Rowena continued, the words spilling out, a torrent of secrets she had held in her heart for years.
"Your father was a Legendary-level warrior. He never did anything without a contingency plan," she said, her voice hollow. "You, and this Lord's Stone… you were his contingency. The future of the Lokiviria."
She pushed the box into his hands. "Now, that future is yours. All of it. Live or die. The choice is yours to make."
It was the sound of a heart breaking, of a hope dying. Or maybe, it was the sound of acceptance.
In that moment, Rowena made a new decision. She would convince her current mate to leave the insectoid Tribe with her. She would forge a new fate, a new life, for the child growing inside her. The arrival of the outsider and Lokiviria's now uncontrollable ambition had tripped every survival instinct she had. A deep, primal sense of crisis screamed at her to run.
