"Kill her once the baby is born. I’m offering her child to our rival pack as a gift."
What?!
I can’t die yet. I can’t close my eyes and sleep knowing that my babies will be delivered into the hands of someone else. They might kill them or turn them into slaves for another pack. A gift.
"Push..." the midwife urged, her eyes signaling something to the man behind me.
I gripped the bed and let out a low groan, my body aching.
"If you do anything to harm me or my child, you will all die. I’ve already arranged for someone to kill your family once we can’t leave this place alive," I threatened.
The midwife and the man froze at my words. I cried out in pain, but I used every ounce of my strength to push my babies into the world.
“Twins…” she muttered.
"Ahhh!" I shouted in agony with the final push.
I gasped for air as I heard the first cries of my child. The midwife held him up, handing him to me, clearly shaken by my earlier threat.
She was about to leave, but I stopped her.
"I need you to do something for me. Once you’re done, I’ll give you enough gold to feed your family," I said, despite the pain. "Someone will assist you. If you don’t cooperate, both you and your families will die."
They had no choice but to agree. I explained my plan. I had arranged to purchase two babies from the black market—one dead, one alive. I knew Karina; she was easily fooled when there was someone else by her side.
The dead baby would be presented to her after I had ordered the milk to be laced with wolfsbane—just enough for her to believe the baby had died of natural causes. The important thing was that Daniel had prepared it, so Karina would blame him for her loss.
The live one would serve as the gift to the pact, just as Daniel wanted.
I instructed one of my loyal servants, a trusted friend, to take my babies and hide them. I placed the bought child beside me. I allowed myself a moment of rest before swallowing a fake poison, one that would stop my breath for thirty minutes.
"Lady Karylle, it’s time to return to your house," Greg, my loyal servant, whispered, waking me up.
I was still weak, and part of me wanted to escape, to leave it all behind. But I had to see how this would unfold—how Devon and Daniel would fight, how my sister would come to loathe my husband for stealing her.
"Y-you killed my child?" I heard Karina ask, holding the dead baby in her arms.