Chapter 363
Chapter 363
Aurora
The first thing I felt was someone holding me.
Warm arms were wrapped securely around my body, keeping me from collapsing onto the cold stone beneath me, and for several seconds I remained caught between consciousness and whatever darkness I had been trapped inside, unable to understand where I was or why I could suddenly feel the familiar warmth of another person against my skin.
My eyes opened immediately.
My body reacted before my mind could catch up, and both of my hands moved instinctively toward my stomach, checking for the babies before I had even fully registered anything else around me.
“Shh. Relax.”
The voice came from behind me.
I knew that voice.
I had spent months hearing it in my dreams, remembering the sound of it even when I had been trapped inside a life that felt so real that I had forgotten there was anything beyond it.
Slowly, I turned my head.
Zayn.
He was sitting on the floor with me in his lap, one arm wrapped securely around my waist while the other supported my back, and the moment our eyes met, the entire world seemed to disappear around us.
I stared at him.
I couldn’t make myself look away.
He was really there.
Not the version of him I had seen inside my dream, not some perfect memory my mind had created to keep me from realizing what was happening to me, but the real Zayn, sitting in a filthy dungeon with exhaustion written across his face and his arms wrapped around me as though he had been afraid to let me go.
My eyes immediately filled with tears.
“Zayn…”
His name came out broken, barely more than a breath.
His expression softened so completely that something inside my chest ached.
He lifted one hand and cupped my cheek, his thumb moving gently beneath my eye as he wiped away a tear.
“I’m here.”
I stared at him.
“You’re really here.”
“I am.”
My lips trembled.
“I thought…”
I couldn’t finish.
There were too many things I could have said.
I had thought I would never see him again. I had thought he was gone.
Instead, he was here.
His forehead rested against mine.
“You don’t have to explain anything right now.”
I closed my eyes.
“I missed you.”
His breath caught.
“I missed you too.”
Then his lips found mine.
The kiss was slow, careful, and almost painfully tender, as though neither of us trusted the moment enough to move too quickly. I could feel the slight tremble in his hand against my cheek, and when I wrapped my arms around his neck, he pulled me closer, holding me against his chest while his lips lingered against mine.
I kissed him again.
And again.
Every time we separated, it was only for a breath before we found each other again, and the longer it lasted, the harder it became to hold back the tears that kept slipping down my cheeks.
His hand moved gently through my hair before settling against the back of my head, keeping me close as he kissed me with an affection that made my chest ache.
There was no urgency in it.
There was simply relief.
Months of fear and uncertainty seemed to pour into those few minutes, and I held onto him as tightly as I could, terrified that if I loosened my arms even slightly, I would wake up somewhere else and discover that this had been another dream.
Eventually, Zayn pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against mine.
His eyes remained closed.
Mine did too.
I could feel his breathing against my lips, uneven and warm, and for a few seconds I simply stayed there, letting myself feel him beneath my hands.
Then a voice came from somewhere behind us.
“I’m here too, by the way.”
Zayn and I immediately separated.
I blinked several times before turning toward the sound, and my eyes widened when I saw Kael sitting in the cage opposite ours.
He was leaning against the wall with one knee raised, looking considerably less concerned with the fact that he was locked underground than I expected him to be.
“Kael?”
He lifted an eyebrow.
“Nice to see you too.”
I stared at him.
Then I looked at Zayn.
Then back at Kael.
“What are you doing here?”
He gave me a small shrug.
“I came to rescue you.”
I looked around the dungeon.
My eyes moved from his cage to mine, then toward the corridor beyond the bars before returning to him.
“You’re in a cage.”
“Yeah.”
I stared at him.
He sighed.
“The rescue didn’t exactly go according to plan.”
A weak laugh escaped me despite everything.
“You think?”
“I’m aware that my current location isn’t particularly impressive.”
“You’re unbelievable.”
“I’ve been told.”
Zayn shook his head.
“You somehow managed to get yourself captured.”
Kael looked toward him.
“That’s rich coming from you.”
“I was already here.”
“And I came here voluntarily.”
“You still ended up in a cage.”
“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“More than you know.”
I looked between them.
“You two are arguing already?”
Kael shrugged.
“We’ve had plenty of time to get acquainted.”
That made me frown.
“How long have you been here?”
Kael glanced toward Zayn.
“Long enough to discover that apparently we’re brothers.”
My expression froze.
I looked at Zayn.
“What?”
Zayn shifted slightly against the wall.
“It’s a long story.”
“You’re brothers?”
Kael nodded.
“Half brothers.”
I stared at both of them.
“How?”
Kael gave a humorless laugh.
“Apparently, his mom has cheated on the king with my dad”
My eyes widened.
“Wait.”
I looked at Zayn.
“Your father is…”
“His father,” Zayn finished quietly.
I looked between them again, trying to make the pieces fit together.
“So you two are actually related?”
“Unfortunately,” Kael said.
Zayn gave him a look.
“You’re the one who started telling me I was lucky to have another brother.”
“I never said lucky.”
“You implied it.”
“I definitely didn’t.”
Despite the situation, I felt a small smile tug at my lips.
Then Zayn’s attention shifted toward me.
His expression changed.
His eyes dropped toward my stomach.
He stared at it for several seconds before looking back at my face.
“Why is your stomach so big?”
I blinked.
“What?”
His brow furrowed.
“You look like you’re about to give birth.”
I glanced down.
Zayn’s expression immediately became worried.
“Did they do something to you?”
“No.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong.”
His gaze moved toward my stomach again.
“Then why is it that big?”
I hesitated.
There was no easy way to say it.
“They’re not just one.”
Zayn’s expression changed.
“What?”
I looked at him.
“There are two.”
He stared at me.
For several seconds, he didn’t seem to understand what I was saying.
“Two what?”
“Babies.”
His entire face went blank.
I couldn’t help the tiny smile that appeared despite everything.
“Twins.”
Zayn’s mouth parted slightly.
“Twins?”
I nodded.
“Two babies.”
He stared at my stomach again, then back at me.
“You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
“Two?”
I laughed softly.
“Yes, Zayn. Two.”
He shook his head slowly, almost as though the number itself was too much for him to comprehend.
“Fuck.”
Kael looked between us.
“Wait, seriously?”
I nodded.
“Twins.”
Kael let out a low whistle.
“That’s one hell of an update.”
Zayn ignored him.
His attention remained entirely on me.
“How far along?”
“About twenty-seven weeks.”
His eyes widened.
“Twenty-seven?”
I nodded.
His fingers closed around mine.
“You’ve been carrying them this whole time?”
“Yes.”
“And I didn’t even know.”
My chest tightened.
“I didn’t know you were alive either.”
His expression fell.
“I know.”
I looked down at our hands.
“That’s what makes this so strange.”
He gently squeezed my fingers.
“I should have been there.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
“I still should’ve been.”
I looked up at him.
“You’re here now.”
He held my gaze for several seconds before slowly bringing my hand toward his lips and pressing a kiss against my knuckles.
Kael watched us for a moment before clearing his throat.
“So... I have a question.”
I looked toward him.
“What?”
“You said you were unconscious when they brought you here?”
I nodded.
“For most of it.”
“What does that mean?”
I hesitated.
“I was dreaming.”
Zayn’s eyebrows drew together.
“Dreaming?”
I nodded slowly.
“It wasn’t like a normal dream.”
I looked down, trying to find the right words.
“It felt real.”
“How real?”
“So real that I didn’t know I was dreaming.”
Zayn’s expression softened.
“What did you dream about?”
I swallowed.
“My life.”
His fingers tightened around mine.
“I had everything I wanted in that dream. I was home, my parents were together.”
My voice became quieter.
“There was no dungeon. No one was hunting me. No one was trying to take me anywhere. I had a house, a family, and a life that felt so ordinary that I never questioned it.”
Zayn listened without interrupting.
“I woke up only recently,” I continued. “Before that, I was there the entire time. I don’t know how long my body was unconscious, but inside the dream, it felt like months had passed.”
“And you didn’t know it wasn’t real?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“That was the worst part.”
His expression tightened.
“Why?”
“Because I was happy.”
The words came out quietly.
“I was so happy that I didn’t want anything else.”
Zayn’s thumb moved slowly across my hand.
“And then you woke up.”
“Yes.”
I swallowed.
“And everything disappeared.”
He looked at me for a long moment before gently brushing his fingers over my cheek.
“You’re here now.”
I nodded.
“I am.”
Kael shifted against the wall.
“So, just to make sure I understand this correctly, you were trapped in some kind of dream while they kept you here, you woke up recently, discovered you’re carrying twins, somehow unlocked enough magic to kill a doctor, and then ended up being dragged into this dungeon where you found both of us?”
I stared at him.
“When you put it that way, it sounds insane.”
“Because it is.”
Zayn gave him a look.
“You’re not exactly in a position to judge anyone’s situation.”
Kael glanced down at his own cage.
“Fair point.”
I looked at both of them.
Despite everything—the dungeon, the blood still staining my clothes, the memory of my mother lying dead on the corridor floor, and the terrifying uncertainty of what waited beyond these bars—I felt something inside me when I looked at them.
Not peace.
Not yet.
But enough strength to keep going.
Zayn was here.
Kael was here.
And neither of them looked remotely willing to accept that these cages were going to be the end of the story.
Kael pushed himself upright and looked toward the lock.
“So,” he said, glancing between us, “now that everyone has finished catching up, can we figure out how the hell we’re getting out?”