The Serpent Council arrived at noon.
They came in black cars with tinted windows, escorted by men who smiled too much and looked at everything like it was already theirs.
Including me.
Rafael made sure I was seated at his right hand.
Not beside him.
Behind him.
Where his body could block mine.
Where his hand could reach me without looking.
"Sit," he said quietly, fingers brushing my knee under the table. "Don't speak unless I tell you to."
"I'm not a child," I whispered.
"No," he replied. "You're worse."
The double doors opened.
Five people entered.
Four men.
One woman.
I felt her before I saw her.
She walked like she owned the floor. Heels precise. Back straight. Eyes sharp and amused.
Her gaze slid over the room and stopped on Rafael.
Then moved to me.
Curious.
Assessing.
Satisfied.
"Rafael," she said smoothly. "You look terrible."
"Selene," he replied. "You look alive. That's surprising."
The Serpent Queen smiled.
She wore red.
A deliberate choice.
She took her seat directly across from him.
"Let's not waste time," Selene said. "You were ambushed. You were injured. And suddenly… you're hiding a woman."
Her eyes flicked to me again.
"Who is she?"
Rafael's fingers tightened on my knee.
"Mine."
Selene laughed softly.
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one you get."
One of the men leaned forward. "We're concerned about stability."
"I'm concerned about breathing," Rafael replied. "Yet here we are."
Selene raised a hand.
"Easy," she said. "We're family."
I nearly laughed.
Family didn't steal babies.
Family didn't sharpen knives behind smiles.
Selene's gaze sharpened as she studied Rafael.
"You're different," she said slowly. "Your eyes… you're struggling."
Rafael didn't respond.
I felt it then.
The pressure in his grip.
The tension in his body.
He couldn't read faces.
Not hers.
Not theirs.
Every expression was a threat.
Selene leaned back, crossing her legs.
"I heard," she continued, "that you don't recognize people anymore."
Silence slammed into the room.
My breath caught.
Rafael's hand stilled.
"That rumor," he said evenly, "will get someone killed."
"Is it a rumor," Selene asked sweetly, "or an opportunity?"
Before anyone could react, she stood and walked toward us.
Rafael tensed.
I felt it instantly.
His heartbeat spiked.
His body shifted between her and me without conscious thought.
Selene stopped two steps away.
"Relax," she said. "I just want to look at her."
"No," Rafael replied.
Selene's smile widened.
"You don't let anyone look at her," she observed. "Not even me."
"She's not part of this."
"But she is," Selene said, eyes glittering. "The moment she became your weakness."
Rafael stood.
The table screeched as his chair moved.
The room went still.
"My weakness," he said softly, "is thinking I still need this council."
Selene's gaze flicked to me again.
Then something unexpected happened.
She stepped closer to Rafael.
And reached for him.
Just a touch.
Her fingers brushed his arm.
Rafael flinched.
Not in desire.
In confusion.
I saw it.
The delay.
The hesitation.
He didn't know who was touching him.
Selene noticed.
Her smile turned sharp.
"Oh," she whispered. "So it's true."
Rafael grabbed her wrist.
Hard.
"Touch me again," he said calmly, "and I'll break every bone in your hand."
She didn't pull away.
Instead, she leaned in.
"Does she know?" Selene murmured.
Rafael's grip tightened.
"Know what?"
"That you can't recognize her face either."
The words sliced through the room.
My chest constricted.
Rafael turned to me slowly.
His eyes searched.
Empty.
Furious.
Afraid.
Selene watched with open fascination.
"I wondered," she said. "You're too tense. Too territorial. Like a man guarding something he's afraid to lose… because he already lost something else."
Rafael said nothing.
I felt his hand slide back to my knee.
Anchoring.
Claiming.
"She knows," he said finally.
Selene blinked.
"Interesting."
One of the council men frowned. "Then she's a liability."
"No," Rafael said. "She's insurance."
Selene laughed.
"Oh, Rafael. You've always been terrible at lying."
She turned to me.
"What do you see when you look at him?" she asked. "A king? A husband? Or a broken man who doesn't know which woman he married?"
I stood.
Rafael's hand snapped out, grabbing my wrist.
"Sit," he ordered.
I didn't.
I looked at Selene.
"I see a man," I said steadily, "who still knows who he would kill for."
The room froze.
Selene's smile faded.
Rafael's grip tightened.
Then—unexpectedly—he smiled.
Not kindly.
"She's right," he said. "And I'm starting to feel nostalgic."
Selene studied me closely now.
Then she nodded.
"Fine," she said. "Keep her. For now."
She turned back to the council.
"But about the nursery," she continued casually.
My heart dropped.
"What about it?" Rafael demanded.
Selene tilted her head.
"It was searched professionally," she said. "Whoever did it knew exactly what they were looking for."
Rafael's eyes darkened.
"And?"
"And they didn't find it," she said.
I stopped breathing.
"Didn't find what?" Rafael asked.
Selene smiled.
"The child."
The word detonated.
Rafael slammed his hand on the table.
The crack echoed like a gunshot.
Everyone jumped.
Except Selene.
"You knew," Rafael said dangerously.
"We suspected," she replied. "Now we're certain."
He turned to me.
Not accusing.
Terrified.
"You didn't tell them," he said.
"I would never," I whispered.
Selene leaned forward.
"You should have," she said. "Because now… everyone will want him."
Rafael's hand slid to my waist.
Possessive.
Protective.
"Anyone who touches my child," he said, "dies."
Selene smiled.
"That's what worries me," she said. "Because someone already did."
The room spun.
"Explain," Rafael growled.
Selene stood.
"They didn't take the child," she said. "They took proof."
"What proof?" I whispered.
She looked straight at me.
"A recording."
My blood ran cold.
Rafael stiffened.
"A recording of what?" he demanded.
Selene's smile was sharp.
"A baby crying."
Silence fell.
Rafael's grip on me tightened until it hurt.
"They want leverage," Selene continued. "And now they have it."
"Who?" Rafael asked.
Selene turned toward the door.
"The Cleaner."
The name slammed into us like a curse.
Rafael inhaled sharply.
Memory flared.
Pain crossed his face.
I grabbed him instinctively.
He didn't push me away.
"The Cleaner doesn't move without purpose," Selene added. "Which means…"
"They have our child," I whispered.
Selene met my eyes.
"No," she said softly. "They want your husband."
The doors opened.
The council began to leave.
Selene paused beside me.
"Be careful," she whispered. "Men who can't remember faces fall in love very easily."
She glanced at Rafael.
"And kill even easier."
The doors closed.
Silence swallowed the room.
Rafael stood there, shaking.
I turned to him.
"We'll find him," I said.
He looked at me.
Really looked.
Not my face.
My voice.
My hands.
My heartbeat.
"They already found me," he said quietly.
Then his hand slid to my stomach.
Not knowing why.
But knowing.
"Whoever took our child," he said, voice breaking, "will learn what happens when you steal from a man who has nothing left to lose."
And I knew.
The Cleaner had just declared war.