Page 130 of Queen’s Gambit

The soldiers refused to stop and marched all night, eager to return to their families. When we finally arrived at the gates of Truso, we found them wide open and the streets filled with a colourful, cheering crowd chanting my name.

‘My lord, welcome back. Congratulations on a resounding victory.’ The chamberlain bowed before looking around. ‘And the Lady Roksana?’

‘She has something left to do. Where’s my brother?’ I asked as we neared the palace. ‘I hope he hasn’t left for Ozar yet.’

‘No, he’s… he might not be able to for some time. Queen Annika is in labour. Both kings are in her chambers,’ he said, but something in his expression gave me pause.

‘Talk!’ I snapped and jumped off the horse, passing the reins to a soldier.

‘The healers are worried. The child is unusually big; that’s why I hoped Lady Roksana…’

‘Fuck,’ I snarled, rushing to the guest wing.

Erenhart men were famous for their strength, but they were also a bane of their mothers. Many of their mothers didn’t survive the labour.

I found Orm pacing the hallway while the healers rushed back and forth through the doors, their expressions tight with fear.

‘Rey!’ he roared, rushing to me and gripping my arm with such strength my bone creaked. ‘I can’t help her. My Nivale is in pain, and I can’t… fuck, even Ari can’t. Where’s Sana? She’s a vivamancer.’

‘Sana left for Tangra. She told me it was the price for her creatures’ help, and that she gave her word to Siras.’ I pried his fingers from my arm before my bone broke. ‘She’ll be back, but right now we only have healers…’

‘Fuck!’ Orm grunted through clenched teeth, his eyes burning gold as he slammed his back against the wall and then slid to the floor. ‘I don’t know what to do.’

Annika’s scream merged with a dragon’s roar. Vahin flew so close that the windows rattled. Orm shot to his feet and slammed the door open with his shoulder, bursting into the room. I ran after him, ready to pin him down if he lost control.

The place smelled of blood and magic. All the windows were open, allowing fresh air into the room. Annika was panting. Her pale face, covered in sweat, was lost between the pillows.

‘You’re doing great, Domina. Take a deep breath, then try again,’ Alaric murmured, but his voice was so strained I had no doubt he had repeated those words many times already.

‘I’m not doing great, and it really fucking hurts!’ Ani was crying, and my heart broke to see such a pillar of strength struggle through the harshest of battles.

‘You have to cut the baby out.’ I frowned at my own words, but an almost forgotten scene resurfaced. Our mother had laboured for hours with Orm. I’d been terrified and snuck into the room to comfort her. There’d been so much blood, but it was our mother’s silence that had frightened me more. It was our father, with his dagger, who’d saved them where healers had failed.

‘No one is cutting my wife!’ Orm looked at me with such fury he seemed a step away from attacking me.

‘If you don’t, they’ll both die. She’s tired and bleeding. Our father had to do it too,’ I said, tightening my fist as he took a step closer.

‘Do it! Ari, I trust you, do it!’ Annika screamed when another ripple of a contraction wracked her body.

One of the healers approached Orm. ‘We can stem the blood and suture the wound if you want to go, Sire.’

‘Fine! Give her Nivale root,’ he commanded, and when Annika objected, his sharp look made her fall back onto the pillows.

‘I’m not cutting you open while you’re awake. Have some fucking mercy, Domina,’ Ari groaned.

Annika protested no further, drinking the bitter tincture. Minutes trickled by like molasses until she closed her eyes, and a wave of profound relief smoothed her features.

Alaric dug the healer’s knife into her swollen stomach, but what broke me was the heart-wrenching sob that escaped my brother’s lips. He dropped to his knees and prayed to Arachne to spare her.

Instinctively, my hand landed on his shoulder. I didn’t pray. Instead, my thoughts drifted to Sana, to the whispers that repeated her title when she sang for the sailors, just as she had promised.

How can I subject her to this? And for what? An heir?

The hair on my arms rose when a child’s piercing scream tore through the room’s sudden stillness. Alaric quickly wrapped the bloodied newborn in clean cloth and passed the baby to Orm.

‘We have a daughter.’ Four words full of love. Then he turned, snapping out orders while the healers rushed to tend to Annika because the ordeal wasn’t over yet. Alaric was cursing up a storm while praying to the dark mother to save his mate. When he straightened again, he held a second child in his arms, his expression so baffled I rushed forward to take the baby from him.

‘It’s a boy.’ At Ari’s shocked tone, I looked down at the child in my arms.