The noise outside came suddenly.
At first it was only a faint sound beyond the stone walls, something too far away to understand properly. Then it grew louder. Feet ran across the corridor. Beastmen shouted. Something heavy was dragged across stone, and the sharp cry of a guard cut through the winter air so loudly that even the women helping Isabella lifted their heads.
Outside the birth room, everyone who had been waiting immediately became alert.
Kian was still standing closest to the door. His white hair had become messy from the number of times he had run his hand through it, and his blue eyes had not left the door for long since Isabella's screams started. The moment he heard the movement outside, his body changed. The worried male and the cold king both appeared in him at the same time, and for a second, he looked like a man being pulled in two directions by two equally cruel hands.
