The Child Inside Me
1718 Words
“They put that child inside you years ago.”
I couldn't breathe.
My mother's fingers tightened around my wrist.
Behind us, the mechanical voice repeated:
ROYAL EMBRYO ACTIVATION SUCCESSFUL.
“No.”
The word barely escaped me.
I pulled my hand away.
“No. That's impossible.”
Selene looked at me with tears in her silver eyes.
“I wish it were.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“What did they do to her?”
My mother immediately moved between us.
“Stay away from my daughter.”
He froze.
“Selene—”
“You don't get to say my name.”
Her hatred surprised me.
Adrian had been a child when she disappeared.
Why did she look at him like an enemy?
Lucian seemed to notice too.
“Selene, we need to leave.”
She turned toward him.
“I would rather die.”
His face tightened.
“Whatever you think happened—”
“I remember what happened.”
“Do you?”
The question silenced everyone.
My mother's eyes flashed.
Lucian continued carefully.
“You've been imprisoned for twenty-two years. We don't know what they did to your memories.”
“They couldn't erase everything.”
“No. But they could change enough.”
I looked between them.
“Stop.”
They obeyed.
I pointed toward my stomach.
“Someone is going to explain this.”
Silas laughed weakly from the floor.
Everyone looked at him.
He wiped blood from his mouth.
“Finally asking the correct question.”
Luna kicked him.
Hard.
He groaned.
“Talk,” she said.
Silas smiled.
“The embryo was created twenty-two years ago.”
My stomach turned.
“From whose cells?”
“Selene's.”
My mother closed her eyes.
“And?”
Silas looked toward Lucian.
Lucian's face changed.
Adrian noticed.
“So it is his.”
“No,” Silas said.
Lucian growled.
“Finish the sentence.”
Silas laughed.
“The paternal source was classified.”
I stared at him.
“You expect me to believe you don't know?”
“I know many things.”
“Then tell me.”
“Not yet.”
Silver light appeared around my fingers.
Silas's smile faded.
“You cannot frighten me.”
“Want to test that?”
“Elena.”
My mother's voice stopped me.
“Don't use your power here.”
“Why?”
“They designed this place for Ardyn blood.”
The symbols.
The silver circles.
The creatures.
She was right.
A siren changed tone.
Luna looked toward the corridor.
“We have another problem.”
“What?”
“That alarm means lockdown.”
Metal doors began closing throughout the building.
Lucian grabbed Silas.
“We move now.”
I looked at my mother.
“She's coming.”
“Obviously.”
Selene shook her head.
“I can't.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
She lifted her hospital gown slightly.
A thin silver chain was attached around her ankle.
It disappeared into the wall.
Lucian approached.
“Don't touch it,” she warned.
He stopped.
“What is it?”
“A blood tether.”
Silas smiled.
“Remove it incorrectly and her heart stops.”
Luna turned toward him.
“How?”
“You need the release code.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
She grabbed his throat.
“Luna.”
My mother spoke her name softly.
Luna froze.
Selene looked at her.
For the first time, they really saw each other.
Mother and daughter.
Twenty-two stolen years between them.
“You look like my mother,” Selene whispered.
Luna's eyes filled with tears.
“You remember me?”
“I remember holding two babies.”
She touched Luna's cheek.
“One cried constantly.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Luna did too.
“Which one?”
Selene's smile disappeared.
“I don't know.”
Luna stepped back.
That answer hurt her.
My mother looked at both of us.
“They damaged my memories.”
Lucian had been right.
Selene knew it.
“What do you remember clearly?” I asked.
“Fire.”
Her breathing changed.
“Your father screaming. Marcus fighting. Lucian…”
She stopped.
“What about Lucian?”
Fear entered her eyes.
“I don't know.”
Lucian looked almost relieved.
That made me suspicious.
Silas laughed.
“Touching.”
Mara pressed her knife against his throat.
“The code.”
Silas looked at me.
“Release me and I'll give it to you.”
“No.”
“Then your mother remains here.”
The building shook.
Creatures screamed below.
We were running out of time.
I looked at the chain.
Silver symbols were engraved across it.
The same symbols I'd seen everywhere tonight.
I knelt.
“Elena, don't,” Selene said.
I touched it.
Pain exploded through my hand.
Then—
A vision.
My mother screaming on a table.
Silas standing beside her.
A newborn crying.
A vial of silver blood.
A man whose face I couldn't see.
Then me.
Not as a baby.
As a little girl.
Six years old.
Sleeping inside the Blackwood medical center.
A needle entered my arm.
Something silver moved through the tube.
I ripped my hand away.
“No.”
Adrian caught me.
“What did you see?”
I pushed him away.
“I was six.”
My mother went pale.
“What?”
“They did something to me when I was six.”
Silas smiled.
“The implantation.”
My stomach twisted.
“At six years old?”
Vanessa made a horrified sound.
“No.”
Silas rolled his eyes.
“Not a pregnancy. A dormant biological vessel.”
“What does that mean?”
“The embryo could not develop until three conditions were met.”
Lucian's eyes narrowed.
“What conditions?”
“Her wolf reaching maturity.”
Silas looked at Adrian.
“Her fated bond activating.”
Then at me.
“And rejection.”
Everything became clear.
The ceremony wasn't the beginning.
It was a trigger.
“You needed Adrian to reject me.”
“Yes.”
“And the pregnancy?”
“Activation began when the bond broke.”
I covered my stomach.
“How long until—”
“Until birth?”
He smiled.
“Unknown.”
I hated that answer.
My mother looked at me.
“They lied before.”
“What?”
“The Council told me they could create royal heirs.”
She shook her head.
“They failed every time.”
Silas's expression changed.
“Until now.”
A violent crash came from below.
The floor cracked.
Lucian looked at Mara.
“Get Vanessa outside.”
Mara nodded.
“What about Selene?”
“I'll break the tether.”
“You'll kill her,” Silas said.
Lucian looked at him.
“Then you'll give me the code.”
“No.”
Lucian's claws extended.
Silas still smiled.
I understood.
“He isn't afraid of dying.”
Lucian glanced at me.
“Why?”
“Because the code isn't in his head.”
Silas's smile disappeared.
Good.
I was right.
“Where is it?”
My mother looked toward the lower level.
“The laboratory.”
Silas swore.
I stared at Selene.
“You know?”
“I've seen them reset the tether.”
“Where?”
“Sublevel three.”
Luna stepped forward.
“I'll go.”
“No,” Selene and I said together.
Luna blinked.
For one second, despite everything, we felt like a family.
Then the floor exploded.
A creature climbed through.
Lucian attacked it.
Another followed.
Then another.
“GO!” he shouted.
Mara dragged Vanessa toward the exit.
Adrian shifted and joined the fight despite his injury.
Luna grabbed Silas.
I stayed beside my mother.
“I'm not leaving you.”
“Elena—”
“I already lost you once.”
Her face broke.
I held her hand.
“We're getting that code.”
Luna dragged Silas toward the stairs.
I followed.
Then my mother suddenly stopped.
Her hand went to my stomach.
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“Elena…”
“What is it?”
She pressed her palm against me.
Then recoiled.
“No.”
My heart started racing.
“What?”
“That isn't the embryo they gave me.”
Silas stopped struggling.
The color drained from his face.
That frightened me more than anything.
“What do you mean?”
My mother stared at him.
“You changed it.”
Silas said nothing.
“Changed what?” I demanded.
Selene looked at me.
“The embryo they created twenty-two years ago was female.”
I stopped breathing.
“How can you know what's inside me?”
“Because I can feel the royal blood.”
Her face became terrified.
“This child is male.”
Silas suddenly lunged toward the broken railing.
Luna caught him.
“Why are you running?”
He struggled desperately.
For the first time, Silas Voss looked afraid.
I stepped toward him.
“What is inside me?”
He shook his head.
“Nothing you can control.”
“WHOSE CHILD IS IT?”
Silas stared at my stomach.
Then he whispered:
“The embryo isn't twenty-two years old.”
My blood froze.
“What?”
“It was replaced.”
“When?”
Silence.
Luna slammed him against the wall.
“When?”
He looked at Adrian.
Then at Lucian.
And smiled.
“Three weeks ago.”
My heart stopped.
Three weeks.
The night Adrian and I had slept together.
“No.”
Silas laughed.
“The Council didn't create this pregnancy, Elena.”
He looked directly at Adrian.
“We only changed what was already beginning.”
Adrian froze.
“What did you do?”
Silas's smile widened.
“We added something to your child.”
My hands instinctively covered my stomach.
“What?”
The alarms suddenly stopped.
A new mechanical voice filled the building.
ROYAL HEIR STABLE.
SECOND BLOODLINE DETECTED.
Lucian went completely still.
Selene grabbed my arm.
“What second bloodline?”
The machine answered before Silas could.
PATERNAL LINE CONFIRMED.
Adrian stepped toward me.
Then the final words echoed through the sanatorium.
HOUSE BLACKWOOD: NEGATIVE.
Adrian's face went white.
I couldn't breathe.
And beside me, Lucian's eyes slowly turned black.
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