Pearl POV
It had been six months since the war ended. Six months since I almost lost everything, and six months since I realized how much life could grow inside me, literally and figuratively. My body had changed in ways I could never have imagined. My once flat stomach was now round and full, stretched taut by the four precious lives moving and fluttering inside of me.
Sometimes I caught myself standing before the mirror in my chamber, fingers tracing the curve of my belly in awe. I had always imagined myself as many things, daughter, niece, a girl who disguised herself as a scholar, even a fugitive. But never had I imagined being here, the Luna, the wife of Demyan, carrying not just one pup, but four. Four tiny pieces of us. Four futures pressing beneath my skin.
The gown I wore today
