Chapter 4
“Who… who are they?”
ry bit like
Vivian’s voice trembled as she stared at the two figures entering the hall–ragged boys with dirt–streaked faces, looking every beggars dragged in from the gutter.
A strange unease flickered across her eyes.
One boy sat hunched in a battered wheelchair, his legs withered and twisted. The other’s gaze was vacant, his lips twitching with the occasional mindless giggle as drool slipped from the corner of his mouth
I let out a sharp laugh. “Them? They are the precious sons you and Edward truly brought into this world.
Edward’s face flushed crimson with rage. “Are you insane? Dragging in crippled strays to disgust me?”
I ignored his snarl and beckoned the boys closer.
“Look more carefully. Don’t you see how much they resemble their mother?”
The hall stirred uneasily. Dirt covered their cheeks, but beneath the grime their features bore an undeniable echo of Vivian’s delicate face
Vivian’s composurecracked, panic flashing in her eyes before she forced herself upright. “Clara, what game are you playing?”
I crossed my legs and leaned back, my smile razor sharp.
“Adrian and Lucas are mine. These two are the sons you abandoned eighteen years ago,
Vivian froze, the words striking her like lightning
“No… no, you’re lying! This isn’t possible! I want a blood test–right now!”
But the pack was already murmuring. One glance at those faces was enough to spark doubt.
I pulled a folder from my bag and tossed it onto the table. “Here are the bloodline reports for Nathan and Ethan–your sons–and Edward. See for yourself.”
Vivian’s hands shook as she tore through the pages. When she reached the final seal, her knees gave out, and she collapsed against the
floor.
“No… no, this is forged! You’re desperate to keep them, so you fabricated the results!”
I tapped my temple lightly. “Use your head. That seal belongs to the High Council’s own registry. Even the Moon Priestess herself validated it.”
Gasps spread around the hall. The crimson seal of the Council glowed unmistakably on the parchment.
The Stones were struck dumb, their faces drained of color.
Only my two sons exhaled in relief, stepping silently behind me as if to shield me with their presence.
Eighteen years of whispers and scorn, of being branded a fool for raising “another woman’s pups“-It all led to this moment.
I had always suspected Edward and Vivian’s supposed death in that Blood Hunt was a lie. The way their bodies were hurried to the fire, the haste of the cremation. I had known there was more beneath the ashes.
When Edward “died,” I discovered I was with child. Twins, no less.
That was when I formed my plan
I claimed the abandoned bastards as my own responsibility, using grief as my excuse to vanish into the countryside. For two years I raised them out of sight, then returned with my newborn twins in my arms.
Everyone believed Adrian and Lucas were Edward’s illegitimate sons. Even my parents cursed me for degrading myself, even my
friends mocked me for raising children who weren’t my blood.
But I never cared for their judgment.
Because all of it–all of the ridicule, all of the suffering–was for this very moment.
