Seven months had passed since the fall of the Golden Citadel, and the Lycan Empire was thriving under the banner of the Shadowkeep. But as my pregnancy progressed, it became abundantly clear that carrying the heir to both the White Wolf and the ancient Lycan bloodlines was not a normal biological process.
It was a localized meteorological event.
I sat in the royal gardens of the Shadowkeep, wrapped in a thick, midnight-blue fur cloak. The gardens, once a barren courtyard of frozen stone, were now blooming with luminescent white flora—a direct, unintentional byproduct of the magic radiating from my swollen belly.
"You are glowing again, my Queen," Gamma Silas noted softly, standing a respectful distance away. He held a stack of parchment detailing the newly established trade routes with the southern Betas.
I looked down at my hands. He was right. A faint, ethereal white mist was rolling off my skin, freezing the dew on the newly bloomed winter-roses.
"The pup is restless today," I murmured, resting a hand on my stomach. The moment my fingers brushed the fabric of my dress, a tiny, localized shockwave of abyssal dark magic rippled against my palm, followed immediately by a warm pulse of pure light.
"The King has tripled the perimeter guard," Silas added, adjusting his spectacles. "He is... exceptionally on edge."
"Kaelen would wrap the entire continent in bubble wrap if he could," I laughed, a sound that caused the white roses to bloom slightly wider.
Before Silas could reply, the tranquil silence of the garden was shattered by a violent, concussive boom from the outer courtyard. The ground trembled beneath my feet.
My White Wolf senses flared instantly. It wasn't an army. It was a localized breach.
"Stay here, Queen Elena," Silas commanded, his usually calm demeanor vanishing as his eyes flashed the bright gold of a fully shifted Lycan warrior.
But I didn't stay. I stood up, the ethereal mist around me thickening into a swirling vortex of kinetic energy.
I walked purposefully toward the arched entryway of the garden, stepping into the outer courtyard just in time to see the source of the commotion.
A dozen men, cloaked in ragged gray fabric, were surrounded by General Thorne and a unit of Shadowkeep elites. The intruders were wielding crude, corrupted artifacts—shards of the broken Aegis Wards they had likely scavenged from the ruins of Solaria. They were remnants of the old Aristocracy, former Council Lords who had lost their wealth and power, driven mad by their irrelevance.
"Death to the false Queen!" the leader shrieked, his face twisted in a mask of fanatical hatred. He held a glowing, unstable crystal shard high above his head. "For the Moon Goddess! We will purge the demon spawn before it draws breath!"
Kaelen materialized from the upper battlements like a falling shadow. He landed with a catastrophic impact, cracking the obsidian courtyard directly between me and the assassins. His broadsword wasn't drawn; his bare hands were coated in swirling, lethal dark magic.
"You dare bring weapons into my home?" Kaelen's voice wasn't a yell; it was a demonic, vibrating whisper that sucked the oxygen from the air. The sheer force of his Alpha aura forced the assassins to their knees.
"Wait, Kaelen," I called out, my voice cutting through his murderous rage like a silver bell.
Kaelen glanced back at me, his crimson eyes dilated with absolute panic and fury at the sight of me out of the garden. "Elena, get back! They have corrupted crystals!"
"I know what they have," I said calmly, stepping out from behind my King.
The assassin leader, seeing me approach, let out a hysterical laugh and threw the unstable crystal shard directly at my pregnant stomach. It sailed through the air, crackling with lethal, volatile energy.
Kaelen lunged to intercept it, but I simply raised a single finger.
I didn't just freeze the crystal. I froze time around it.
The lethal shard halted mid-air, suspended a mere three feet from my body. The white mist rolling off my skin surged forward, wrapping around the corrupted magic.
"You think a pregnant White Wolf is vulnerable?" I whispered, my eyes flaring into blinding, terrifying twin suns. The magic within my womb amplified my own, making me feel like an untouchable god. "I am carrying the apex of two ancient bloodlines. Your magic is nothing but food."
I closed my fist.
The suspended crystal shattered into a million harmless, glittering snowflakes.
The assassin's eyes widened in sheer, mind-shattering terror. He realized in that agonizing second that the rumors were entirely false. The Queen wasn't weakened by her pregnancy; she was a walking, breathing supernova.
I didn't even look at them as I turned back toward the garden.
"Kaelen," I said over my shoulder, my voice devoid of mercy. "Take out the trash."
I didn't need to look back. The sounds of tearing flesh and the screams of the forgotten Aristocracy lasted exactly four seconds before the courtyard fell into absolute, bloody silence.