Third Person POV
One week later
Vaden stood in the threshold of their chamber, one hand resting against the stone archway as he watched Sofia sleeping. Her hair spilled over the pillows in inky waves, her skin still pale but showing signs of healing. She looked peaceful for the first time in days, and he drank in the sight as if it could anchor him to sanity.
He had nearly lost her. Nearly lost both of them.
Even now, the memory of the heart monitor’s shrill warning haunted his ears, the cold terror that had torn through him when her vitals had flatlined. That moment had nearly broken him.
And yet… now, he was holding a secret that made his chest ache with wonder.
She was carrying his pup.
Their pup.
The heir to the throne, nestled in her womb, still forming, still fragile—but aliv
