Gaia woke in her bed drenched in sweat, her body sticky and her head pounding as if someone had driven nails into her skull.
The first sound that broke through the silence was her own sobbing, low at first, then louder, raw, uncontrollable. She curled against the velvet sheets, her swollen stomach pressing against her ribs, reminding her of the one chain binding her to power...the unborn heir.
But the memory of the elders’ venomous words slashed through her chest like blades. No matter how hard she tried to shake them off, they echoed over and over. Unfit. Worthless. Pathetic.
She pressed her hands against her ears, rocking like a lunatic, but it didn’t help. Her wolf whispered bitterly, "They’ll do it with or without you, Gaia. They don’t need you. You’re nothing but a vessel. A glori
