The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe

Chapter 421: I just want them out

"Stay," Kaelor commanded, his voice a low, guttural vibration, as if he would kill her himself if he found her misbehaving. "If you so much as twitch toward those doors, I will call the guards myself. Do you understand?"

Veyra didn’t answer. She only clutched her stomach, her lip curling into that permanent, scarred sneer. She had always played the victim, but standing before Kaelor’s newfound resolve, the act was finally useless.

Meanwhile, in the Sovereign Wing, I was blissfully unaware of the drama in the servant passages.

I was sitting on the edge of my bed, while Damar rubbed a cooling salve into my swollen ankles. Phina and Raiden were napping in a pile of furs nearby, while Lyra was busy trying to ’help’ Noah reorganize a shelf of scrolls.

Ah, she’s getting even more active lately. Is this age working on her? She’s not having a phase already, is she? Haha.

"You’re remarkably quiet today, Arinya," Thalor noted, leaning against the window frame.

He was watching the sun dip lower, casting long, orange shadows across the kingdom.

"The labor in the hall has ended. A male and female cub. Strong, from what the healers say."

I didn’t even look up. "Good for them. I hope they grow up with more sense than their elders."

That tribe was filled with morons after all. I hope the next generation doesn’t cut from their moronic behavior and mindset.

I shifted my weight, feeling that heavy, dragging sensation that told me my own time was almost up.

"Three days, Thalor. Three days until I can’t move, can’t fight, and can’t even sit on my throne. I feel like a sitting duck."

Fenric, who was sharpening a new set of arrows, looked up. "You are not a sitting duck. You are a Queen in her fortress. We have doubled the guards. And even if they got past the guards, they wouldn’t get past us."

I let out a long breath, my hand drifting to my belly. "I know. It’s just... I can feel her. Veyra. Even through these walls, I can feel that toxic itch she carries. She’s not going to just sit there and watch me be happy. It’s not in her nature."

Damar paused his rubbing, his cool, slender fingers lingering on my skin. He looked up, his green eyes dark and serious.

"Then we will change her nature. Permanently, if we have to."

"Not yet," I murmured, leaning back into the pillows. "Let’s see if Kaelor actually has a spine. He’s been standing over her like a watchdog since the screaming started, right? I think he’s finally realized that being a ’good brother’ to a snake like her only gets you bitten."

Noah walked over, picking up a stray blanket and tucking it around my legs. "You should sleep. The more you worry, the more the babies will kick."

"They’re already kicking, Noah," I chuckled, though it was a bit strained. "I feel like they’re already trying to hunt inside me, and it makes it hard for me to breathe."

They were just so hyperactive.

"I’m tired of sleeping on my side," I whispered, rubbing my hands over my belly. "Make sure to come out as actively as you are now, you little rascals."

I’ve been feeling two different movements, so I can confidently say there are twins inside me, and I just can’t wait to meet them.

...

Back in the audience hall, the air was thick with the scent of blood, sweat, and new life.

The tiger female lay exhausted on a pile of furs, her chest heaving as she gazed down at the two tiny bundles squirming against her belly—a boy and a girl.

Rakan didn’t move toward them. He sat several feet away, his hands empty and resting heavily on his knees as he watched.

He couldn’t act like a proud chief celebrating a new generation, given how they were being treated like criminals; he was a disgraced leader watching his tribe struggle in the middle of a palace that belonged to the daughter he’d discarded.

He looked at the healthy cubs, then at the stone walls, feeling the crushing weight of being an outsider in his own lineage.

His eyes drifted back to the corner, where Kaelor stood like a stone gargoyle over Veyra.

Kaelor’s face was completely cold, no joy, no sadness, no relief. He held the confiscated rock knife in his hand, the jagged edge a silent testament to the sister he was currently guarding like a prisoner.

His gaze was fixed on the door, his jaw set in a grim line of newfound, bitter clarity.

"I am sorry," Rakan whispered, his voice barely a ghost of a sound, directed at the empty air between him and the Sovereign Wing. "I am so, so sorry, Arinya."

But the wind of the West Way just whistled through the stone battlements, carrying his useless apology away.

The morning of the second day before delivery arrived, my back felt like it was being held together by sheer willpower and the constant, rotating massages from my husbands.

"Little tiger, you need to eat," Noah urged, holding out a bowl of fruit and honey.

"I can’t," I groaned, shifting on the oversized bed. "Every time I take a bite, one of these little rulers decides to use my ribs as a drum set. I’m exhausted, Noah. I just want them out."

"Two days," Thalor said, sitting at the foot of the bed. He looked more focused than I’d ever seen him. "The mer-folks have reported the perimeter is clear. The Caracals that are less busy are patrolling the lower walls. No one is getting in or out without us knowing."

"Except for the vipers in the hall," I muttered.

Fenric walked in, his face tight. "Kaelor hasn’t moved from his spot. He’s been standing over Veyra for twenty-four hours. He even refused the rations the guards brought for him."

I let out a dry, tired laugh. "He’s trying to prove something. To himself, or to me, I don’t know. But tell the guards to give him the food. I don’t need a starving tiger passing out on my watch."

Damar entered the room then, his silver scales shimmering under the morning light. He looked at me, and then at the others.

"The female in the hall... she is recovering," Damar reported, his voice low. "But the tribe is restless. They see the healers, they see the food, and they see their Chief on the floor. They are starting to realize that their ’Golden Child’ Veyra is the reason they are sitting in a lobby instead of the Guest Wing."

"Good," I said, a spark of my old fire returning. "Let them realize it. Let them look at her scars and her knife and realize that she’s the one who burned their bridge to a better life."

Things were still going as peacefully as they had been on the previous days, for me, that is, but as the afternoon sun hit the center of the room, the first real contraction hit me.

It wasn’t a ’kick’ and it wasn’t a ’cramp’ either. It was a searing, white-hot wave of pressure that made my vision blur and my head tilt, my hands going to my belly as my face contorted.

"Arinya!"