Chapter 44
Chapter 44: The Child of No Fate
(Continuing directly from Chapter 43 — Selene now carries more than a child. She carries the unraveling of fate. And Morgala, the first forgotten omega, has declared war not just on the world, but on what it means to love.)
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Selene stood at the edge of the Night Court ruins, the winds lashing her cloak as if the world were trying to strip away the last of her innocence. Her palm stayed pressed to her abdomen—there was no movement yet. No kick. No flutter. But she could feel the hum of power. Something ancient, slumbering. Something impossible.
Valerian was quiet beside her.
He always went silent when he was calculating the impossible.
She reached for his hand. He took it, his fingers trembling slightly.
"You're afraid," she whispered.
"I'm not afraid of the prophecy," he replied. "I'm afraid of how much I'd burn to keep you from it."
---
Far away, in the black cathedral Morgala had erected from the bones of fallen kings, candles bled.
Real blood.
She stood above a cracked mirror and held a shard of her own soul.
"They thought they buried me," she said to the Shadowborn. "But they only seeded me deeper."
The Shadowborn bowed. "The child will be powerful."
"She's not just carrying a child," Morgala replied. "She's carrying the break in the timeline. The very thing the gods built their empires to prevent."
"And the King?"
"He'll die before he lets it go."
---
Back at the Night Court...
Ezren, the seer, returned with news. His eyes were milky, glazed with prophecy, his lips cracked from whispering truths no mortal was meant to speak.
"The veil is thinning," he said. "The child in Selene's womb is not one soul. It is many. A convergence. Blood of alpha, moon, and monster. The gods will come."
Valerian's voice was low. "Let them."
"No," Ezren said. "You don't understand. The gods won't come to stop it. They'll come to kill it."
Selene paled.
"They'll kill me?"
Ezren nodded solemnly. "Before you're too far along to kill without consequence."
Valerian stepped in front of her.
"They'll try," he said.
"And they'll fail."
---
Later that night...
Selene lay in bed, awake beneath the midnight-blue canopy. Her hand drifted to her belly again. Still nothing.
Was this child hers?
Or the world's?
Valerian sat beside her, shirtless, eyes watching the door, the windows, the stars.
"Do you still want me?" she whispered.
He turned sharply.
"What kind of question is that?"
Selene's voice was barely breath. "Now that I'm… not just me anymore."
Valerian leaned over her, his palm flat over hers, heat bleeding between their hands.
"You were never just you, Selene. You were always fate rewritten. I just didn't know it until I touched you."
He pressed his lips to her neck, slow, reverent.
"I want all of you," he murmured. "Even the parts that could destroy me."
---
Midnight.
The ward stones around the palace shattered.
The first god had arrived.
Not with thunder.
But with silence.
A woman cloaked in nothing but dust and light, her eyes filled with galaxies that had already died.
She stepped into the grand hall.
Cassian fell to his knees. Even the shadows bowed.
"I am Nyelith," the goddess said, her voice not heard so much as felt. "And I come to see the child who should never be."
---
Valerian's fangs extended the moment he entered the hall, Selene behind him, protected by the last of the starlight shields.
"You will not touch her," he growled.
"I'm not here to touch her," Nyelith said calmly.
"I'm here to warn her."
Selene stepped forward. "Warn me of what?"
The goddess blinked.
"Of what you'll become when you choose the child over the world."
A breath.
The silence deepened.
And then Nyelith faded—like smoke into the stars.
---
Later, when they were alone again, Selene turned to Valerian and whispered the one question she feared most.
"What if I lose myself?"
Valerian didn't answer.
He simply kissed her hand.
And pressed it once more to her stomach.
"If you fall," he said, "then I fall with you."
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To be continued in Chapter 45...
💛 . The gods are watching. The child stirs. And the war hasn't even begun yet.