Chapter 22 – Blood and Blossoms
Weeks passed, though Seo-Yun could no longer track time in days or nights. The sanctum was always dimly lit, aglow with unnatural warmth. He was no longer confined by bars, but that didn't make it freedom. His cage had become velvet-lined, guarded by watchful eyes instead of chains.
His body changed daily. The slight swell of his belly became unmistakable. He felt it at night most of all—a flutter under his skin, like a breath from beneath the surface. A whisper from something alive. Something innocent.
But with life came vulnerability.
He overheard the Alphas speak. Their plans were being set in motion. Kaelith wanted a ritual claiming once the child was born. A bloodline bind. A living heir with power and control. They treated his pregnancy like a sacred relic, guarded and caged in reverence.
Seo-Yun's nausea worsened. Not from the child.
From the lies.
He knew now that if he didn't escape soon, he never would. And the child—his child—would never know freedom either.
Chapter 23 – Paper Wings
His escape plan began in fragments.
A loose floor tile beneath his bath. A gap in the guards' rotation. Whispers shared with a silent Omega who brought him food and never met his eyes. The smallest pieces, forming slowly into a fragile path.
And he was not alone.
One night, while pretending to sleep, Seo-Yun felt a hand press something beneath his pillow. A torn scrap of cloth. Marked in blood: a symbol. He'd seen it before, on the wall of the underground tunnel.
The resistance wasn't dead.
He hadn't been forgotten.
Hope returned like fire in dry grass.
Chapter 24 – Salt and Flame
He made his move during a ceremonial storm rite. The compound was loud with chants. The guards were distracted. Kaelith was speaking to the council. It was his first and only chance.
He dressed in a cloak stolen from the altar, moved through service corridors mapped in his memory. His body slowed him—the weight of the child made running a challenge. Every breath burned.
He made it to the old tunnels. To the forgotten path. To the threshold of the outside world.
And then he was caught.
Not by Kaelith.
By Varian.
Of all the Alphas, Varian was the coldest. The calculating one. And this time, he didn't hurt Seo-Yun.
He just watched him, breathing hard, cloak torn, face wild with hope.
"You're not ready to survive out there," Varian said quietly. "But you are ready to burn this place down. Aren't you?"
Seo-Yun didn't answer. But his silence was enough.
Varian let him go.
Chapter 25 – The First Breath of Winter
He didn't run.
Not yet.
He found the resistance instead.
They were hiding in the ruins beneath the oldest wings of the compound—a tangle of broken passageways, relics of rebellion, and shattered glass. They welcomed him not with warmth, but with quiet purpose.
Some had escaped. Some had been left behind. All had suffered.
Seo-Yun was the first to return pregnant.
He learned names. Heard stories. And for the first time, spoke his own. Not the title the Alphas gave him.
Seo-Yun.
Freeborn. Not property.
They began planning not just another escape.
But a war.