---- "It'll destroy its creator.

Kat her alive from the inside out." The air around me grew suffocating.

My pulse hammered in my ears, drowning out reason.

My eyes snap up to Zariyan.

And she wasnt even looking at us.

Her eyes stay closed as her hands lay protectively over her womb.

Tell us Zariyan...

tell us he is lying.

"What the fuck...?" My voice cracked, barely audible over the storm raging in my chest.

And then Gerald chuckled, a sound that crawled under my skin and festered like poison.

"Oh, it gets worse," he continued, his mockery sharper than a blade.

"By the time its done draining her blood, tearing through her insides? She'll be dead in exactly..." He glanced at his watch with exaggerated flair.

---- Chapter 513 "Two days.

Give or take." And you know the most interesting part? Her 32 nd week starts tonight.

So this means she just has 2 more days to live.

"No!" The word ripped out of me, raw and feral, but Zariyan didn't flinch.

She didnt deny it.

She didnt scream at Gerald, call him a liar, or fight back.

Because she knew.

The truth was written in her eyes, hidden beneath a mask of resignation she hadn't worn before.

And it hit me like a freight train.

Princess.

Suddenly the dots connect and the fog stands cleared.

Tneed a promise from you Dam.

If you survive this war...

promise me you will forget me.

Promise me that you will move on in life and make a new beginning.

---- Every word shed spoken to push me away in the last few days, every deflection, every plea for distanceit wasn't about Vincenzo.

It wasn't about anyone else.

Tt was because she knew she was going to die.

"There is no our story, Dam," her voice echoed in my mind, bitter and haunting.

"Never was, never will be." She was protecting me from this, from the pain she thought shed spare me by keeping her distance.

No.

No, fuck that.

"No," I muttered, shaking my head violently.

My hands trembled at my sides, my nails biting into my palms No.

I won't let this happen.

I'll save her.

I dont care if I have to rip that thing out myself" " Tomorrow ," Gerald announces, his voice oozing smugness "At the castle's ceremonial grounds.

I'll be waiting, ---- Adrian.

Bring me the girlthe sacrificeand you can have your daughter back.noveldrama

His words sliced through me like a scalpel, reopening every wound I'd ever tried to stitch shut.

"A simple barter," he added, his grin widening like the Cheshire cat.

"No!" Zariyans voice was raw with desperation, her hands reaching out toward Adrian.

This was the first time she spoke and I could just stare at her.

Stare at the strong woman who had kept this inside her for so long.

All alone.

She didnt let anyone know.

Alexia had me, Adrian.

T held her hands.

Assured her.

But Zariyan? She was all alone.

I cant even imagining how she smiled despite knowing it.

How she kept it in.

Even from Adrian.