Chapter 120: Chapter 121: The Private Meeting

Elara’s POV

The evening was quiet when the knock came.

I had been sitting at my desk for hours, reading through reports, signing papers, trying to focus on work that kept blurring in front of my eyes. The candles had burned low. The fire had died down. I had not eaten dinner. I had not slept well in days.

I had requested this meeting. I needed to talk to Corvus. I needed to tell him things I had not told anyone else. I needed to know if I could trust him the way I needed to trust him.

The knock came. Three raps. The way he always knocked.

“Enter.”

Corvus stepped inside. He closed the door behind him. He did not sit immediately. He stood near the door, his face still, his hands at his sides. He looked tired. More tired than I had ever seen him. The lines around his eyes were deeper. His shoulders were heavy.

“Thank you for coming,” I said.

“You asked me to come, Your Majesty. I came.”

I gestured to the chair across from my desk. He sat. I sat. We looked at each other across the small distance.

“What is this about?” he asked.

I took a breath. “I need to tell you something. And I need your advice. And I need your help.”

He waited. He did not push. He was good at waiting.

“Before you tell me whatever you called me here to say,” Corvus said, “I have something to tell you. Something that happened two nights ago.”

I frowned. “What?”

“Kaelen came to see me. He came to my private quarters. In the dark. Unannounced.”

I stared at him. My mouth opened. No words came out.

“He came to me because he could not reach you. Because he needed to get information to you, and he was running out of options.” Corvus paused. “I did not know he was coming. I did not ask him to come. He came on his own.”

“He came to you,” I said slowly. “To your private quarters.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It was just yesterday and I needed time to verify what he told me. Because I wanted to be certain before I brought it to you.” He looked at me. “I am certain now.”

I sat back in my chair. My hands were shaking. I pressed them flat against the desk to still them.

“What did he tell you?”

Corvus told me.

The foreign operation. The methodology, too resourced, too patient, too lateral for a domestic investigation. The lower district presence. The questions being asked about funding, structure, names. The timeline. Three weeks. Maybe less.

Someone from outside Dravara was closing in on the Voice.

I listened without interrupting. My face was still. But inside, something cold was moving through my chest.

“Who?” I asked.

“We don’t know yet. Kaelen’s people are still investigating. My people are still investigating. But whoever it is, they have resources. They have patience. They have been watching for months.”

I sat with that for a moment.

“There is something else I need to tell you,” I said. “Something I have not told anyone except Lena.”

He waited.

I took a breath. Then another.

“I am pregnant.”

Corvus stared at me. His face went white. His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. No words came out.

“I am pregnant,” I said again. “With a child.”

He blinked. “Pregnant.”

“Yes.”

“With a child.”

“Yes, Corvus. That is what pregnant means.”

He ran a hand over his face. He looked like someone who had just been hit in the head with something heavy. “I… you… how long have you known?”

“A few weeks. Maybe longer.”

“And the father?” He looked at me. His eyes were wide. “Is it… is it Kaelen’s?”

I looked at him. “Why would you ask that?”

“Because he told me, Your Majesty.” Corvus’s voice was barely above a whisper. “When he came to my quarters. He told me he loves you. He said it plainly. No performance. No mask. Just… he loves you. I found it ridiculous. A man like him, a revolutionary, a man who has spent months fighting against everything you represent, and he says he loves you.”

He paused. His hands were shaking now.

“But this… this is something else entirely. That you are carrying his child?” He shook his head. “I don’t even have words, Your Majesty. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to think.”

“Then just listen,” I said.

He nodded slowly. He looked stunned. Shocked. Like the ground had opened up beneath his feet and he was still falling.

“Petrov cannot find out,” I said. “Malakor cannot find out. If they discover this before I am ready–”

“Before you are ready for what?”

“Before I have built enough ground to stand on. Before I have secured enough allies. Before I have figured out how to keep my crown and my child.”

Corvus was quiet for a long moment. His face was still pale. His hands were still shaking. But he was listening.

“That is why you have been moving so fast,” he said. “The water repairs. The grain accounting. The petition review. You are not just governing. You are building.”

“Yes.”

“You are building a foundation strong enough to survive the truth.”

“Yes.”

He looked at me. I looked at him.

“You came to me for advice,” he said.

“I came to you for help.”

“What do you need?”

“Everything. I need you to help me keep this secret until I am ready. I need you to help me find out who is behind this foreign operation. I need you to help me protect Kaelen. I need you to help me figure out how to tell the council that their queen is pregnant with the Voice’s child without losing my crown.”

Corvus sat back in his chair. He stared at the ceiling for a long moment.

“You are asking for a lot,” he said.

“I know.”

“You are asking me to choose sides.”

“I am asking you to choose your queen.”

He looked at me. Then he nodded slowly.

“I can get Kaelen to you,” he said. “Privately. Securely. Through a channel that does not pass through a dark corridor where anyone could see him.”

My heart stopped. “You can?”

“Yes. I have people I trust. People who have no connection to Malakor or Petrov. People who can move him through the palace without being seen.”

“When?”

“Whenever you are ready. Tonight. Tomorrow. You say the word, and I will bring him to you.”

I did not hesitate.

“Yes,” I said. “Yes. Bring him to me.”

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