Elira's POV
I lay on my side with both hands pressed gently over my stomach, feeling the faint warmth there, the slight swell that had become the only thing in my life that felt entirely mine.
"I won't let them take you." I whispered into the dark. "I don't care what any decree says."
The baby didn't move. Too early for that. But I felt something anyway, something warm and stubborn pressing back against my palms from the inside, and I held onto that feeling like it was the only solid thing left in the world.
The storm outside had finally died completely. The territory was quiet. The guards outside my door changed shifts an hour ago, two sets of footsteps, a murmured exchange, then stillness again.
I should have stayed in bed.
I knew that even as I was sitting up.
I knew it as I was
