"I wish you had never been born."
Roxy woke with a violent jolt, her body seizing as if she had been electrocuted. Her hands flew up to her throat, gasping for air, expecting the sll of stale cigarette smoke and bleach.
But there was no bleach. There was only the sll of warm vanilla and the earthy musk of the sunroom.
"Hhh..." Roxy let out a shuddering breath, her heart hamring against her ribs like a trapped bird.
She looked to her side. Syris was still asleep, his pale face peaceful in the dim light, his chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm. He hadn’t stirred. Thank the System.
That was the first step of healing.
Roxy pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob. The dream had been so vivid. It had peeled back the layers of strength she had built as a Luna, exposing the scared little girl underneath who just wanted her mother to look at her without hatred.
Hot, angry tears leaked from her eyes. She hated them. She hated crying. She had cried enough in the last two days to fill a lake.
Quietly, moving with the stealth of a thief, she untangled herself from the sheets. She couldn’t let Syris see her like this. He would panic, try to comfort her, and rip his stitches.
She slipped out of the sunroom and padded barefoot across the cold floor of the living room, heading straight for the main bathroom.
She locked the door and slumped over the wooden basin. She splashed freezing cold water on her face, scrubbing at her eyes until the skin was raw.
"Stop it," she hissed at her reflection. "You are not that girl anymore. You are a Queen. You have three Kings and a Snake who would burn the world for you. Stop crying."
The reflection stared back, eyes red-rimd, hair ssy, looking exhausted.
"Roxy?"
A low rumble ca from the other side of the door. Roxy froze. She quickly dried her face with a towel. "I’m fine, Z. Just... nature calling."
She unlocked the door.
Zarek stood there. He was fully dressed in his black robe. He scanned her face instantly. He saw the red eyes. He saw the tremor in her hands.
He didn’t ask. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
"Bad dream?" Zarek asked softly.
Roxy nodded, biting her lip. "Yeah." But she didn’t say anything more. They didn’t need to, because it was all in the past.
Zarek’s jaw tightened. He reached out, his large, warm hands cupping her shoulders. "You are strong, Roxy."
That sentence touched Roxy in her chest, and she felt warm.
"I know," she whispered, "I just... I needed to wash my face."
"Let help," Zarek said.
He grabbed a warm washcloth. He wiped her face gently, erasing the evidence of the tears. Then, without a word, he led her out to the bedroom.
He pulled a heavy fur gown from the wardrobe. It was white snow-fox fur, lined with silk, warm enough for the harsh winter outside but regal enough for a Luna. "Vorn is here."
Roxy frowned, her arms halfway into the sleeves. "Vorn? At this hour? It’s barely dawn."
"He is waiting on the porch," Zarek said, fastening the clasps of the gown over her small bump. "He says there are... visitors."
Roxy felt a prickle of unease. Visitors in a blizzard? After Syris had been speared?
She smoothed down the fur. She stood up straighter, pushing the scared little girl from the dream into a ntal box and locking it tight.
"Let’s go," she said.
****
The village center was buried in snow. The wind whipped around the wooden structures, biting at exposed skin.
A crowd of Iron-Wood wolves had gathered in a wide circle near the main fire pit. They were growling, their hackles raised, creating a periter around a small group of strangers.
Roxy walked down the path, Zarek at her right side, his hand resting on the small of her back. Kaelen and Torian were already there, standing at the front of the wolf pack, blocking the path to the cabin.
"What is going on?" Roxy demanded, her voice cutting through the wind.
The wolves parted instantly for their Luna.
Roxy stepped into the circle.
Standing near the fire were six figures. They were tall, draped in heavy black cloaks made of leather. They didn’t shiver in the cold. In fact, they seed to stand with an unnatural stillness, like statues waiting to strike.
Two n stood at the front.
They were undeniably Syris’s kin. They had the sa sharp, angular features, the sa pale skin, and the sa long, silky seaweed hair. But where Syris was elegant and scholarly, these n were brutal.
The one on the left was massive, tall like Zarek, with shoulders that looked like boulders. His eyes were a dull, muddy yellow, and a scar ran from his lip to his ear. This was Malus.
The one on the right was a leaner, his face handso but twisted by a permanent sneer. His eyes were a piercing, toxic green, and his fingers twitched at his sides. This was Ven.
They watched Roxy approach. Their gazes didn’t land on her face. They landed imdiately, hungrily, on her stomach.
"So," Ven drawled, his voice like dry leaves skittering on stone. "This is the vessel."
Roxy stopped ten feet away. Zarek stepped slightly in front of her, his body heat flaring up as a warning.
"I am Roxy," she said coldly. "Luna of the Iron-Wood. Who are you, and why are you trespassing on my land?"
Malus chuckled. It was a deep, wet sound. "Land? You call this pile of sticks and dog-filth land?"
The wolves snarled. Kaelen clenched his fist tightly.
"We are the envoys of Lord Vipersan," Ven said smoothly, stepping forward. He threw back his hood, revealing a neck covered in shimring black scales. "I am Prince Ven. This is Prince Malus. We are the brothers of the exile you harbor."
Roxy’s heart went cold.
The brothers. The ones Zarek had told her about. The ones who had tortured Syris.
"I know who you are," Roxy said, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "You are the ones who shot him."
She pointed back toward the cabin.
Ven waved his hand dismissively. "The Runt was trespassing. We simply... reminded him of his place. Honestly, we aid for the spine. He must have slithered faster than usual."
Malus grinned, showing teeth that were filed into points. "He always was a coward. Running away. Bleeding on the snow."
Roxy saw red. The rage that had been simring since the dream, the protectiveness she felt for the wounded man in her sunroom, it all boiled over.
"Why are you here?" Roxy demanded. "If you hate him so much, why co to his ho?"
"We aren’t here for him," Ven said, his eyes locking onto her belly again. "We are here for the child."
He took a step closer, ignoring the growling wolves.
"We sensed the resonance," Ven explained, licking his lips. "A Basilisk infant. A son. Syris is weak trash, unfit to carry the na. But his seed? It seems he finally did sothing useful. The child radiates power."
Ven extended a hand, palm up.
"We have co to collect you, human. You cannot raise a High-Tier Basilisk in this... squalor. Among mammals." He sneered at Kaelen and Torian. "The child needs the swamp. He needs the heat of our territory. He needs to be raised by true warriors, not the Runt."
Malus crossed his huge arms. "Father wants the boy. You co with us. You nurse him until he is weaned. Then, you can leave. Or stay as a breeder. It matters not."
Roxy stared at them.
They wanted her baby.
Silence fell over the clearing. The wind howled.
Then, Roxy laughed.
It wasn’t a happy laugh. It was a cold, high-pitched sound that made the fur on the wolves’ backs stand up. It was the laugh of soone who had just realized that violence was the only language being spoken.
"Let get this straight," Roxy said, tilting her head. "You shot my mate," she listed, stepping around Zarek. "You leave him bleeding in the snow. You insult my ho. You call my family dogs."
She stopped three feet from Ven. She was half his size, but her aura was suffocating.
"And now," she smiled sweetly, "you expect to follow you? To bring my child to a place where you torture your own kin?"
She looked at Malus, then back at Ven.
"Here is my counteroffer," Roxy said, her voice turning to steel. "How about I kill you right now? The stew I wanted yesterday got ruined. I bet two big, aty snakes would make a lot of soup."
The wolves behind her stopped growling and started laughing, dark, barking laughs of agreent.
Ven’s smile vanished. His green eyes narrowed into slits.
Malus uncrossed his arms, his knuckles cracking. The air grew heavy with the pressure of their pheromones, toxic and suffocating.
"We were being polite," Ven hissed, stepping closer until he was looming over her. "We were offering you a carriage. But if you prefer chains..."
He leaned down, his face inches from hers.
"We would have to force you to co with us."
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