Chapter 93: What They Knew

The recovered surveillance equipment yielded one final, deeply unsettling piece of information two days later, and Reven’s expression, when he brought the discovery to Ren and Yegard both, carried a weight considerably heavier than anything their recent, cautious progress had suggested.

“They know about the bond,” Reven said without preamble, setting a data pad down between them, old dread evident beneath his careful composure. “The Fate Bond connecting the three of us. It’s documented in their surveillance notes, detailed enough that they clearly understand at least the basic mechanics of how it functions.”

Ren felt cold horror settle hard into his stomach. “How.”

“Medical data, most likely,” Reven said grimly. “Vance’s research has been properly secured since her unwitting involvement with Ashworth, but it’s possible earlier records, before we understood the full scope of this threat, were compromised before proper security measures were established.”

Yegard’s jaw tightened, old fury simmering beneath his controlled exterior. “If they understand the bond’s mechanics,” he said slowly, working through the implication with visible, mounting alarm, “they understand exactly how to exploit it. Harming one of us to indirectly harm Ren, and by extension, the pregnancy itself.”

Ren felt the full weight of that horrifying implication settle into his chest, old fear for his unborn children tangling with fresh terror for both men currently sitting beside him. “They’d deliberately target either of you,” he said, voice tight with growing dread, “specifically because they know I’ll feel it too.”

“It appears to be exactly their strategy,” Reven confirmed, something grim and protective in his tone. “Which means we need to reconsider our entire approach to security, immediately.”

They convened an emergency strategy session within the hour, security officials and intelligence officers gathering alongside the family to properly address this newly understood, considerably more dangerous threat.

“We need to minimize both your exposure to combat situations,” the chief security officer said, addressing Yegard and Reven both directly. “Given what we now understand about their strategy, direct physical danger to either of you represents a significant, deliberate vulnerability they’re apparently prepared to exploit.”

“That’s not entirely practical,” Yegard said, old frustration cutting through his evident concern. “Both our positions require considerable direct engagement, military command and diplomatic obligation alike.”

“I understand the practical constraints,” the officer said carefully, “but given the stakes, I’d strongly recommend reassessing which engagements genuinely require your direct, personal presence versus which could be properly delegated.”

Ren felt old fear tangle with fierce, protective determination. “Whatever changes need to happen,” he said firmly, “I want them implemented immediately. I can’t lose either of you, and I won’t risk this pregnancy because we were too stubborn to properly adjust our approach.”

Reven’s hand found his, something gentle but resolute in the gesture. “We’ll adjust,” he said quietly. “Whatever it takes.”

The adjustment, when properly implemented, carried considerable frustration for both men, Yegard delegating increasingly significant military responsibilities to trusted subordinates, Reven similarly restructuring his own diplomatic obligations to minimize direct, exposed engagement. Ren found himself, despite his relief at the increased caution, genuinely sympathetic to both men’s evident frustration at having their normal responsibilities so significantly curtailed.

The danger found them regardless, barely a week into their adjusted protocols.

It began with a sharp, sudden wrongness that Ren felt through the bond before any proper warning reached him directly, a violent, searing pain that tore through his chest with such overwhelming force that he collapsed immediately, old terror crashing through him as he struggled to properly breathe through the agony.

“Ren,” Alouis’s voice reached him through the haze, sharp with alarm as she rushed to his side. “What’s happening?”

“Yegard,” Ren managed, voice strained with shared, overwhelming pain. “Something’s happened to Yegard.”

The confirmation came moments later, Reven’s urgent voice cutting through the chaos as he burst into the room, his own expression carrying matching, fierce alarm. “Yegard’s convoy was ambushed,” he reported, already moving to properly support Ren through the overwhelming, shared agony. “En route to a routine military inspection, considerably more heavily armed than any standard threat we’d anticipated for that particular engagement.”

Ren felt fresh terror crash through him alongside the continued, violent pain radiating through the bond. “Is he,” he started, unable to properly finish the horrifying question.

“Alive,” Reven confirmed immediately, something fierce and certain in his tone despite his own evident fear. “Injured, but alive. Reinforcements are already converging on his position.”

The wait that followed stretched agonizingly long, Ren caught in continued, sympathetic pain while Vance worked desperately to stabilize both his condition and the pregnancy against the ongoing, violent intrusion, and it wasn’t until nearly an hour later that the pain finally began, gradually, to ease, suggesting Yegard’s own condition had properly stabilized.

“He’s being transported back now,” Reven confirmed, relief evident in his voice as he relayed the update. “Injured, but the medical team confirms he’ll make a full recovery.”

Ren felt overwhelming relief crash through him alongside his lingering exhaustion from the shared agony. “I need to see him,” he said immediately, though his own body, still recovering from the violent sympathetic experience, protested the thought of movement.

“Soon,” Vance said firmly, continuing her careful monitoring of both Ren’s condition and the pregnancy. “Once I’m properly confident neither you nor the twins have sustained any lasting harm from this episode.”

Yegard arrived at the palace nearly two hours later, considerably more battered than Ren had anticipated despite Reven’s earlier reassurance, a heavily bandaged shoulder and visible bruising across his face testament to the severity of the ambush he’d survived. Ren, finally cleared to properly see him, crossed the medical wing with desperate speed despite his own lingering exhaustion, pulling him into a fierce, careful embrace the moment he reached his side.

“I felt everything,” Ren said, voice shaking with overwhelming, residual fear. “I thought I might lose you.”

“I’m here,” Yegard said, voice rough but steady despite his evident pain, holding Ren close with his uninjured arm. “I’m sorry you had to experience that.”

“Don’t apologize,” Ren said fiercely. “This wasn’t your fault. They deliberately targeted you, specifically because they understood exactly what effect it would have on me.”

Reven joined the embrace carefully, something fierce and protective in his own evident relief. “We need to properly reassess our entire approach,” he said grimly. “This confirms exactly the strategy we feared. They’re prepared to directly target either of you, specifically to harm Ren and the pregnancy by proxy.”

Ren felt old fear tangle with fierce, protective determination at the confirmation. “Then we need to find their leadership,” he said firmly, exhaustion warring with urgent resolve. “Properly, completely, before they attempt something even more dangerous.”

“We will,” Reven confirmed, something equally determined in his own tone despite his evident, lingering fear from the day’s crisis.

Ren settled carefully against Yegard’s uninjured side, old exhaustion and fresh, fierce determination tangling together as he processed the full, frightening scope of exactly what danger this unprecedented bond now exposed them all to. Whatever came next, whatever additional precautions this new understanding demanded, he found himself facing the mounting threat with renewed, fierce resolve, unwilling to let the Remnant’s calculated strategy succeed in tearing apart the family he’d fought so desperately to build and protect.