Chapter 91 The enemy is among us.
My breath caught in my chest.
It was as if something had settled inside me—not like an invasion, but like a new, dense weight, pulsing along with my own blood.
I brought my hand to my chest, right over the mark.
It was hot.
Too hot.
"Conrad…," I called softly.
He noticed immediately.
"What's happening?" he asked, his voice tense.
Kael approached carefully, his eyes attentive as if analyzing every detail of my energy.
"You absorbed it," he said slowly. "The shadows that were in it."
Conrad stiffened.
"Is this dangerous?"
Kael didn't answer immediately.
And the silence was worse than any answer.
The baby moved again.
More strongly.
As if reacting to that energy.
A sharp pain shot through my belly, making me hold my breath.
Conrad held my face.
"Maya, look at me. Does it hurt?"
"No...", I murmured. "It's different."
It was true.
It wasn't pain.
It was pressure.
As if my body was trying to reorganize something.
Selena began to awaken in the arms of one of the healers. She blinked confusedly, breathing rapidly, but... clear.
No shadows.
No heavy energy.
"I...", she whispered. "I can... think."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"The noise stopped."
Kael exhaled slowly.
"So it worked."
Conrad looked at me immediately.
"It worked for her," he said. "But what about Maya?"
I tried to answer, but at that moment the mark burned again.
Stronger.
My vision darkened for a second.
And then I felt it.
Something was stirring inside me.
Not the baby.
The energy.
As if searching for space.
Instinctively, I reached for my belly.
"Hey…," I whispered, not realizing I was speaking aloud.
The baby's movement slowed.
The pressure in my chest also lessened.
As if…
It had stabilized everything.
Kael's eyes widened slightly.
"The baby," he said.
Conrad remained still.
"What?"
"The baby is acting as a catalyst," Kael explained. "It's helping her body process the energy from the Rift."
My heart raced.
"Is this good?" Conrad asked.
Kael hesitated.
"It's… unexpected."
It wasn't exactly reassuring.
Selena looked at me now with a mixture of gratitude and fear.
"You saved me," she said.
I shook my head.
"It wasn't just me."
But deep down, I knew.
This was changing something.
In me.
In the baby.
In the Bond.
Conrad pulled me close, enveloping my body with his strong arms.
"That's enough for today," he said firmly. "Everyone back down."
The guards obeyed.
The healers took Selena away.
The courtyard began to empty.
But before we left, Kael spoke softly, just to the two of us.
"Conrad... Maya... you need to prepare."
I looked at him.
"For what?"
He held my gaze.
"If she was marked as a child... then this didn't start now."
A shiver ran down my spine.
"Someone did this to her."
Conrad stiffened immediately.
"Who?"
Kael answered bluntly.
"Someone from inside the castle."
The world seemed to grow colder in that instant.
Because, for the first time...
We weren't just fighting erasers.
We were fighting betrayal.
The weight of Kael's words hung in the air, like a storm about to break.
"Someone from inside the castle."
I felt Conrad tense beside me. His arm around my waist tightened slightly, not from pain—from protection. It was instinctive. It was the alpha within him reacting even before the king.
"Are you sure?" Conrad asked, his voice low, dangerous.
Kael nodded slowly.
"Not absolutely. But the mark on her... it wasn't recent. It was planted years ago. And it wasn't just anyone who did it. It requires access. Knowledge. Proximity."
Proximity.
My stomach churned.
Because proximity meant trust. It meant someone who moved freely among us.
Someone who knew our routines.
Our weaknesses.
Our secrets.
"That changes everything," Conrad said.
“Yes,” Kael replied. “Because if there’s someone inside the castle working with the Rift… then we’re all targets.”
The baby stirred again, more gently now, as if reacting to the emotions coursing through me. I automatically placed my hand on my stomach, trying to calm myself… or him.
Maybe both.
“We can’t tell the council yet,” I said.
The two men looked at me.
“If there’s a traitor,” I continued, “warning everyone will only make that person hide better.”
Kael nodded.
“She’s right.”
Conrad took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair.
“The whole castle is compromised,” he murmured. “My mother… the council… the guards… anyone could be involved.”
The mention of Solange brought a heavy silence between us.
None of us spoke.
But we all thought.
I felt it.
Conrad felt it.
Kael did too.
"No," Conrad said suddenly, as if answering his own thought. "My mother could be many things... but not this."
I didn't answer.
Because I wasn't sure.
And I think he noticed.
We left the courtyard in silence. The castle seemed different now—darker, more closed in. Each corridor we walked down carried a new suspicion. Each servant who passed us could be hiding something.
It was impossible not to feel.
It was impossible not to think.
When we reached the room, Conrad slammed the door shut and ran his hands over his face.
"I should have seen it," he said. "Something. A sign. Anything."
"You're not responsible for everything," I said.
He stared at me.
"I am the king."
"You're human too."
The tension in his face broke slightly.
He came closer and cupped my face in his hands, his forehead against mine.
"I can't lose you," he whispered. "Neither you... nor him."
My throat tightened.
"You won't."
But deep down, the fear was still there.
Because now it wasn't just about the Rift.
It was about the baby.
About the future.
About who was watching us without us realizing it.
Conrad led me to the bed and made me sit down.
"You need to rest."
"I know."
But before I could lie down, the mark on my chest pulsed again.
This time... differently.
It wasn't pain.
It was a warning.
I automatically looked out the window.
The moon was partially obscured by clouds, but light still streamed into the room.
And then I saw it.
For a second.
A reflection in the glass. A shadow stood still outside the balcony.
My heart raced.
"Conrad...", I called softly.
He turned immediately.
But when he looked... there was no one there.
Only the wind moving the curtains.
"Did you see something?", he asked.
I hesitated.
"I'm not sure."
But I was.
I was sure.
Because at that very instant the baby moved strongly inside me.
And a chilling sensation ran down my spine.
As if something...
Or someone...
Was watching us.
From outside.
Or worse.
From inside the castle.
Conrad closed the curtains and locked the balcony door, but the unease didn't go away.
Because now we knew.
The war wasn't coming.
It had already begun.
And the enemy...
Was already among us.