Raya shifted her son gently in her arms, her eyes still glassy from the tears she hadn’t quite finished shedding, but her expression now had changed—less broken, less vulnerable, and far more solemn, filled with something sharper… something searching.
She watched Kaius closely, as if trying to peel back his very soul, as if she wasn’t just seeing the man in front of her but also the prince, the warrior trained to rule.And then, without softening her tone, she spoke, her voice low and clear, with none of the trembling that had plagued her before.
“Now you be honest with me,” she said, eyes locked on his with a challenge burning behind them. “If I had shown up… swollen with our pup, or holding him in my arms… what would your reaction have been?”
Kaius blinked, startled by the directness
