…

    Dorian’s POV

    “Shit… ra! ra, please… Oh my god…”

    :

    b38 /b

    55 vouchers.

    His voice cracked, shaking with fear and rage. The raw emotion in his words made my chest tighten. I could barely breathe.

    I could barely feel anything, but I knew I had to open my eyes. They wouldn’t obey me. Myshes felt frozen, stuck together by the ice clinging to my skin.

    A hand gently cupped my face, warm despite the chill that burned through my body. Dorian. His touch–his warmth–was the only thing keeping me tethered to the world.

    The frost melted slowly, a trickle of water running down my cheeks, almost like tears. My eyelids fluttered open, and the world blurred into focus.

    Dorian’s face, twisted in anguish, was all I saw.

    “ra…” His voice cracked, a whisper of hope and despair all tangled up in one.

    I barely managed to croak his name, weak as a whisper against the chaos that swirled around us. “Dorian…”

    “I’m here… I’m right here, baby,” he murmured, frantic, yet gentle as he moved me from the pir I’d been chained to. My body copsed into his arms, and he held me with desperate urgency.

    He kissed my frozen lips, his warmth burning against me, trying to soothe the cold that had sunk into my bones. He pressed his forehead to mine, a small, futile attempt to share his heat with me.

    “My King… the coat.”

    The voice cut through the moment. Dario stood behind Dorian, holding a coat.

    Without a word, Dorian snatched it from him, wrapping me in it as though the fabric alone could somehow protect me from the storm inside me.

    His eyes, wild and bloodshot, snapped up, scanning the room with a deadly rage. “Who the fuck did this to her?!”

    The soldiers nearby flinched, rooted to the spot, their eyes darting nervously as if hoping the floor would swallow them whole.

    No one moved. No one spoke.

    Dario, however, didn’t hesitate. He grabbed a soldier by the cor, jerking him forward. “Answer the King!” he barked, his voice sharp with authority. “Who did this to Queen ra?”

    The soldier’s voice quivered, trembling as he met Dorian’s unrelenting gaze. “I… I–It was Elder Thalia’s order..”

    b38 /b

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    Dorian’s fury red like a wildfire, and without another word, he scooped me up again and stormed toward the great hall, Dario trailing close behind.

    The heavy doors of the hall flew open with a crash, and the room fell silent at once. Every head turned in our direction, and I could feel their stares, their judgment.

    Elder Thalia was the first to react, her face paling before she quickly masked it with a look of calm indifference. She rose to her feet with calcted grace.

    “My King,” she began, her voice smooth, “I thought you were out patrolling…”

    “Is that so?!” Dorian’s voice was thunderous. “You thought you could take advantage of my absence and chain my Queen to a fucking pir?!” He growled, each word sharp as a de. “It was -4 degrees outside. You want me to leave you out there in the cold and see how you like it?”

    Gasps rippled through the room, but I couldn’t focus on the whispers. My body felt like it was splitting in two, the ache in my belly unbearable.

    I tried to breathe. Tried to hold it together. But the pain only seemed to deepen.

    “This is Elder Thalia, my King,” one of the elders chimed in, his voiceced with disapproval. “The leader of House Dark, your godmother-”

    “-And this is my Queen!” Dorian snapped, his fury growing with every passing second. “She’s carrying my child!”

    Elowen’s smile was cold, but there was a flicker of something underneath. Something flickering in her eyes. She met Dorian’s gaze with a haughty arrogance.

    “I’ve been nothing but a guide to you since you were a child, Dorian,” she said, her chin tilted up. “I taught you everything you know. I made you who you are today. And now, you’re letting her, this… lowborn werewolf, turn your back on me?”

    A chill swept through me. The words were familiar, too familiar. They echoed in my mind, words Dorian had spoken to me before.

    “You were the one who nted this… this racism in his mind,” I thought bitterly. “Told him he was better than

    us.”

    Pain, sharp and sudden, seized my body. My child kicked, and I gasped, clutching at Dorian’s shirt, trying tomunicate the panic that gripped me.

    Dorian didn’t seem to notice, itoo /icaught up in the exchange with Elowen.

    “ra…” he whispered, his voiceced with concern, but still directed at Elowen. “What you taught me was wrong. It’s inhumane. You want to rule the werewolves, but there are warriors, Alphas who will never bend to

    our will.”

    Elowen’s face twisted into something darker. “Then make them obey!” she screamed. “Fight them! Show them who rules! We can start with her,” she hissed, her eyes darting to me with venom.

    b38 /b

    55 vouchers

    The air in the room crackled with tension. My body, my entire existence, felt as though it was splitting under the weight of it all.

    I couldn’t stay upright anymore. I sagged against Dorian, and he caught me instinctively, but his attention never wavered from Elowen.

    “She’s carrying my child, Elowen!” His voice was deadly quiet, but there was no mistaking the warning in it. “You’ve gone too far.”

    His hand gripped mine, firm and steady, but my breath came in sharp gasps, my body betraying me.

    “You really want to continue this conversation?” Dorian asked, his voiceced with a dangerous calm. “Dario!”

    Dario stepped forward, his face unreadable as he obeyed the King’smand.

    “Bring the soldier who chained Queen ra to the pir,” Dorian ordered, his eyes locked on Elowen.

    Seconds felt like hours, but when Dario returned, dragging the trembling soldier behind him, I was too weak to protest. Too weak to even speak.

    Dorian ced me gently in Dario’s arms before stepping forward, drawing his sword with a chilling precision.

    Elowen’s eyes widened in realization. “What are you doing, my King?!” she cried out, but Dorian didn’t

    answer.

    He looked down at the soldier, his voice deadly soft. “Did I, or did I not, say that Queen ra was to be left alone? Did I not make it clear that anyone who harms her ismitting treason?”

    The soldier, trembling, looked up with tears streaming down his face. “You… you did, my King, but… but Elder Thalia… she…”

    “Then you knew,” Dorian’s voice was like ice, “you knew you defied my orders, and you knew the consequences.”

    Without hesitation, Dorian raised his sword, the cold steel gleaming under the light.

    “Rest in peace.” He murmured, and the de dropped.

    A scream echoed, but it was drowned out by the brutal sound of the sword meeting its mark. Blood spilled, staining the floor.

    Dorian didn’t flinch. He turned, his eyes cold and empty as he addressed the room. “So… did I make my position clear now?” he asked, his voice dripping with menace.

    Elder Thalia was pale, her body trembling despite her haughty words. “Is this your position, then? You’ll turn on your own soldiers like this?”

    She tried to hold her ground, but I saw the tremor in her voice, the uncertainty that had finally cracked through her facade.

    Dorian’s response was a cruel, humourlessugh. “No, Elowen. He was no soldier of mine. He was a traitor.”

    0:0

    The great hall was still as death, the tension suffocating.

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    Dorian turned away, his gaze softening as he stepped toward me. He gently ced his sword in the bloodstained floor and approached Dario, who was holding me.

    “ra,” he said, his voice quiet, concerned, “we’re going home now.”

    But I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t do anything but gasp for breath. The pain in my belly was too much, too sharp.

    “ra, what is it?” Dorian’s grip tightened on my hand. “Are you alright?”

    I reached up with trembling hands, trying tomunicate, trying to tell him what I couldn’t voice.

    Another sharp wave of pain tore through me, and I couldn’t stop the cry that escaped my lips.

    “Dorian…” I whimpered, my voice barely a breath. “My child…”

    And then, with a sudden gush, it happened.

    Water poured from beneath me, and I screamed, the sound echoing around the hall.

    Dorian froze, his eyes wide with panic.

    “Her water broke!” Dario shouted urgently, his voice filled with panic as he looked from me to Dorian.

    Everything else vanished.

    #