Her voice dropped to a slit-eyed whisper.
“Because she needed you. You and the pup growing inside you.”
River clutched her stomach instinctively.
The witch smirked darkly.
“Yes… that pup. Despite the scandal of your mixed bloodline—dark alpha, mage, royal… a cocktail of shame in Northern eyes—your child is still a legitimate continuation of Victoria’s lineage.”
River whispered, horrified:
“She wanted my baby.”
“She wants her dynasty,” the witch corrected sharply.
“And you—both of you—were never going to return if you stepped foot in the North.”
River’s blood ran cold.
“She would have kept you,” the witch said flatly. “As breeding stock if needed. Any method to save her crumbling claim to the throne.”
River shook her head in denial.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe what you want
