Chapter 6

My cry was swallowed by the laughter and the rattle of chains all around me.

The women guards of the Punishment Grounds saw that Selena did nothing to stop it, so they took the whips down from the wall too.

They wanted to please the most favored woman in Silvermoon Keep.

The first lash landed across my back.

The pain was so fierce my whole body snapped taut.

The second came right behind it.

The whip split my skin, each stroke leaving a burning welt on my body.

All I could do was arch my back and curl my body around my child, shielding him.

"Daisy!"

Elena's scream was pure despair.

She bit down on the guard dragging her, tore free, and threw herself over me, using her own back to take the falling whip.

"She's eight months pregnant!"

"Can't you feel the royal presence coming off her?"

"Please, I'm begging you, go get the High!"

One of the guards drew back her foot and kicked Elena away.

"A low-ranking maid, giving us orders?"

Elena crumpled to the ground and went completely still.

"Elena!"

I tried to crawl toward her, but I was hauled back again.

The wolf deep inside me roared like something maddened.

She slammed again and again at the seal the High had left, straining to protect our child.

But every blow made the pain in my belly worse.

Soon my blood had soaked the stone floor beneath me.

One of the noble ladies standing beside Selena finally showed a flicker of unease.

"Selena, she does live in Moonshadow Hall, after all."

"That presence she gave off just now didn't feel like an ordinary she-wolf either."

"If she really is connected to the royal house, and we let these criminals treat her this way, won't it enrage King Caius?"

Selena toyed with her curls, unbothered.

"Caius favors me above any woman in Silvermoon Keep."

"I'm only punishing a traitor in his place. Why would he ever blame me for that?"

"Besides, my brother commands the Western Legion."

"He gave me his word himself. As long as I don't betray the whole North, no one can touch me."

Hearing this, the other noble ladies chimed in at once.

"That's right, General Fergus has tens of thousands of warriors."

"Even the Council of Elders has to show the West some deference."

"King Caius still needs General Fergus to hold the borders. Why would he ever punish Selena over some woman whose identity no one even knows?"

The woman who'd been worried a moment ago finally set her doubts aside.

She even stepped closer, admiring the sight of my suffering with open interest.

I didn't know how long I endured it.

The pain slowly went numb.

The sounds around me began to grow distant.

Just as I was about to lose consciousness, a pain like nothing before tore through my belly.

As if something were being ripped forcibly out of my body.

I lowered my head.

A stream of warm blood was pouring out from beneath me, and it wouldn't stop.

"No…"

I gathered the last of my strength to cover my belly, and for the first time my voice carried a fear I couldn't hide.

"The baby…"

"My baby…"

My head snapped up toward Selena.

"Get a healer!"

"Please, call a healer here right now!"

"The baby won't hold on!"

Selena had drunk her fill of my wretchedness, and at last she lifted a hand.

"Stop, all of you."

The criminals ringed around me drew back, unwilling.

I lay on the freezing ground, wounded everywhere, forcing my breathing steady.

If the healer got here in time, maybe there was still a chance.

Werewolves heal far better than ordinary people.

And my child carried the purest royal bloodline of all.

He would survive. He had to.

I couldn't lose him.

Selena came to stand before me and looked down at the blood pouring from beneath me.

There wasn't a trace of panic on her face, only the toying amusement of a cat with a mouse.

"You want me to save that bastard?"

"Fine."

Hope flared in my chest in an instant.

"What do you want?"

She raised her chin.

"Kneel. Kowtow to me."

"Admit that you're a liar who slept with a guard."

"Admit that you impersonated the Luna Queen, just to escape punishment."

My body went rigid.

I was the mate Caius had publicly acknowledged before the Moon Goddess Altar.

The Luna Queen the Twelve Territories of the North had sworn their loyalty to as one.

By the law of the wolves, no one but the Moon Goddess and my mate had the right to make me kneel.

But the pain in my belly kept building.

My child's presence was fading, little by little.

Through the bond of our shared blood, I could feel his faint, struggling flickers.

Weighed against my child's life, dignity meant nothing at all.

"Fine."

I braced my wound-covered body and forced myself up onto my knees.

"I'll kneel."