I sat by the window, staring out into the fading light of the afternoon sky. The woods surrounding my aunt’s secluded cottage whispered softly in the wind, but I couldn’t hear any of it. My mind was elsewhere—still swirling with Lucien, with Damon, with everything I’d been forced to leave behind.

My aunt walked in silently and placed a warm cup of tea in front of me. I barely acknowledged it.

“You’ve been quiet all morning,” she said gently, sitting across from me. “Your energy is shifting.”

I blinked at her. “Shifting?”

She studied me, eyes narrowed as though reading something on my skin I couldn’t see. “You’re pregnant.”

I...