a word, he extended a pale hand and helped her up, as though the act of compassion made his spine itch.
"If you do not want the child, say the word," he said flatly.
Luna’s head snapped up, horror flashing in her eyes so sharply it was almost audible. "What?" she gasped, stepping back. "No! I an—yes! I want the child! How could you even ask that?"
Morvakar blinked slowly, unbothered. "You were crying," he said.
"I just lost my father!" she cried. Her hands clutched at her sides, trying to keep herself from unraveling again.
"Yes... ah." He nodded. "I assud the news of the child was making you sad. Emotions are tricky, you know."
She didn’t even try to argue with his tactlessness anymore. It was comforting in its consistency.
Morvakar took a step forward and pulled her into a hug.
She leaned into him.
"Your father was a strong and proud man," Morvakar said. "A warrior. He raised a daughter who could look gods in the eye. What do you think he would want you to do right now, if he was here?"
Luna sniffled and rested her head briefly against his chest. "Fight like hell," she muttered. "Fight like hell to raise a strong and proud child."
"Bingo," Morvakar said with a grim smile, patting her awkwardly on the back. "You see, this is what you must learn to do from this mont on. You do not cry."
He pulled away slightly and looked her over.
"You look to the future," he said, tapping her temple lightly, "and begin to carve out the path your child is going to walk. With your claws, if you must. You will not crumble. You will not fall apart."
"You stay rigid, because you have just inherited a lifeti of worry. A life to protect. start building the world that child deserves."
They stood in silence for a while, just breathing. Luna leaned into Morvakar’s robes as if the ancient sorcerer was a tree she could rest against. Her tears had dried now, but a storm still rumbled quietly in her chest.
(Took a while but Chapter 4/4 of our mass release is here. See you in about 3 hours.)
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