My stomach clenched so hard it felt like it had licked from a sudden spasm. The bond screamed in my head; three voices at once, raw and overlapping. Darius's cold certainty that it wouldn't be him because a king doesn't fall first. Kane's silent vow to step forward and take the blade himself so the rest of us lived. Rylan's reckless laugh daring her to try because he'd rather burn the mountain down than let her pick. I felt all of it like it was my own blood boiling.
I stepped around Darius before any of them could move. My palm stayed pressed to my belly, shielding the small spark that had only existed for days but already felt like the only thing that was truly mine in this whole frozen nightmare. "No one dies today. Not for your games. You want blood price? Take mine. Cut what you need from me right now. My alpha line is older than their father's sins. That should break the curse clean without touching the child."
