I felt a surge of adrenaline that the pregnancy usually sapped out of me, but this was different. This was the ultimate payoff.

​As I walked, I felt Rakan’s presence like a dying ember behind me. He probably thought this was the moment I’d turn around and demand he explain himself, or perhaps he expected me to acknowledge him as the father of the ’Queen’.

But I didn’t give him so much as a twitch of my tail.

​"Harok," I said, glancing back at the old bear who was still standing there in a daze, clutching his worn-out tools. "Don’t just stand there. My husband, Noah, will introduce you to Oryn and show you the forge later. We have a material here that’s harder than any stone you’ve ever carved. You’ll love it."

​Harok’s eyes widened, a spark of the old craftsman’s fire lighting up his tired face. "Harder than stone?" he rumbled, almost to himself.

​"Much harder," I promised with a wink.

​I leaned a little more into Taruna as we walked, mindful of my center of gravity. I could hear the shuffling of the Stormhole tribe behind us—the sound of hundreds of people who had once treated me like a curse, now standing in a hall that felt like a dream, realising they were the ones who were truly cursed.

​Veyra’s muttering had stopped. The silence coming from her direction was thick with a toxic, paralyzing realization. She was standing there, scarred and pregnant with ’inferior’ mates, watching the woman she called a monster lead the ’low-lifes’ into a life of luxury.

​We reached the arched exit of the audience hall, but I stopped and turned my head just slightly—not enough to look at them, but enough for my profile to be caught in the sunlight streaming through the high windows.

​"Oh, and Chief?" I called out. My voice was light, almost conversational, which I knew would hurt him more than a scream. "The lobby floor is heated. Since you’ve traveled so far, feel free to sit on the ground. It’s much warmer than the dirt you’re used to."

​I didn’t wait for a reply. I didn’t need one.

​As the doors began to close behind us, I heard a faint, broken sound—something like a sob or a gasp—but I didn’t look back to see who it came from. Whether it was Rakan’s regret or Veyra’s envy, it wasn’t my problem anymore.

​My husbands followed closely, their footsteps heavy on the stone.

​"You’re amazing, Arinya," Fenric whispered, his hand momentarily grazing the small of my back in a gesture of pure pride.

​"I know," I said, tilting my head toward Taruna, who was still wiping tears from her eyes. "But right now, I just want to show my friend a place where her children won’t have to shiver."

​The walk to the Guest Wing was filled with the sound of Lyra, Phina, and Raiden chasing each other’s shadows ahead of us, clinging to Damar’s tail when necessary or trying to catch Noah and Fenric’s tails.

​I looked at Taruna’s children, who were looking at my triplets with wide, awe-filled eyes. They didn’t know the history. They didn’t know the pain. All they saw was a paradise, and I was the one who held the keys.

​"Arinya," I whispered to myself, hoping that her soul, wherever it was, could hear me. "I think we won for real this time."

The walk to the Guest Wing was like moving from one dream to another for Taruna and Harok, but for me, it was just a Tuesday.

I spent the afternoon getting Taruna’s children settled—watching them touch the soft linens of the bed and marble basins of the bathroom as if they were made of starlight.

I felt a peace I hadn’t known was possible, but I wasn’t naive. I knew the ’trash’ I left in the lobby wouldn’t just disappear.

I spent the evening in the Guest Wing, teaching Taruna how to use this and that in the room, what the closet was for, and how to use the water system to bathe. She never liked baths, but she’ll like it now.

And then for her children. I watched them eat their first meal of seasoned, roasted meat until their little bellies were round.

Raiden wanted to act like the boss when he was so much younger than they were and ended up tumbling over his own feet. Lyra, previously acting stubborn, had relinquished that energy to the other two and tucked herself in her father’s arms.

Phina was sucking her thumb, sitting on the floor, and just watching Taruna’s children.

It was peaceful.

But then I realized that while I ordered the guards to bring Harok and Taruna’s families here, there were no additional beastmen.

I already knew Harok was single, didn’t know he’d stay single after that, but I guess he’s too old to be looking for a mate and starting a family.

But for Taruna... where were her mates?

I wanted to ask, but given she didn’t say anything about it, and I honestly don’t like them to begin with, I decided against it.

It was for the best that they were not included. Wouldn’t want to give them a choochy life just because they were connected with Taruna.

I see them no more and no less than assholes.

​The next morning, the adrenaline had faded into a dull, heavy ache in my lower back. There were now six days until these little rulers inside me decided to make their entrance, and I was already over the drama. It made me feel impatient, and I could snap like a twig in the wind.

​"Little Tiger, you should rest," Noah murmured as I headed back toward the audience hall. "Thalor and I can handle the logistics of the immigrants."

​"No," I said, adjusting the silk wrap over my belly. "I want to see the looks on their faces today. It’s better than a prenatal massage."

​When the doors opened, the smell hit me first. It wasn’t the smell of my palace; it was the smell of the trash I had left here. The smell of wet fur, desperation, and dirt.

They were all huddled on the heated stone floor, looking like a pack of beaten dogs.

​As soon as I stepped onto the dais, Rakan stood up, his joints creaking. But he didn’t stay standing. In front of the entire tribe, in front of my guards and my husbands, the Chief of the Stormhole tribe dropped to his knees.

​"Arinya," he croaked, his voice thick with a heavy sorrow. "I know we have no right. I know I have failed you. But look at them..." He gestured with a trembling hand toward a group of huddled females, including a scowling, scarred Veyra. "The females are heavy with cubs. The journey was long. Veyra is weak. Please... I beg you, not as a chief, but as a father. Give them a room. A place to rest their heads so we do not lose our future. Surely, your heart hasn’t turned to stone."

​I stopped a few feet away, looking down at him. My face was a mask of absolute, rocky indifference.

​"My heart?" I asked, my voice dangerously quiet. "You’re worried about my heart? That’s funny, Rakan. I don’t remember you worrying about my heart when you let me sleep in a cave invested with rats as discipline. I don’t remember you worrying about the ’future’ when you let the tribe scorn and hate me because ’Veyra said’."

​"But they are pregnant!" Zevak barked, stepping forward with an indignant scowl. "How can you be so cruel? You’ve become someone great, you have this palace, you have everything... and you’d let your own family rot on the floor? After all you’ve gained, have you forgotten your blood?"

​Ashren nodded, his eyes narrowed with that old, familiar arrogance. "It’s shameful. If the world knew the Queen of the West Way treated her own kin like this—"

​Thwack! 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

​I didn’t even think. I moved faster than a pregnant woman should. My fist connected with Ashren’s jaw with a satisfying, meaty crack. He stumbled back, his eyes rolling in shock as he hit the stone.

And then I turned to Zevak, who flinched, but I didn’t let him off. I kicked, just like I did back then, hard on his lower leg, and he stumbled back, groaning in pain.

​"Say that again," I snarled, my breathing heavy. "Say that again and see if I don’t give you a second dose. I am the Queen because I survived you. I gained everything because I left you in the dirt where you belong."

​"Ari, careful!" Damar’s voice was a low hiss as he surged forward, his hands catching my shoulders and pulling me back gently.

He didn’t look at me, though; his emerald eyes had thin slits and were locked on the brothers like a snake watching a mouse.

"Be careful. If you want someone hit, let me know. I will break every bone in his body for you."