One year later…
The room smelled of blood, sweat and panic.
"Mrs. Riegrow, you have to push," the doctor said, her voice trembling despite her effort to remain calm. "If you do not push, the baby.... "
"Push?" Selene cried, her voice breaking as another wave of pain tore through her. "With what strength? I never wanted this!"
Her body arched against the bed. The sheets beneath her were twisted in her fists, damp with sweat. Her hair clung to her face, and tears streamed freely down her cheeks, hot and bitter.
The doctor swallowed hard. "Please, Mrs. Riegrow. Just a little more. You are almost there."
Selene turned her head sharply toward her, her eyes wild with agony. "Shut up," she hissed. Then she screamed as the pain came again. "Just shut up and get it out! Get it out of me!"
The nurses surrounding her flinched, but none of them dared move away. They had been in the room for hours, each of them pale, exhausted, and drenched in nervous sweat.
Selene had cursed through every contraction.
She had cursed the heavens, the earth.
She had cursed the house she was trapped in, the ring still forced upon her hand, and the name she had been made to carry.
But most of all, she had cursed Caesar Riegrow.
Again and again.
She had cursed him to every god she knew, cursed his blood, cursed his breath, cursed the very night he had touched her and planted this living reminder inside her.
"That bastard," she choked, her voice thinning as her strength began to fail. "That fucking bastard…"
Her fingers dug into the sheets until her knuckles turned white.
"Get it out," she whispered, then louder, "Tear it out if you have to. Just get it out."
The doctor wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her sleeve. Her hands were steady, but her eyes were not. Never in all her years had she witnessed a woman fight childbirth with such hatred.
It filled the room more strongly than the smell of blood. It sat in the air like smoke, thick and suffocating.
"Mrs. Riegrow," She said carefully, "I need you to calm down and breathe with me."
Selene let out a bitter, breathless laugh that became a sob halfway through. "I am trying," she snapped. "Hell, I am trying."
Another pain split through her, brutal and merciless. Selene screamed until her throat burned. She wanted it to end. She wanted the pain to swallow her whole. She wanted death, if death would be kinder than this.
She had never asked for the child.
Never wanted it. Never once looked at her swelling stomach with love.
To her, it had always been a prison growing inside another prison.
She squeezed her eyes shut, trembling violently.
The doctor leaned closer. "One more, Mrs. Riegrow. One more strong push."
Selene's lips parted, but no words came out.
She had no prayers and curses left.
Then, with the last cruel piece of will she could gather, she reached forward and gripped the doctor's hand. Her fingers clamped around her with surprising force, nails digging into his skin.
Her scream tore through the room.
Few mintues later,
The doctor lifted the child into the light.
A baby boy.
Small. Quiet. Pale. His skin still carried the bluish tint of birth, but his eyes were open.
Wide open.
An icy, pale blue that seemed almost too still for a newborn.
The doctor stared for half a second longer than she should have.
Then she forced a smile and turned toward Selene. "It is a boy," she announced softly.
The nurses released quiet breaths of relief around the room. One of them nearly wept.
The doctor stepped closer, holding the baby carefully. "Mrs. Riegrow…"
Selene lay motionless, utterly drained. Her chest rose and fell with slow, uneven breaths. For a moment, she did not look at the child.
Then, slowly, she lifted her head. Her eyes fell on the baby. She stared at him for a long, cold moment.
There was no wonder in her gaze. Only disgust and the terrible emptiness of a woman who had been forced to give life to something born from her suffering.
The child stared back at her, silent and wide-eyed.
Selene's lips parted faintly. This is not mine.
The thought came with such clarity that it nearly steadied her. It belongs to that monster. Not mine.
She turned her face away.
The doctor froze, the baby still in his arms. The nurses exchanged uneasy glances, but no one spoke. They continued cleaning Selene, tending to her body while the silence stretched.
After a while, the doctor cleared her throat.
"Do you…" she hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "Do you have a name for your son, ma'am?"
For several seconds, Selene said nothing.
Then she looked back. At the child. At those pale, icy eyes that did not cry, did not blink, did not behave like something newly born and helpless.
Her expression hardened. "Chaos," she said.
The doctor's hand tightened slightly around the baby, the nurses stopped moving. Even the air seemed to recoil.
Selene rested her head back against the pillow and closed her eyes. "His name is Chaos."
And the room went silent.
When Caesar returned to the mansion, the household had already been waiting for him.
The butler met him at the foot of the grand staircase, head lowered. "Master," he said carefully, "Madam has delivered safely."
Caesar paused only long enough for a slow smile to form on his face. The word seemed to please him.
"And the child?" he asked, removing his gloves as he began walking up the stairs.
"A boy, master."
Caesar's smile deepened. For a moment, there was something almost gentle in his expression.
"What did she call him?"
The butler stopped one step behind him, hesitating.
Caesar paused halfway up the staircase and turned his head slightly. His eyes narrowed, though his mouth still held that calm, dangerous smile.
"Well?" he asked. "Do I have to cut the answer out of you?"
The butler bowed at once. "Apologies, master."
Caesar waited.
The butler swallowed. "Madam named him… Chaos."
For a brief second, Caesar said nothing.
Then one brow lifted.
Chaos.
The name hung in the air between them like a curse and a prophecy.
Caesar gave no reaction beyond that. He simply turned and continued up the stairs, his footsteps measured against the polished floor.
When he reached Selene's room, he did not knock.
He pushed the door open and walked in, the silence, the woman inside it, and the newborn sleeping nearby were all things that belonged to him.
Selene was sitting against the pillows, pale and exhausted, a cigar resting between her fingers.
The room still carried the aftermath of childbirth. Clean cloths had replaced the bloodied ones, fresh sheets had been drawn over the bed, and the nurses had cleared most of the evidence away. But nothing could quite remove the heaviness in the air.
Caesar's gaze flicked toward the crib first.
The baby slept quietly inside it. Unbothered by the world he had just entered.
Caesar walked toward the crib, but his eyes soon shifted to Selene.
There was hatred in her gaze so sharp it could have split bone.
Caesar's eyes dropped to the cigar. "I do not think it is wise for you to do that," he said.
Selene scoffed, raising the cigar slightly as though daring him to stop her."I nearly died giving birth to that," she said coldly. "I deserve this much."
Caesar's expression did not change.
He leaned over the crib, looking down at the sleeping child. For the first time since entering the room, his face softened. Not fully, but warmly enough to be called tender.
His fingers reached down, brushing lightly over the baby's dark hair.
"It is bad for our son."
"Your son," Selene snapped.
Caesar gave a low laugh, as if her anger entertained him more than it should have. "Right. Right."
He straightened and turned back to her.
Before Selene could move away, Caesar reached out, plucked the cigar from between her fingers, and crushed it out.
"No smoking beside the baby," he said.
Selene's face tightened. "You got what you wanted." Her voice was low now, but no less bitter.
Caesar looked at her.
She looked back at him, exhausted and furious "Let me go."
Caesar tilted his head. "You are still fixed on that?"
"I hate it here," Selene said.
There was no drama in the words.
Caesar stepped closer to the bed. "I know."
Selene's eyes hardened, but she did not move when he leaned down. His lips pressed against her forehead. A gentle gesture from a cruel man. Somehow, that made it worse.
Then Caesar looked back toward the crib.
"Adrian is beautiful," he said.
Selene said nothing.
She turned her face away from him and stared at the opposite wall, her body aching, her heart colder than the room around her.
In the crib, Chaos Adrian Riegrow slept on.