I did not remember collapsing. I only remembered the heat.

The fortress shuddered, walls bleeding ash from their seams. My body trembled in Kael’s arms, every breath dragging shards of bone through fire.

The unborn moved inside me, still not in rage, but in rhythm. The goddess’s voice had grown faint, her laughter splintered by my defiance.

Kael pressed his hand to my belly, flinching at the pulse beneath his palm. “It’s changing,” he whispered, awe and fear twisting his voice. ...