Chapter 108 108
Daevir's POV
I heard the news just like everyone else.
Princess Catherine is pregnant.
The words echoed even after the messenger bowed and withdrew.
I remained seated in my study as Ares shifted in my arms. His small body pressed against my chest.
He smelled faintly of milk and the lavender oil his nurse used to keep his temperature still.
Pregnant.
My gaze drifted to the rows of ancient books lining the walls, but I did not see them. My mind wandered instead to that night months ago.
Catherine had insisted we drink together, saying it was to celebrate a minor victory at court. The wine had been very sweet. Too sweet. I remembered the heaviness that followed, how the room had spun, how my thoughts dissolved into fog.
Then, nothing.
I never pressed her about it.
But now…
I exhaled quietly.
"So that is how you secured it," I murmured under my breath.
Ares made a small sound, a curious little grunt, as if he objected to my serious tone.
I looked down at him.
His wide amber eyes stared up at me. He blinked once. Twice. Then his tiny hand lifted and smacked clumsily against my chin.
I huffed a soft laugh.
"Oh? You disagree?"
He answered with another babyish noise, somewhere between a coo and a squeak, his lips wobbling as though he were trying very hard to form words.
"You always have something to say," I told him.
His fingers caught the chain at my collar and tugged with surprising strength.
"That is not a toy, little wolf."
He tugged again anyway.
A stubborn one.
I carefully freed the chain from his grip, only for him to grab a lock of my hair instead. His face lit with triumph, gums showing in a toothless grin.
A quiet warmth spread through my chest.
"You might get a sibling soon," I told him. "A brother or sister."
Ares blinked at me as if processing this great political development. Then he gave a delighted little "Ah!" and kicked his legs.
"You approve?" I asked.
He answered by trying to shove his fist into his mouth and missing, poking his own cheek instead. His brows furrowed in confusion.
I chuckled softly.
"Well, aren't you rather opinionated?"
His health had improved since I took direct charge of his care. No more unexplained fevers. No more strange weaknesses. Not when I spend every minute of every day watching him. Under my watch, no one dared be careless.
Ares reached upward again, this time patting my lips with his palm.
"What is it now?" I asked.
He babbled something utterly meaningless.
"I know Ares. I know." I spoke as if we had a mutual understanding of his babbles
He squealed, delighted by my voice more than my words.
For a moment, peace settles in my heart, and I couldn't ask for a better day until…
The study doors burst open.
I turned sharply as Catherine swept in, flanked by guards. Her protruded stomach entered the room before she did, and her gown flowed around her.
She smiled and bowed before me. When she raised her head and her eyes found Are, it hardened.
"There he is," she said.
"Take the bastard child away," she ordered the guards. "I wish to speak to my husband alone."
The guards hesitated.
They looked at me, tense.
Good men.
Ares, sensing the shift, made a soft questioning noise and pressed his face into my chest.
"Morning to you, Catherine," I said calmly.
Catherine's brows snapped together. "Your highness." Her face twisted into a sulk. "He should not be here," she said. "Not when your true heir grows inside me."
I rose slowly, still holding the child. The guards shifted in their stance.
They had never seen such anger in my eyes for a while now.
Ares shifted in my arms, sensing the tension that had suddenly sharpened the air. His small fingers fisted in my tunic, and he gave a soft, uncertain whine.
I exhaled slowly and turned to the nurse.
"Take him," I said quietly, passing Ares into her careful arms.
She bowed and turned for the door.
"Wait."
She paused at once.
I stepped closer, my gaze firm. "He is not going anywhere where I'm not. So stay."
The nurse swallowed and nodded.
Catherine folded her arms over her swollen belly, eyes blazing. "You guard that child like a doting mother."
I did not answer.
Her voice rose. "You clutch him to your chest while your own blood grows inside me."
Still, I watched her calmly.
"I am carrying your real child," she continued sharply. "Not that… that bastard you fished from a river."
"The next time," I said quietly, "you call him a bastard…"
She scoffed. "What? Will you defend him again?"
"...you will be escorted to the far wing of the palace and remain there until you remember how to speak with dignity."
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
"With the child?" she challenged.
"With the child," I confirmed. "Do not test me."
Her lips parted, shocked that I did not bend.
"But he is your heir!" she insisted. "The court already knows it!"
I walked to my desk slowly, letting each step ground my temper.
"I have not decided who my heir is," I said.
She stared at me like I had struck her.
"You cannot be serious."
"For all you know," I added coolly, "I could take another wife today and name her child heir instead."
Her face drained of color.
"Do not grow comfortable, Catherine."
Her composure cracked like glass.
"With everything I have endured?!" she burst out. "Everything I sacrificed to stand beside you? And this is how you treat me?!" Her voice climbed, shrill and furious.
"You are cold, Daevir. Cold and evil! Any other king would worship the woman carrying his legacy!"
I said nothing, refusing to feed her temper.
"You shame me before the court, before the servants…before this child!" she raged on. "You care more for a stray than your own flesh!"
Sensing the rising tension, Ares' cry blasted the walls. My head snapped to him.
Catherine kept talking, her words blurring into noise.
I ignored her and reached for him. His tiny face was red, tears streaming, little hands reaching out blindly.
The moment he saw me reaching, he stretched toward me with a broken sob.
I took him at once.
"It is alright," I murmured, rocking him gently. "Easy… easy, little wolf."
His cries softened into hiccups. His fingers clutched my collar like he feared I might vanish.
Catherine fell silent, looking at us with a veil beam in her eyes.
I turned back into the room, still calming the child.
Ares quieted.
His lashes fluttered, his breathing evening out.
My gaze blazed at her, and I saw it. Catherine's eyes fixed on Ares. And all I saw was death.