Jasmine’s breath came in shallow bursts as she pressed her hand against her swollen belly. The chamber lent to her by the vampire queen was gilded in cold silver and shadows, beautiful but suffocating, like a coffin dressed in jewels. Outside, the storm had not ceased for three nights. Lightning tore the sky open as if the heavens themselves wanted her unborn children dragged into light and judged.

The twins shifted restlessly inside her, their energy crackling in her blood like a thousand shards of glass. They whispered again—two voices overlapping as one, eerie and hollow, yet intimate as her own heartbeat.

“Mother… betrayal walks closer.”

Her lips trembled. “Who?”...