Page 117 of Run Little Omega

"The Wild Magic," Cadeyrn breathes, kneeling beside me. His eyes shine with something between awe and terror. "It's accelerating everything."

The implications crash over me like icy water. Pregnant with Cadeyrn's child when I can barely stand to look at him. Carrying the heir of a man whose signature authorized the culling grounds that killed my mother. The fierce protectiveness that surges through me is unexpected and overwhelming.

Cadeyrn leans forward, his expression intense. "May I listen?"

I hesitate, then nod once, sharply.

He tilts his head, his fae-enhanced hearing focused on my abdomen. His eyes widen suddenly, magic flaring across his skin in bright, pulsing waves. His hands clench into fists at his sides, trembling with restraint.

"Briar," he whispers, voice breaking with emotion. "Four. I hear four distinct heartbeats."

"Four?" The word escapes me in a horrified gasp. My hands press protectively against the swell. "That's not possible. Human omegas can't carry multiple fae children. The magical drain would—" I can't finish the sentence. We both know what happens to omegas who try to carry multiple fae offspring.

Tears spring to my eyes unbidden—not of joy but of primal fear mixed with fierce determination. My body may be a battlefield now, but these lives are mine to protect.

"You're not entirely human anymore," he reminds me, his voice thick with emotion. "And I'm not entirely what I was either. The Wild Magic has changed us both."

His fingertips hover above my abdomen, not quite touching, reverence and terror battling across his features. A single tear tracks down his cheek, crystallizing before it falls.

"I never thought..." He swallows hard. "In seven centuries, I never allowed myself to imagine offspring. The courts breed for political advantage, not..." He doesn't finish, but I understand what he can't say. Not love. Not family.

Quadruplets. Four lives forming inside me at magical speed. The reality crashes through me in waves of terror and wonder. I want to hate him, want to hate this pregnancy, but my body has already decided. My blood sings with fierce, primal protection for these lives that shouldn't be possible.

"The courts can never know," I say, gripping his wrist so hard my nails draw blood. "You know what they'd do. What you let them do to children that didn't fit their plans."

The accusation lands like a physical blow. Cadeyrn flinches, but doesn't pull away. His eyes—those ice-blue eyes that once regarded omegas with clinical detachment—now overflow with naked emotion.

"I will burn the four courts to ash before I let anyone touch them. Or you." The vow carries weight, power gathering around his words like frost on a winter morning. Magic flares across his skin, pulsing in time with my own. "I swear it on my life, my crown, and whatever remains of my soul."

I want to remind him that his promises mean little to me now, that he's already broken trust in the most fundamental way. But the raw desperation in his eyes stops the words in my throat. This isn't the calculated prince who signed death warrants without reading them. This is something new—a creature of both ice and fire, ready to tear apart centuries of order for something he only just discovered he wanted.

"What happens now?" I ask, one hand still resting on my swollen abdomen.

"We keep moving," Cadeyrn replies. "The nexus The Hound mentioned—it may be our only chance to stabilize what's happening to all of us."

All of us. Not just him and me anymore, but six lives bound together by Wild Magic and crimson moon magic. The thought is terrifying and somehow wondrous at once.

I struggle to my feet, fighting another wave of nausea. Cadeyrn moves to help me, then stops himself, respecting the boundaries I've established.

"I can stand on my own," I tell him, though my legs feel unsteady.

He nods, stepping back. "I know you can. You always have."

Something in his tone—respectful rather than condescending—eases the tension slightly. This practical alliance may be all we have now, but at least he's not treating me as a possession or a weakened vessel.

The Hound returns, taking in my changed appearance with a knowing look. "So it's begun," he says simply. "We should move quickly, then. The nexus isn't far, but your condition will advance rapidly in these tunnels. Wild Magic flows stronger underground."

I straighten my shoulders, one hand unconsciously protective over my abdomen. "Lead on, then."

As we follow The Hound deeper into the earth, I feel the four tiny heartbeats beneath my palm. Four lives that should be impossible. Four futures that could either heal or destroy the world above us.

I don't know if I can ever forgive Cadeyrn for his centuries of complicity. I don't know if the broken trust between us can ever truly heal. But as we walk side by side through ancient tunnels, magic pulsing in matching rhythms across our skin, I know one thing with absolute certainty: together, we have created something unprecedented, something powerful enough to rewrite the rules of two worlds.

Whether that creation brings salvation or destruction remains to be seen.

CHAPTER42

POV: Cadeyrn

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