A soft crack echoed in the hearth as the fire dwindled to glowing embers. Kael sat near it, one hand resting protectively over the barely perceptible swell of his belly, the other clutching a mug of herbal tea that had long since gone cold. The fever from the night before had broken, but left behind the ache of truth. He was pregnant. And it was no ordinary child he carried.
Across from him, Mira leaned against the windowsill, arms crossed tightly over her chest, green eyes filled with concern. "Kael," she said softly, breaking the silence that had stretched long between them since his breakdown. "You need to get out of the city. You need to hide."
"I can't," he murmured. "Something in me… won't let me run. Not yet."
Before Mira could answer, the shadows at the edge of the room seemed to twist, curling into the shape of a figure cloaked in violet and silver. The scent of crushed violets and forest moss filled the air. Kael's skin prickled. The wards had been breached.
Mira stepped forward, voice sharp. "Who are you?"
The figure threw back their hood to reveal a pair of shimmering, translucent wings folded behind slender shoulders. Silver eyes stared into Kael's.
"Elandir of the Sylvan High Circle," the fae said. "The elders sensed the rift in magic. A child formed from unbound pact magic is dangerous."
Kael swallowed. "He's not dangerous. He's—"
"Unstable," Elandir interrupted. "A child born from raw covenant between fae and human, conceived under blood moon ritual, without blessing or binding—do you know what kind of power that creates?"
Kael stood. His voice trembled, but his spine straightened. "He's mine. And Elias's. That power belongs to us."
"You don't understand," Elandir said. "There are factions among the Seelie and Unseelie who would see you torn apart to harvest that child's magic. The pregnancy must be terminated."
"No," Kael hissed.
Mira stepped between them, her hand crackling with fire. "Touch him and you die."
Elandir raised a hand, showing peace. "I'm not your enemy. I came to warn you. The elders will convene by the next crescent moon. If Elias does not claim his bond and protect you by then, your fate will be sealed."
As quickly as he'd arrived, the fae vanished in a shimmer of silver mist.
Kael fell back into the chair, clutching his belly. His fingers brushed the edge of the sigil still burned into his skin from that night—hot, even now.
---
Far North, Crimson Court
Elias stood before the Crimson Council, his shirt bloodied, his arm bound tightly after a skirmish. Behind him, the air pulsed with raw tension.
"You made a pact under the blood moon," one of the elders growled. "You bound magic without consent."
"I didn't know," Elias said. "It wasn't supposed to mean anything—"
"You've tethered your power to a mortal," another hissed. "And now the prophecy shifts. The child must be controlled."
Elias's jaw clenched. Kael's face haunted him—those soft moans in the dark, the way his body trembled under Elias's touch. That one night had become something he couldn't forget.
"I'll find him," Elias said. "I'll protect what's mine."
The elder's eyes glowed crimson. "Then do so before the moon wanes. Or we will."
---
Kael's Apartment, Midnight
That night, Kael dreamed of Elias.
He stood in the mirror-drenched room again, the silk mask torn from Elias's face. Elias pinned him against the wall, his mouth moving with fervor down Kael's neck, over the curve of his chest, down his belly.
Kael moaned as Elias's tongue teased him, hot and relentless. Fingers slipped inside him, coaxing his body into a frenzy. His thighs shook as Elias took him again, hard and deep, his growls low and possessive.
"I'll find you," Elias whispered against his skin. "You're mine, Kael. You and our child."
Kael woke, gasping, sheets soaked in sweat and something hotter. He pressed a hand to the place where Elias had been in the dream.
The sigil on his skin pulsed.
Outside, wind howled, and shadows moved unnaturally across the window.
The fae weren't the only ones watching now.
---