đ Chapter 73 â Between Pain and War
The storm came with no warning.
Not the one in the sky.
The one in Zara's body.
It started as a slow ache in her lower spine, just before dawn. She had been pacing her chamber, reading a letter from one of the western provinces when the first contraction hit. Sharp. Deep. Hot like fire licking through her insides.
She dropped the letter.
And grabbed the edge of the table.
"Not now," she whispered.
But her body had decided.
The child was coming.
---
Leva was the first to reach her room, sword in hand, breathless from sprinting.
"What happened?"
Zara sat in the corner, gripping the armrest of her chair with white knuckles. Her lips were pale. Sweat dotted her forehead.
"It's time," she said through clenched teeth.
Leva's eyes widened.
"Butâ They're almost here. The Raven army's three hills away."
Zara groaned as another wave of pain curled through her abdomen.
"I don't have a choice."
Leva bolted out the door. "Get Marna! Get the healers!"
But Marna was gone â imprisoned.
And the midwives were on rotation two towers away.
Zaire stormed in moments later, fully armored.
"Tell me she's notâ"
"She is," Leva said.
Zaire dropped to his knees beside Zara.
Her breathing was ragged.
"I can fight," she whispered.
"No," Zaire said firmly. "You've done enough. Let us protect you now."
Zara's eyes burned.
"Swear to me."
"I already did."
---
The midwives arrived minutes later, two of them old enough to remember birthing queens. They set up a space on the floor near the hearth â blankets, boiling water, herbs, and cloths.
But Zara refused to lie down.
She stayed sitting upright, back against the cool stone wall, arms around her stomach.
"She's not ready to push," one midwife whispered.
"She's resisting it," the other murmured.
Outside, horns began to sound.
The Raven's army had been spotted.
They were *here*.
---
Down in the war room, Leva gave orders rapidly.
"Close the east gate. Archers to the third tower. Zaire, lead the wall guard. No one gets through the main gate without bleeding for it."
Auren, sword strapped to his back, turned to her.
"You're staying inside?"
"I'm not leaving her," Leva said. "Not while she's in labor."
Malric appeared at the door, blood already on his tunic.
"They're moving fast. Their front line has siege carts."
Zaire hissed. "They came prepared."
"Let them come," Leva said. "We've been waiting."
---
In Zara's chamber, the pain had intensified.
She gripped a pillow, screaming into the fabric as her muscles twisted and convulsed.
The midwives worked silently, faces calm. But one glance between them told the truth:
> She was bleeding.
> Too early.
> Too fast.
> Too much.
Zara knew it too.
But she didn't panic.
"Is the child alive?" she asked, breath hoarse.
The older midwife nodded. "Yes. Strong heartbeat."
Zara nodded. "Then I keep going."
The contractions came closer now â four minutes apart, then three.
Each time they hit, Zara's vision blurred.
And each time, she came back stronger.
---
Outside, the Raven's army reached the walls.
War horns blared.
Flaming arrows rained down.
The palace shook with impact.
Zaire led the defense from the south wall. His sword cleaved through enemy after enemy. Leva coordinated the inner patrols, rushing between towers to check supplies and reinforce barricades.
Malric stood at the western gate with a unit of riders, ready to flank the enemy's weakest points.
Auren had vanished.
His job was quiet.
Unseen.
To find and kill the Raven general inside the chaos.
---
Back in the chamber, Zara had reached the hardest part.
The pushing.
Her screams echoed down the hallway, but she didn't stop.
Not when the midwife said *"Now."*
Not when her arms trembled.
Not when her body begged her to sleep.
The firelight flickered.
The walls shook again.
And still, Zara pushed.
"I see the head," the younger midwife cried.
But Zara couldn't hear her.
She was somewhere else now â somewhere deep, somewhere dark.
A vision came.
A field of bodies.
Children crying.
Smoke in the sky.
Her child⊠alone, crawling through ashes.
And then a voice.
Her mother's.
> "Push, Zara. Push now, or they take everything."
Zara opened her mouth and screamed â not in pain, but in **rage**.
And in that momentâŠ
The child came.
A piercing cry.
Wet and loud and alive.
The midwife caught the baby in trembling hands.
"It's a boy!"
---
Zara collapsed against the wall, breath ragged, eyes blurry.
The boy was placed in her arms.
Small. Red. Wrinkled. Screaming with strength.
She looked at him â and sobbed.
Not from pain.
From **relief**.
From **victory**.
He was alive.
**She was alive.**
---
Leva burst into the room, blood on her sleeves.
"They've broken the outer gate," she gasped. "We need to move herâ"
Zara shook her head.
"No."
Leva stared. "Zaraâ"
Zara adjusted the cloth over her son.
"I am not hiding. Let them come. I've given birth. I've survived. If they want this childâŠ"
Her eyes locked with Leva's.
"âŠthey'll have to kill a *queen* to take him."
---
And in the enemy campâŠ
The Raven general stood tall atop his black horse.
He watched the smoke rise.
Then turned to the assassin beside him.
"Go inside. Take the child."
The assassin nodded.
Removed their hood.
And underneath the shadowsâŠ
Was a **familiar face**.
> Someone Zara once trusted.
> Someone she *let live*.
And tonightâŠ
They would choose *revenge* over mercy.