The first thing I felt when I woke was not pain — it was weight.A strange heaviness, deep in my belly, like the world had settled there while I was sleeping.
The ceiling above me glowed with dawn light, soft gold filtering through the sheer curtains. Everything looked peaceful. Too peaceful. The kind of calm that only exists right after a storm, when the wind has stopped but the trees are still trembling.
I wasn't in the Dominion anymore.
The familiar scent of the palace — sandalwood, roses, the faint sweetness of Omega pheromones masking anxiety — told me that much before I even turned my head.
My old room.The one I'd run away from years ago.
But it didn't feel like home. The sheets were too clean. The air too still. Even the light seemed foreign after the chaos of the last few days.
Then the memories came rushing back like shards of glass.
Leonardo breaking through the gates.The fire. The power. His eyes when he saw me.The way his aura wrapped around me, fierce and possessive — not cruel, but desperate.
And the moment I stepped between him and my brothers, the way my own strength had flared and then vanished, leaving me trembling in his arms.
I reached instinctively for my abdomen.No bruises. No burns. Just… warmth.
I tried to sit up, but dizziness pulled at my vision. My body felt foreign — heavy and uncooperative. Like my energy was being drained by something unseen.
"Lady Evne," came a soft voice from the doorway.
My hand froze on the blanket. It was one of the palace maids. Her face was familiar, older now. The same soft eyes that had watched over me as a child.
"You shouldn't get up yet," she said gently. "Your brothers said to let you rest."
I swallowed, my throat dry. "What time is it?"
"Mid-morning, my lady. You've been asleep for nearly a full day."
A full day.
That explained the disorientation. The hollow ache in my chest.
I pushed the blanket aside anyway, ignoring her startled protest. My legs trembled the moment they touched the floor, but I forced myself to stand.
"I'm fine," I lied. "I just need air."
The maid hesitated but bowed and stepped aside. "The gardens have been cleared for you, my lady. No one will disturb you."
No one except my thoughts, I wanted to say.
I walked barefoot down the corridor, every step echoing against marble that once felt comforting and now sounded like a prison.
Outside, the air was sharp and clean, tinged with the metallic scent of dew. The gardens hadn't changed — still immaculate, still symmetrical, every rose bush trimmed within an inch of its life. My family always loved control. Even over nature.
I reached the stone bench near the fountain and sat, watching the koi circle lazily in the pond.
For a long time, I didn't move.
All I could think about was him.
Leonardo.
The way his voice had broken when he said my name. The way he'd looked at me like I was something fragile and precious and infuriating all at once.
And that scent — that wild, burning scent of his aura mingling with mine. It had lingered even after the fight, clinging to my skin like invisible fire.
My brothers said he was dangerous. That he was a conqueror, a monster dressed as a king.
But the monster I saw last night had looked ready to burn down the world not out of greed — but out of fear.
Fear of losing me.
I pressed a hand against my chest, right where my heartbeat felt too fast. "Idiot," I whispered, though I didn't know if I meant him or myself.
A breeze stirred the flowers, carrying a faint hum of palace activity. Somewhere inside, I could hear my brothers' voices through the open windows — arguing. About him, no doubt. About me.
And as I sat there, a wave of nausea suddenly hit me.
It wasn't sharp — just a rolling sickness that made the edges of my vision blur. I leaned forward, breathing through it, but it didn't pass. My hands shook.
"What's wrong with me?" I muttered under my breath.
My powers had never faltered like this before. I was a royal Omega — trained, disciplined, capable of controlling my pheromones and strength. But now my energy flickered unpredictably, like a candle about to go out.
I pressed a trembling hand against my abdomen again. The same warmth pulsed there — slow, rhythmic, alive.
And then I remembered his face. The way he'd looked at me before I fainted. That sudden stillness in his expression, that dawning shock.
As if he'd smelled something I hadn't realized yet.
The air left my lungs.
"No," I whispered. "That's not possible."
But the signs— the exhaustion, the instability of my aura, the heightened senses, the weight—
"Oh gods…"
I bent forward, covering my face with both hands. My pulse raced so fast it hurt.
Pregnant.
The word itself felt unreal. Like it belonged to someone else's story.
And yet… deep inside, something recognized it.
A quiet hum, an instinct older than thought. My wolf stirred faintly, brushing against my mind like a whisper: ours.
I gasped, half in fear, half in wonder.
Ours.
Leonardo's.
The realization hit like lightning.
What would my brothers do if they knew? What would this kingdom — already on the edge of conflict — do when they discovered the Neutral Nation's youngest princess carried the heir of the Dominion King?
The child of the enemy.
My fingers curled around my stomach. "No one can know," I breathed. "Not yet."
A sudden chill ran down my spine. The air shifted.
I wasn't alone.
"Talking to yourself again, little sister?"
I turned sharply. My eldest brother, Kieran, stood by the archway — arms crossed, eyes too sharp to be kind.
"Kieran." I forced a small smile. "You shouldn't sneak up on people."
He didn't return it. "You look pale." His gaze flicked downward, assessing. "Are you ill?"
I shook my head quickly. "Just tired."
"From what?" he asked softly. "Running from your throne? Or from him?"
The question was a knife.
"I didn't run from anything," I said, though even to my own ears it sounded weak.
Kieran sighed and sat beside me. Despite everything, he reached out and brushed a strand of hair from my face, just like he used to when we were children. "Evne… we were worried."
"I know."
"Do you?" His eyes hardened again. "Because the man you chose nearly started a war last night."
I looked away. "He came for me."
"Yes," Kieran said bitterly. "He came for you — and in the process, reminded the world why we stay neutral. Because love, in your world, looks a lot like destruction."
I had no reply for that.
He sighed again, quieter this time. "You'll stay here for now. The council wants to question you about the Dominion. About him."
I stiffened. "Question?"
"Only formally," he said, though the word 'formally' sounded like a blade being drawn. "You're a princess, Evne. Don't make us treat you like a liability."
When he left, the air seemed to collapse around me.
I waited until his footsteps vanished before letting myself breathe again — shallow, uneven breaths.
Then I looked down at the faint outline of my hands resting on my abdomen.
A life. Our life.
Leonardo didn't know for certain yet, but I saw it in his eyes last night — he'd already guessed.
And if he guessed, he'd come for me again. No walls, no armies, no family would stop him.
Because if there was one thing I'd learned about him, it was that Leonardo Ivankov never surrendered what was his.
I closed my eyes, feeling the faintest flutter — not real movement, maybe just imagination, but enough to bring tears to my lashes.
"Hold on," I whispered to the life inside me. "Just a little longer. I'll find a way to keep us both safe."
The fountain trickled beside me, sunlight glinting off the ripples like shattered glass. Somewhere far beyond the palace walls, I could almost sense him — that powerful, restless presence, pacing the edges of my bond.
Two worlds apart, and yet the thread between us still pulsed.
And this time, it wasn't just ours anymore.