But before Levi could gather his thoughts, Zion continued.
"The worst part was… she was already pregnant when I found her." His voice dropped, thick with pity.
"I was mortified. She never told me who the father was—refused to speak about it at all. I asked her how long she'd been imprisoned there, but she wouldn't answer that either. When I tried to press her for clarification, she didn't deny my assumptions—just laughed, this quiet, self-deprecating laugh… so full of sadness it haunted me."
He ran a hand through his hair, his jaw clenched tightly. "I couldn't leave her there. So I snuck her out—got her away from that hellhole before our forces stormed the place. Aside from me and the men who infiltrated with me, no one else knew. I had to keep it that way, at least until we could get her back to the Royal Capital safely."
Zion's eyes darkened with the weight of the memory. "It was all just a coincidence—one I never saw coming."
...
A month before the end of the war.
