Danny didn't realize anything was wrong at first.
He only knew he was tired. Not "I stayed up too late" Tired.
But a deep, heavy ache that pulled at his limbs and blurred his thoughts.
He tried to hide it.
Verdric already watched him too closely sometimes.
Not in a controlling way, in a way that made Danny feel seen, protected...
Dangerously cherished.
But today, his hands trembled as he folded laundy in their room. His vision swayed. He pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Maybe I'm just hungry..."
He hadn't eaten breakfast. He'd been too nervous after the kiss earlier in the morning, the one Verdric pretended to brush off but which Danny felt like a brand on his skin. His lips still tingled when he touched them.
A knock sounded in the doorframe.
Danny jumped.
Verdric leaned against it, arms crossed loosely over his chest. His gaze swept over Danny once—quick, assessing, sharp.
"You're pale," Verdric said.
Danny forced a smile. "I'mm fine."
Verdric stepped closer.
"Danny."
Danny sighed. "Okay, maybe I'm, a little—"
The world tilted.
The laundry slipped from his hands.
Danny swayed.
Verdric moved faster than Danny thought possible, arms catching him before he hit the floor.
"Danny!" Verdric's voice cracked with a rare edge of panic. "Talk to me."
Danny blinked, dizzy.
"I… feel really lightheaded…"
Verdric didn't wait another second.
He lifted Danny into his arms—one fluid sweep that made Danny gasp—and carried him out of the room.
"Verdric, I can walk—"
"You can't," he snapped, but his voice shook. "Stop talking."
Danny hid his face against Verdric's shoulder, embarrassed… and secretly comforted.
Verdric didn't set him down until they reached the private clinic room inside the mansion. A doctor rushed in the moment Verdric barked his name.
"What's wrong with him?" Verdric demanded.
Danny opened his mouth to protest, but Verdric's hand tightened around his.
The doctor took his vitals, examined him quietly.
Danny watched Verdric instead.
The way he paced.
The tension in his jaw.
The way his eyes kept flicking to Danny as if watching him breathe became the only thing that mattered.
The doctor finally stopped writing.
His expression softened.
"Ah… I see."
Verdric stepped forward instantly.
"What? What is it?"
The doctor looked at Danny first.
"Mr. Reaves… have you noticed any other symptoms? Nausea? Fatigue? Sensitivity to smell?"
Danny hesitated.
"Just… tired. And dizzy."
The doctor nodded. "Yes. That aligns."
Danny blinked.
"Aligns with what?"
The doctor smiled gently.
"You're pregnant."
Silence.
A thick, heavy silence that swallowed the room whole.
Danny's breath tripped and stumbled.
"What—?"
Verdric froze mid-step, shoulders rigid.
The doctor continued, calm but warm.
"Congratulations to both of you. Everything appears healthy so far. We'll do an ultrasound next week."
Danny's mind spun.
Pregnant.
He was…
His hand flew to his stomach instinctively.
Verdric stood unmoving, staring at Danny like the world had tilted sideways.
Danny's lips trembled.
"I… Verdric—I'm…"
Verdric's eyes softened in a way Danny had never seen before.
Not cold.
Not guarded.
Not unreadable.
But shocked.
Awed.
Almost… fragile.
He stepped forward slowly, as if approaching something sacred.
His hand hovered near Danny's abdomen but didn't touch—not until Danny nodded.
Then Verdric pressed his palm there, carefully, gently, like he was touching something breakable.
Danny felt the warmth seep through him.
Verdric's voice lowered to a whisper.
"Our child."
Danny's eyes filled instantly.
"Are you… are you upset?"
Verdric looked up sharply, almost offended by the question.
"No."
Danny exhaled in shaky relief.
Verdric brushed a thumb across Danny's cheek—
not wiping tears
but admiring them.
"This changes everything," Verdric said quietly. "I won't let anything happen to you. Or the baby. You hear me?"
Danny nodded, tears slipping down his face.
Verdric leaned in, pressing his forehead to Danny's—
a gesture so intimate it knocked the air from Danny's lungs.
Danny whispered:
"I didn't think I could have something like this."
Verdric closed his eyes.
"Neither did I."
For the first time, Verdric's voice held something unmasked—
fear
and hope
and a kind of love he didn't know how to name.
It wrapped around Danny like a promise.
A vow.
He didn't know yet
that vows could become cages
and love could become war.
But for this moment,
as Verdric held him,
as Danny trembled with new life inside him.
Everything felt soft.
Everything felt possible.
Everything felt like the beginning of the end.
Verdric had always been a man of routine—measured days, predictable nights, discipline carved into bone. But the moment the doctor said pregnant, every pattern he'd built in his life unraveled.
Suddenly, every shadow in the mansion felt like a threat.
Every corner seemed too sharp.
Every step Danny took felt too unsteady.
Verdric tightened security within the hour.
Three more guards posted on every floor.
A patrol shift added outside their room.
Kitchen staff screened for background checks he'd never bothered enforcing before.
It wasn't rational.
But nothing about Danny ever touched the rational part of him.
Danny was sitting on the edge of the bed when Verdric returned that evening. He looked small, thoughtful, one hand resting lightly against his stomach as if only now accepting it was real.
Danny looked up when Verdric entered.
"You're home."
The simple words—the softness of them—hit Verdric harder than a bullet.
He stepped closer.
Danny tilted his head. "You look tense."
"I'm fine."
Danny raised a brow. "You're lying."
Verdric sighed, jaw flexing. "A lot needs to be reorganized."
"For me?"
"Yes."
Danny blinked, surprised. "I don't need all that—"
"You do," Verdric said sharply. "You're vulnerable right now."
Danny frowned softly. "I'm pregnant, Verdric. Not fragile."
Verdric moved in front of him, kneeling on one knee so they were eye level.
Danny's breath hitched.
Verdric's fingers brushed Danny's knee, slow and careful.
"You are not fragile," Verdric said. "You're carrying something precious. That demands caution."
Danny stared at him, heartbeat quickening.
"And I," Verdric continued, voice dropping lower, "will not lose either of you."
Danny's face softened.
"Verdric…"
Verdric placed a hand on Danny's thigh—barely a touch but enough to make Danny inhale sharply.
"Don't wander alone," Verdric said. "If you need anything, tell me. Immediately. I don't care how small it is."
Danny's lips curled into a shy smile. "You're being overprotective."
"I'm being realistic," Verdric corrected.
Danny leaned forward just enough that Verdric felt his breath graze his cheek.
"Thank you," Danny whispered.
Verdric stiffened, then relaxed when Danny's forehead touched his.
It lasted only a second.
But that single second felt dangerously intimate.
Danny pulled back a little, cheeks pink.
"I'm not used to someone worrying about me."
Verdric lowered his gaze. "Then you'll have to learn."
Danny laughed softly. "That sounds like a threat."
Verdric finally allowed a small, barely-there smirk.
"It isn't."
Danny stared at him, eyes filled with something Verdric didn't know how to accept.
Affection.
Trust.
The beginning of something heavier.
Verdric couldn't look away.
Danny's hand lifted, almost uncertain, and brushed a faint lock of dark hair away from Verdric's forehead.
The touch was soft.
Too soft.
Verdric's breath stopped.
Danny whispered, "You don't have to shoulder everything alone."
Verdric caught Danny's wrist gently, not pushing him away, but holding him there.
"Don't say things you don't understand," Verdric murmured.
Danny didn't flinch. "I'm trying to understand you."
Verdric's grip loosened.
Dangerous.
Every part of this was dangerous.
But then Danny leaned in and kissed him,
a feather-light kiss, full of warmth and uncertainty and hope.
Verdric didn't move at first.
He absorbed the feeling, the softness, the trust.
Then he kissed back, slow and deliberate, his hand rising to cradle the back of Danny's head.
Not rushed.
Not hungry.
Just… intimate.
Danny broke the kiss with a quiet exhale, cheeks flushed.
"Verdric… I can't handle you staring at me like that."
Verdric brushed a thumb across Danny's cheek, voice rough.
"Get used to that too."
Danny's laugh trembled at the edges—but it was real.
And Verdric knew, deep in his bones, that he would destroy kingdoms before letting anyone touch what was his.
___