She wasn’t just a baby.
She was an heir.
Hoofbeats shattered the quiet.
Caleb moved to the window instantly.
Two riders in the distance. Dark shapes against the snow. Moving fast.
“Hart Ranch,” he muttered.
Grace clutched Luna tighter. “Are they coming for us?”
Caleb didn’t answer right away.
He grabbed his rifle from above the door but didn’t aim it. Not yet.
“If they know about her,” he said finally, “they won’t let her stay hidden.”
“Why?”
“Because bloodlines mean power.”
Grace’s stomach twisted. She hadn’t walked all this way to deliver her baby into another cage.
“Please,” she whispered. “Don’t let them take her.”
Caleb looked at her — really looked at her.
A barefoot girl who crossed mountains.
A child raising a child.
A baby wrapped in a secret powerful enough to shake an empire.
He had spent years running from his family’s darkness.
But darkness had followed him anyway.
He made a decision in that moment.
“They won’t take her,” he said quietly.
The riders drew closer.
Grace’s heart pounded in her ears.
“Where are we going?” she asked as Caleb opened the back door, leading them toward the horses.
He helped her into the saddle with surprising gentleness.
“Home,” he said.