Kaelen"s POV
I leave my house earlier than usual.
The estate is still waking—mist clinging to the lower paths, servants moving quietly with baskets and linens, the air cool enough to bite when I breathe too deeply. Morning light filters through the trees in thin bands of gold, catching on stone and dew. Normally, this hour settles me. Normally, I use the walk to think through logistics, patrol routes, reports that need signing.
Today, my thoughts circle one thing.
Celestine is pregnant.
The words still don’t feel fully real. They sit in my chest like a weight and a promise at the same time. Legacy. Heir. Continuity. Everything my father has pressed into me since I could stand upright and understand what it meant to be Dravenhart.
This—this should be the end of that pressure.
I take
