Page 197 of Knot Their Soldier: Part Three

The road is silent, the enemy is gone, Blackgate still stands, and suddenly I cannot bear not knowing.

"What was the pregnancy result?" I ask, my voice faltering on the last syllable.

Everlyn sighs, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. Her eyes dart around at the others before nodding.

The sounds of the courtyard seem to fall back from the steps, turning distant and muffled. My whole Pack draws closer around me, their breaths shallow and waiting.

"Tell me," I say, quieter this time.

Everlyn holds my gaze for one long second, making sure I really mean it.

Then she says, "You’re not pregnant."

That is all.

No softening or cushioning language.

At first, I don't feel anything at all. The words reach me, but they don't sink in properly. They hover somewhere just outside me while my body sits here, filthy and half-drained.

Not pregnant.

I let out a slow breath that scrapes at my ruined throat.

Behind me, Blaze scoots down to the step above mine, curling himself over my back and enveloping me in his arms, his head perched on top of my head where he plants a kiss.

I run the words through my head again, but they still do not fully process.

I am not pregnant.

It feels much bigger than I can deal with right now in such a weakened state.

So I do the only thing I can.

I nod once.

"Okay," I rasp. "Thanks for letting us know."

I am not okay. Not yet. But we finally have an answer, and my Pack is still around me, and that will have to be enough until my mind catches up. There will be time later for self-reflection and examining feelings once my brain is capable of holding more than one life-changing thing at once.

Everlyn studies me like she wants to say more, then thinks better of it. She gives me a brief smile and heads back down into the courtyard where people still need her.

None of us move.

We just watch as the fortress carries on in its strange post-battle haze.

Life and death. Relief and loss. All of it tangled together in one battered courtyard.

I look out at Blackgate, at the people who survived, at the walls still standing, and I feel the future waiting just beyond the edge of my shock.

I don't know what it looks like yet.

I only know I am still here to find out.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Halley

Three Weeks Later