POV: Alex
The word heir wouldn’t leave my mind.
It pulsed through my veins with every heartbeat, heavy and impossible and unreal. I stood at the tall window of my chamber, watching moonlight slide across the palace courtyard below, trying to breathe as if the world hadn’t just shifted beneath my feet.
A child.
Not now. Not yet.
And yet—already chosen.
I pressed my hand to my abdomen without thinking.
There was nothing there.
No life.
No warmth.
No sign of the destiny the universe had just branded onto my future.
But the bond inside my chest burned like molten silver.
Riley stood behind me, silent but present. I could feel her fear threading through our connection, braided tightly with mine.
“Mason has doubled the guards,” she said softly. “David sealed the outer wards.”
“It w
