Chapter 249: Its A Boy
Damien’s laughter burst out, low and bubbling, disbelieving yet filled with light. His head fell back as if the heavens themselves had answered his prayers. "Of course," he chuckled, shaking his head with tears brimming in his eyes. "Of course, it’s a boy." His fangs glimmered faintly when he grinned, joy overtaking the usual darkness in his expression. "Where is he? Where’s my son?" His chest swelled with pride, his whole being alight with an emotion he had never dared dream of—a legacy, an heir, flesh of his flesh with Luna’s soul woven in.
And that was when her smile faltered. Her face fell, pale as moonlight, and her lips parted as though the weight of the next words might shatter her.
"Moonlight?" he whispered, searching her face with growing dread. He cupped her chin, forcing her to look at him. "What... what is it? What’s wrong? Did something happen to him?"
She swallowed hard, her throat working as though the confession would tear her apart. At last, the words spilled out, ragged and brutal. "He is being broken by Morvakar."
The room tilted. Damien took a step back as though struck. His mind reeled. "Wh... what? I didn’t quite hear you. A few days-old baby is being tortured?" His hand trembled as he raked it through his hair, the horror painted across his face raw and uncontained. His entire body shook with rage.
"Damien," Luna whispered urgently, tears brimming in her eyes as she reached for him. Her hands pressed to his chest. "It is the only way. He was already addicted to blood. It’s the only way to prove the council wrong and let him live."
Damien staggered back another step, his chest heaving, his fangs bared in anguish. Torn between the primal instinct to destroy anyone who dared harm his son and the desperate need to believe his mate would never betray their child, he stood shaking.
"By killing him? There isn’t much difference," Damien said. His eyes burned—half with tears he refused to shed, half with the fury that clawed at his insides. He turned back to her, his gaze piercing, a wounded king and a tormented mate all at once.
"I have faith. I have to, Damien." Luna reached for him, clutching the edge of his sleeve as though that thin connection could hold him from tearing the world apart. "Faith is the only thing keeping me sane right now." Her lips quivered as though the words themselves carried splinters. She had lived with this choice alone until this moment, carrying the unbearable weight of trust in Morvakar’s methods, and now his fury lashed against her rawest wound.
"Luna..." He tilted her chin up with a trembling hand, forcing her to meet his eyes. He pressed his forehead to hers, his breath ragged, his lips ghosting hers without fully claiming them.
"Trust me on this... please," she whispered, her fingers spreading across his chest. "Who else would you trust in breaking our son if not Morvakar?"
Before Damien could answer, the doors creaked open, spilling a shaft of golden light from the corridor. Kyllian stepped in. "King Damien," he greeted.
"King Kyllian." Damien inclined his head in acknowledgment, his lips pressing into a thin line. "Thank you for having the queen."
"She is still our princess," Kyllian replied smoothly, his eyes flickering to Luna. "It is our duty to protect her. I don’t mean to interrupt this reunion, but I need to know if you have any leads on the rogue vampires."
"No, nothing yet." Damien shook his head, the apology flickering in his eyes when he glanced back at Luna. He hated admitting weakness, hated giving another man the chance to stand taller in front of his mate. But worse still, he hated that the truth left them vulnerable.
"Well," Kyllian said, folding his arms across his chest as his jaw tightened, "until the rogue vampires are handled, the princess remains with us."
"Kyllian..." Luna sighed, her hand flying to her temple as though the pounding in her skull matched the pressure of the two kings clashing before her.
Damien’s lips curved into a sharp, sarcastic smile as he leaned back slightly, studying the wolf prince with cool disdain. His fangs glinted faintly as his expression hardened. "Are you saying you will hold the Queen of Blood City hostage?" He took a step closer, closing the distance between them until the air itself seemed to vibrate with the weight of two predators squaring off.
"A queen who has a target on her back," Kyllian said. His eyes glowed faintly beneath the chandelier’s light, feral and unyielding. "She was first Princess Luna of the werewolf kingdom before she ever became Queen Luna of Blood City, and we will be damned if we let her just walk into your den of bloodsuckers. When I say we, I mean thousands of us. Wolves who bleed for her, who would die for her. Not a council of scheming leeches with their knives aimed at her spine."
Damien’s laugh was quiet, a dark sound that carried an edge sharp enough to cut. "It still kills you, doesn’t it?" he murmured, his smirk widening, revealing the faint flash of fang. "Still kills you that you lost her to me. That the girl you thought would always be yours chose the king of blood instead of the wolf who shadowed her heels. You can guard her all you like, Kyllian, but we both know who she returns to when the night grows too long."
"Okay...that’s enough!!!" Luna’s voice sliced through the thick tension, fierce and commanding. Both men turned to her, though neither backed down, their bodies still taut as drawn bows. She stepped between them, and pressed her palms against the air as though pushing back two storms. Her chest rose and fell sharply, her face flushed with frustration. "Kyllian. I told you—all I needed was a few days of rest here. A queen should stand and fight with her people. You and father taught me that, Kyllian. Or have you forgotten your own lessons?"