Page 131 of Queen’s Gambit

The baby had the black Erenhart mane, but it was his eyes that bewitched me. As blue as the cloudless sky with vertical pupils, a miracle fusion of the souls that loved him.

Orm stared, enraptured by the child in his arms, but when I moved closer, everything changed. If I’d thought him feral before, I’d underestimated him. My brother cradled his daughter, his eyes burning with golden fire. He scanned the room, growling at everything that moved.

‘Easy now,’ I said, stepping closer. His upper lip lifted in a snarl. ‘Ormond Erenhart, I’m your brother. Now, pass me my niece before you crush her, and go to your wife.’

I waited, the seconds passing, as he stared me down. Ari broke the tension, tears streaming down his face and a grin on his lips. He came to my brother and stroked his cheek.

‘Orm, it’s alright. She’s safe with Rey. See? He’s holding our son so tenderly. Come now, Ani needs her Ursus. Let the one-eyed oaf look after the twins.’

Orm’s hands were shaking when he handed me the newborn. The girl was the spitting image of Alaric. Her skin was pale as Annika’s, but the wisp of white hair and golden eyes testified to her fae heritage.

‘I didn’t know she carried twins. Gods, why did I allow her to fly at all?’ Orm muttered.

He staggered like a drunkard towards the bed before he knelt beside it and grasped Annika’s hand, pressing it to his forehead in silent prayer.

Time passed, punctuated by healers’ focused movements, Alaric’s chanting, and a rumbling growl from Orm, who looked more like a trapped animal than a man of almost infinite patience.

My breath caught when Alaric straightened, his face pinched with exhaustion. ‘She’ll live, Orm. My Domina is the strongest woman alive. She’ll live.’

Relief washed over me. We weren’t fully out of danger, but I allowed myself to smile. I bent down to the children and whispered. ‘Your mom might be an overachiever, but your auntie is the best.’

A dragon’s roar shook the palace, and the sky exploded as lightning danced through the heavens. Alaric staggered towards me.

‘I want to see my children.’ He reached for them, but I shook my head.

‘You’re covered in blood. Wash, both of you. I’ll have the servants clean the room. Don’t let bloody carnage be the first thing Annika sees.’ For a moment, I thought he’d rip the soul from my body, but in the end Alaric smirked.

‘I want to see how you act when Sana’s in labour.’ He bent over, placing feather-like kisses on the babies’ heads before gesturing to Orm.

‘Come on, you heard your brother. Unfortunately for us, this time he’s right.’

I sat in the chair by the bed and gently rocked the little ones in my arms while the healers and maidservants cleaned the room.

My mind was set. I wouldn’t subject Roksana to this, not for dynastic obligations. My heart melted when the baby girl opened her mouth and made smacking sounds.

‘Little princess, one day you might inherit my kingdom.’

The thought was liberating. If Sana never chose to become a mother, one of Orm’s children would become my heir, and if I ever had a son, I hoped he would one day become as close to his newborn cousins as Orm and I were.

‘What’s with the dreamy expression? I hope you aren’t planning to steal my children,’ Orm joked, reaching for the boy.

I passed him the infant with a chuckle. ‘Steal? Maybe. I was planning your daughter’s future.’

A dangerous glint flashed in Alaric’s eyes. He took the girl from my hands with unnatural speed. ‘Katja will choose for herself; we’ll never force her into anything.’

‘Not even to become Dagome’s Queen?’ I couldn’t stop myself from teasing. After the horrors of war and the fear during Ani’s labour, this little domestic scene was a balm to my weary spirit.

‘You’re not having a child?’ Orm chimed in, baffled by my answers.

‘Maybe, but if my kingdom has no heir, you won’t mind little Katja becoming its queen, will you?’ I asked, enjoying their stunned expressions.

‘Will you stop planning my children’s future like old drunks?’ Annika grumbled from the bed, and both men moved to her side. ‘I hope you’re happy, because I’m never doing that again.’

Orm and Alaric placed the babies in her arms, then lay beside her on the bed. My chest tightened. Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe, and my head spun.

The pang of jealousy was so strong that I had to leave the room. Annika’s knowing gaze met mine just as I closed the door and left them to their bliss.

‘Get the bath chamber ready and call for my valet,’ I said to a nearby servant before heading first to my study.