CHAPTER 154: THE WORLD DANCES FOR YOU... PRINCESS

[ Skarthheim Pack territories - Inner chamber (Autumn’s room) ]

"She twitched last night," whispered one of the maids, her voice barely louder than a breath. Her fingers worked gently through Autumn’s tangled hair. "I swear it. Just here...I saw it, " she motioned to the corner of her eye, " It was like a little flutter beneath her lashes. Like she was dreaming."

"That could have just been wind," the other replied, sitting at the foot of the bed, carefully tending to the incense burner. "Her body reacts sometimes, but it doesn’t mean she is waking up anytime soon,I mean..."

"She will." The younger maid spoke with a kind of desperate hope, brushing a lock of hair behind Autumn’s ear with far more tenderness than duty required. "I can feel it. The way the air changes when we speak to her... like she is listening."

"Maybe. But hush now." The older one looked nervously toward the closed doors. " The walls have ears. We are not supposed to be gossiping around her! "

The room then hushed... as if time had paused to listen.

The heavy drapes cast a soft golden hue over everything. The incense smoke curled lazily around the carved ceiling, catching light like ribbons of memory, hanging still. The only sounds were the gentle crackle of a small fire in the hearth, and the hushed voices of the two maids seated on either side of the sleeping beauty.

The interior had significantly changed from when Autumn had first woken up in that place.

On a massive bed, carved from wolf bone and polished blackwood,she lay.

Unmoving.

Unstirring.

But not entirely lifeless.

Her face, though pale, held colour again. Her lips weren’t cracked.The thin sheet across her belly rose and fell, slow, but steady.

As if something within her still chose to fight.

The maids barely spoke anymore. Not unless needed.

And then...

"Alpha Thorgar approaches. Open the doors!" The voice outside rolled... urgent!

Both women startled upright. The one with the comb dropped it on the bedside table. The one with the incense nearly coughed.

The door opened, and the maids scurried out like frightened hens.

In stepped Thorgar.

The known devil of Skarthheim. Alpha. Warrior. Fear of kingdoms. But at the moment he came in with no armor...no axe...no fangs or claws...just the worn leathers of a restless man who hadn’t slept properly in days.

He walked in slowly.

Paused at the edge of the bed.

And looked at her.

Autumn.

His daughter.He was reduced to nothing but a helpless father.

His boots thudded heavily on the stone...until he came closer to the bed.

Then the storm quietened.

He stood beside Autumn’s sleeping form and exhaled... as if seeing her up close, knocked all the air from his lungs.

He reached out and gently brushed a curl from her cheek, fingers almost trembling. His gaze scanned her face, searching for the smallest flicker of wakefulness. But there was none.

However ,there was progress...for example her brow was no longer damp with fever and her skin was now cool to the touch.

One hand lay curled near her cheek. The other over her stomach, where two lives still turned and stretched within her.

Thorgar exhaled louder.And for a second...something inside his eyes broke open.

"I miss your voice," he whispered. "Even when it was cursing me out."

No answer. Not even a twitch.

"If Selene is right, this nonsense might wake you," he muttered, pointing outside her window,at the fleeting noise. "Or at least make you twitch in irritation. That would be something."

He rested a hand on the edge of the window, watching as the brightly dressed woman with a beard tripped over a chicken.

A chuckle rumbled in Thorgar’s chest. "Look at them. Dancing for you, little wolf. The whole damn world is putting on a show just to see you smile."

He picked up the comb from her bedside.

Sat down beside her.

And took up combing her tresses from where the maid had left.

Slowly. Patiently. As if she might wake up and scold him for pulling a tangle.

"So, how was your day, little wolf?" he murmured conversationally.

His voice was thick. But not with anger. With something softer. Something that didn’t belong to battlefields or normally to him.

"I know you hate this brush," he smiled faintly. "I did hear you say it makes your hair frizzy. But it’s the only one I have got in here. And you have got knots like a wildling."After a pause he added. "But fear not, I have placed an order. A jewelled one from the New lands should be here by tomorrow. Just like you love, my dearest. "

He combed another section slowly, smoothing it with his palm after.

"I told Selene I would try the stories again. But I ran out of them yesterday." A dry chuckle rumbled. "Told you all the wolf ones. And the one about the three idiot alphas who tried to catch a mountain lion and ended up eaten by it. Maybe next time I will just make something up."

His fingers paused. He looked down at her stomach.

"...How are the little ones doing today, hmm?" he asked softly, leaning a little closer. "Still kicking? Or are they quiet again?"

A faint silence lingered in the air.

"They miss you," he murmured. "I know they do. I miss you too."

He brushed a thumb along her knuckles, as if that alone might stir her awake.

"I yelled at one of the guards this morning for breathing too loud. Then I broke a table because the breakfast tea tasted like boiled feet. I am not... good at waiting, you know. Never was. But I am trying now."

Still no response. Just the rhythmic breathing.

Thorgar sighed and leaned back, comb resting in his palm.

"I miss your yelling," he said finally. "No one yells at me here. Nobody dares like you did. They flinch. Bow. Tremble. You threw plates. I definitely loved it! You are my daughter after all...fierce, wild..."

He chuckled again, softer this time. Then stood up slowly.

He walked to the window. Pulled aside the heavy curtains.

Sunset painted the horizon in warm amber and burning rose.

Below, the courtyard had been transformed.

Torches lit up one by one. Drums began to thrum. All the performers lined up. Laughter and chants echoed. The twelve legged donkey hybrid screamed for no reason in particular.

Thorgar shook his head.

"Freak show, they said. Don’t even know who approved it. But Selene says you might wake up if you heard celebration...happy things. So..." He gestured vaguely to the chaos outside.

"...I brought the circus for you."

He left the curtains wide open and the window slightly ajar (they had installed a wooden panel when they were renovating her room) .

The air carried music, spice, strange smells and sound.

He walked back to her side. Bent down. Brushed her forehead with a soft kiss.

"Just open those eyes once," he whispered. "I will buy the world for you. Take you to all the places you have never been.I will even sober down...try to be a better person, if that’s what will make you happy. Or we can both be two rowdy buddies and go hunting...anything for my sweet pea...just wake up my baby girl. Wake up for Daddy."

Still no stir.

Outside the drums rolled louder. Laughter rose.

And somewhere in the corner of her mouth...there might have been the faintest twitch.

But Thorgar didn’t see it.

He was already walking to the door, jaw tight because he knew if he stayed any longer, he might crumble... And he wasn’t accustomed with that kind of an idea... At all.