When Malvoria finally woke, she woke slowly.
That was unusual enough to feel suspicious.
Normally, sleep released her like a battlefield releasing smoke. One moment unconscious, the next aware, alert, already collecting threats from the room before her eyes had properly opened. But this morning, there was no threat.
No urgent knock. No child climbing the bed like a siege tower. No messenger fainting in the corridor because some border lord had decided to develop ambition before breakfast.
There was only warmth.
Elysia's arms were around her.
Malvoria lay half sprawled across her wife, cheek pressed to the soft place below Elysia's collarbone, one arm wrapped carefully around her waist.
The room was bright with late morning light. Far too bright. Sunlight poured through the curtains in gold sheets, catching on the dark wood of the bedposts and the pale silk tangled around Elysia's shoulder.
For one beautiful moment, Malvoria did not move.
Then she saw the clock.
"Eleven?" she rasped.
Elysia made a sleepy sound above her, fingers moving lazily through Malvoria's hair. "Good morning to you too."
"It's eleven."
"Yes."
"We slept until eleven."
"You sound personally betrayed by time again."
Malvoria lifted her head, blinking at the clock as if it might apologize. "I never sleep until eleven."
"You did today."
"That's suspicious."
"That's exhaustion."
Malvoria looked down at her, and the memory of yesterday returned all at once.
The medical wing. Mereth's calm voice. Pregnant. Three or four months. Twins.
Twins.
Her whole body softened before she could stop it.
Elysia saw the change and smiled faintly. "There it is."
"What?"
"That face."
"I don't have a face."
"You have several. This is the one where you remember you're happy and panic about it."
Malvoria groaned and dropped her forehead against Elysia's shoulder. "I am not panicking."
"Mm."
"I am absorbing."
"Very loudly, somehow."
Malvoria kissed her shoulder, then her throat, then pulled back enough to look at her properly. "How are you feeling?"
"Rested," Elysia said. Then, before Malvoria could explode with suggestions, she added, "And no, I do not need a healer, a tray, a pillow, or someone to carry me to the bathroom."
Malvoria closed her mouth.
Elysia laughed softly. "I know you."
"I hate when that works against me."
"It is one of my great pleasures."
They stayed tangled for a few minutes more, pretending the day would wait. Eventually, duty began scratching at the door of reality, rude little claws and all.
They rose, washed, dressed, and made themselves presentable enough to face the castle.
Malvoria chose black silk with gold embroidery, because if she had accidentally slept until almost midday, she would at least look like it had been strategic.
Elysia dressed in deep green, the fabric soft against her body, one hand smoothing briefly over her stomach when she thought Malvoria was not watching.
Malvoria saw.
She said nothing.
She deserved a medal.
By the time they reached the private dining hall, it was less breakfast than lunch, though the table appeared to have surrendered and become both.
Platters of sliced fruit, bread, roasted mushrooms, grilled sausages, sweet rolls, tea, juice, and leftover pastries covered the table in a cheerful mess.
The children had clearly already eaten.
Kaelith sat sideways in her chair, crumbs on her chin, explaining something to Neris with the grave authority of a battlefield commander.
Neris listened while holding the last piece of sugared bread in both hands, his expression solemn but less guarded than before.
Aliyah was finishing her juice and looking as though she had personally defeated the morning.
Veylira sat at the far end of the table, elegant as ever, a cup of tea before her and not a single hair out of place.
Raveth lounged beside her with one arm over the back of her chair, eating what looked like her second plate and wearing the expression of someone who had survived several children and wanted recognition for it.
The moment Malvoria and Elysia entered, Kaelith brightened.
"Mama! You missed breakfast."
"I noticed," Malvoria said dryly.
Aliyah looked at her with deep suspicion. "You slept a lot."
"Yes."
"Are you sick?"
"No."
"Did Aunt Elysia trap you in bed?"
Raveth choked on her tea.
Elysia calmly crossed to Aliyah and kissed the top of her head. "Something like that."
Malvoria stared at her wife.
Elysia did not look back, which was wicked of her.
Neris slid from his chair, carrying his sugared bread. "Can we go play now?"
"Wash your hands first," Veylira said without looking up.
All three children groaned like they had been sentenced to hard labor.
"Hands," Raveth added.
Kaelith pointed at Neris. "Race?"
Aliyah was already moving. "I win."
The three of them bolted out under the supervision of a long-suffering maid, leaving behind crumbs, half a napkin on the floor, and the sudden blessed silence that followed children exiting a room.
Malvoria dropped into a chair. "I adore them. I also enjoy when they leave."
Raveth lifted her cup. "Parenthood."
Elysia sat beside Malvoria, composed as moonlight. "Thank you for taking care of them."
Raveth made a face. "They tried to make me judge a fort-building dispute before I'd had tea."
Veylira set her cup down. "And yet you survived."
"Barely."
Raveth looked between Malvoria and Elysia, eyes narrowing with immediate and highly annoying perception. "So. How are you both? Did you have a nice sleep?"
Malvoria froze.
Elysia did not.
"Yes," Elysia said smoothly. "Very nice."
Raveth's eyes gleamed. "That nice?"
Malvoria reached for bread. "Do you want to keep your tongue?"
"Depends. Is that a threat or medical curiosity?"
Veylira sighed. "Raveth."
"What? I'm asking after their health."
"You are fishing."
"I am fishing politely."
"You have never fished politely in your life."
Malvoria took a violent bite of bread and decided silence was the safest weapon. Elysia's hand brushed her knee beneath the table, a subtle reminder.
Not yet. Malvoria swallowed all the foolish joy trying to climb up her throat and forced herself back toward business.
"So," she said. "Evidence."
At once the room changed.
Raveth sat up straighter. Veylira's gaze sharpened, the soft morning shell cracking open to reveal the iron beneath.
"I secured everything," Veylira said. "The laboratory contents are in the sealed chamber. I began analysis before dawn."
"You were awake before dawn?" Elysia asked.
"She enjoys being terrifying before sunrise," Raveth said.
Veylira ignored her. "The documents confirm several lines of experimentation. Life creation using bloodline material. Stabilization through demonic essence.
Celestian host structures. Growth acceleration. There are references to Neris, though not by name. Codes only."
Malvoria's jaw tightened. "But enough to link him?"
"Enough to strongly infer. Not yet enough for court-proof certainty."
"Court-proof," Raveth muttered. "The most irritating kind of proof."
Veylira nodded. "The queen's personal seal changes matters. That proves direct authorization of the hidden laboratory. But we still need testimony or decoded records tying her to the child specifically and to the next vessel."
Elysia's face remained calm, but Malvoria felt the small shift in her through the table, through years of knowing her body language. Next vessel had lodged in both of them like a splinter.
"And Caldris?" Malvoria asked.
"In holding," Veylira said. "Maelia too. Separate chambers. Their magic is sealed. Neither has woken fully yet."
Raveth smiled.
It was not a kind smile.
"I'm going to interrogate the two we got."
Malvoria leaned back in her chair, the first real satisfaction of the morning curling through her.
"God help them with what Raveth is going to do to them."