The room exploded into movement. Silas didn't even wait for the door to fully hit the floor before he shifted mid-air. He wasn't a wolf, and he wasn't a man; he was a whirlwind of black smoke and lethal claws. He crashed into the white-haired prince, knocking him away from me just as his hand reached for my throat.
The two of them tumbled across the stone floor, a chaotic blur of black and white.
"Elara, get behind me!" Silas roared, his voice thick with a protective rage I had never heard before.
The white-haired man, the Prince of the North, flipped backward with the grace of a cat. He landed on his feet, wiping a smear of blood from his lip. He looked at Silas with pure disgust.
"Still playing the loyal dog, Silas?" the Prince sneered. "You're protecting a lie. You know what kind of power is growing inside her. It's not just a wolf. It's a Void."
"Shut up, Caspian!" Silas hissed. He stood between us, his shadows flickering like a dying candle. He was still weak from the silver burns, and I could see the bandages on his chest turning red.
I stood by the balcony, my hand instinctively resting on my stomach. My mind was spinning. A baby? I thought of that one night with Thorne—the night he had claimed me in the dark, before the rejection, before the pain. I had felt so sick lately, but I thought it was just the stress of the hunt.
"Is it true?" I whispered, my voice trembling. "Silas... am I pregnant?"
Silas didn't turn around. His shoulders were tense. "It doesn't matter right now, Elara. We have to get you out of here."
"It matters to the world!" Caspian shouted. He held up his hand, and the small red bird of blood returned to his palm. "The North has a prophecy. The union of a Blackwood Alpha and a Royal White Wolf creates a child of the Eclipse. A child that can end the sun itself. My father won't let that child take its first breath."
Caspian lunged again, but this time he didn't use a knife. He used his blood magic. The red bird exploded into a mist of needles, flying straight for Silas.
Silas raised a wall of shadow, but he was too slow. Two of the blood needles pierced his shoulder. He gasped, falling to one knee.
"Silas!" I ran toward him, but Caspian was faster. He grabbed my arm, his grip like a vice.
"Come quietly, cousin," Caspian whispered. "I'll take you to the North. We will remove the 'problem' safely, and you can live your life in peace. Don't let this rogue lead you to your death."
I looked at Silas, who was struggling to breathe as the blood magic poisoned his veins. Then I looked at Caspian, the man who wanted to take away the only thing I had left of my old life—even if that life was a nightmare.
A sudden, cold calm washed over me. It wasn't the Silver Flame this time. It was something deeper. Something older.
"You're not taking anything from me," I said.
I didn't blast him with fire. Instead, I reached out and touched Caspian's chest. I felt the heartbeat of the baby inside me—a tiny, powerful pulse that felt like a drum. I channeled that pulse into my hand.
A shockwave of pure, golden light erupted from my palm. It hit Caspian so hard he was thrown through the balcony doors, crashing into the stone railing outside.
I didn't stop. I knelt beside Silas, placing my hands over his wounds. The golden light flowed into him, pulling the red poison out of his skin. He gasped, his eyes flying open.
"Elara... your eyes," he whispered. "They're gold."
I looked at my hands. They were glowing with a soft, warm light. The pain in my stomach was gone, replaced by a sense of fierce, motherly protection.
But the danger wasn't over. Caspian scrambled to his feet on the balcony. He looked terrified. He whistled a high, sharp note, and suddenly, the sky was filled with the sound of leathery wings.
"The North is here!" Valera's voice screamed from the hallway. "The Frost-Dragons are attacking!"
A massive shadow covered the moon. A dragon, white as ice, soared over the city, breathing a stream of blue fire that turned the black stone towers into pillars of ice.
Caspian looked at me one last time. "You've chosen the side of the shadows, Elara. When the King arrives, not even Silas can save you."
He dived off the balcony, landing on the back of a smaller dragon that had pulled up to catch him. They spiraled into the night sky.
Silas stood up, pulling me into a hard embrace. He smelled like ozone and blood. He held me so tight I could barely breathe, his face buried in my neck.
"I'm sorry," he muffled into my skin. "I knew about the baby. I could smell the scent change days ago. I just... I wanted to keep you safe from the truth for a little longer."
I pulled back, looking into his dark, tired eyes. "Is it Thorne's?"
Silas nodded slowly. "The Alpha blood is strong. But your blood is stronger. That child is a Royal, Elara. And now, every King in the world is going to be hunting you."
The city below was screaming. The blue ice-fire was spreading.
"We can't stay here," Silas said, grabbing his cloak. "The Shadow City is no longer a secret. We have to go to the only place they won't follow."
"Where?" I asked.
Silas looked toward the dark, misty mountains to the East. "The Dead Forest. Where the Rogues go to die