Valtira
I stood before the towering mirror, unmoving, as though the woman staring back at me were a stranger I had yet to understand.
My hair spilled loose around my shoulders in dark waves, untouched by braids or pins, framing a face that seemed older than it had any right to be. There was a softness to my features now — not weakness, but something quieter.
Something maternal.
My gaze drifted downward almost involuntarily, settling on the gentle swell of my stomach.
A mother.
The thought echoed through me with both wonder and terror.
Would I be a good mother to my pup?
Would I know what to do when the tiny life inside me finally entered the world, crying beneath the moon?
Or would I fail… the same way everyone once believed I would fail at everything?
A slow breath left me.
The
