The Birth of an Heir

On the night of July twenty-eighth, a gentle summer rain began to fall over the Cotswolds, tapping a soft, rhythmic lullaby against the leaded glass casements of Ravenwood Manor. At two o'clock in the morning, Camille woke to a sharp, rhythmic tightening in her lower abdomen that made her gasp and sit bolt upright in the four-poster bed. Beside her, Damian woke instantly. In a fraction of a second, the…