The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 693

Chapter 693 Signet Ultimatum

Julius narrowed his eyes, studying her the way a predator assesses unexpected prey. “Do you even understand what this ring significs?” His tone was silky, yet every word vibrated with warning.

“Of course I do. It proves you are head of the Whitethorn family, and with it I can command every Whitethorn resource–even summon the Shadow Guards.”

“And still you-” Julius began, the half–finished protest dissolving in disbelief before it could escape his lips.

“Yes, I want the ring,” she cut in, voice steady and unyielding. “Remember, you once placed it on my finger. I am merely reclaiming what belongs to its rightful owner. If you truly refuse to part from me, then give it back.”

He held her gaze without blinking, and the silence between them thickened until even the bedside lamp seemed to flicker under its weight.

A tiny, drowsy voice shattered the tension. “Mommy, why is Daddy here?” Dawn asked, words muffled by a

yawn.

Both adults jolted as though yanked back to earth. Quinn spun around. The child who had been fast asleep now sat up, knuckling misty eyes while curls fell over her cheeks.

“Daddy had a nightmare and couldn’t sleep,” Quinn answered, tone soft enough to tuck the darkness back under the bed.

Before Julius could react, Dawn wriggled out from under the duvet and crawled until she knelt before him, her small fingers wrapping around his larger hand. “Daddy, do you have nightmares too?” she whispered.

Julius pressed his lips together, wondering how to answer his daughter’s question.

Dawn nodded, almost as if she had solved the mystery herself. “You got scared, so you came to find Mommy and me, right? It’s okay–we’ll protect you.”

For a heartbeat, Julius merely stared, stunned by how completely the night had turned itself inside out.

A sharp ache speared behind his temples, and with it a flicker of memory. In the haze, a woman’s voice- soft, fearless–echoed the very same promise, Don’t be afraid I’ll protect you.

Who had said those words? Had it been Quinn?

Dawn turned back to her mother. “Mommy, can Daddy sleep with us tonight?”

“You want Daddy to stay, Dawnie?” Quinn asked, lifting an amused eyebrow.

Dawn nodded so vigorously her curls bounced. “He had a nightmare. If he sleeps alone, he’ll be too miserable.”

Miserable? Julius tasted the word, half amused, half offended. He was the head of the Whitethorn family, a

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man who could summon accountants–or Shadow Guards–at midnight. What about that looked miserable?

Yet mother and child regarded him with identical, gentle pity, knotting the next sentence in his throat so tightly it never came out.

“All right, then Daddy stays with us.” Quinn decided, a small, sincere smile breaking the tension.

“Yay!” Dawn squealed, her delight ringing like morning birdsong. Until now, she had only envied friends who shared a bed with both parents.

Tonight, at last, she would be one of them.

Bursting with enthusiasm, she burrowed beneath the covers, lifted the quilt beside her, and patted the empty space. “Daddy, right here!”

Each new “Daddy” rolled off her tongue with growing ease, as though the word had always been meant for this room–and for him.

Julius paused at the threshold, the soft lamplight painting the sheets in honeyed gold. The faint scent of lavender drifted up, familiar yet unsettling, and a tight crease formed between his brows. He reminded himself that he had not come best to curl up beside mother and child. That, he told himself, had never been part of the plan.

“Julius, Dawn is the child you once ached for night after night,” Quinn said, one brow arching in poised challenge. “Surely you’re not going to refuse her such a simple request.”

Resignation softened the edge of his expression. With a muted sigh, he lifted the quilt and settled onto the mattress, choosing the space on one side of his daughter.

Quinn slipped beneath the covers from the opposite edge, lying down on the other side.

Dawn nestled between them, cheeks pressed against the pillow. A small, triumphant smile curved in her sleep as though she had finally assembled her family like pieces of a long–scattered puzzle.

“Daddy, don’t be scared,” she whispered, sleepy yet earnest. “Whenever the nightmares come, I just scoot next to Mommy, and the fear disappears, like magic. It will work for you, too.”

The remark left Julius half amused, half disarmed. Being comforted by his own child felt strangely new, a tender reversal he had never thought to experience.

Then her tiny fingers closed around his. The fragile warmth that seeped from that childish grip sent a ripple of awe through him, as if time itself had paused to let him feel it.

Within moments, her breathing evened, lashes fluttered once, and she slipped back into untroubled sleep.

Julius watched the gentle rise and fall of his daughter’s chest. “Did I really spend all those years longing for this child?” he murmured, the words more confession than question.

“Yes,” Quinn answered, her voice no louder than the rustle of sheets. “You loved her from the moment she was nothing more than a flutter on an ultrasound. Even when you worried she might carry the sickness

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Chapter 693 Signet Ultimatum

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