The children had lead Nefretti to their secret hiding spot, tucked in a secluded area of the garden was a wooden door covered with vines, when you open it, are enter another garden, the secret garden. A single tree was placed in the middle with two swings hanging from one of its branches. Vibranium flowers surrounded decorated the wall and surrounded the tree. Nefretti had her eyes wide open in amazement. After years of residing within the palace walls, Nefretti was sure that she knew every room and its secret entryway. Even T'Challa nor Shuri never mentioned a tucked-away little garden in their enormous one. She spent the whole afternoon getting to know each of the children. After that, she invited them to stay for dinner. 

The rest of the royal family were as shocked as the servants when they saw five children running around the palace and eating dinner with the royal family. The five children immediately clicked with the king with the boys playfully wrestling with him, four against one, while Efia and Nefretti gushed nearby. Nefretti recalled Efia pointing at the tallest one saying that was her boyfriend. The young queen laughed at the little girl's infatuation with one of the playmates before setting her eyes on her husband who seemed happier with the kids' presence. He's going to be a great father, Nefretti kept on thinking as she smiled at her beaming king. Princess Shuri was delighted to show them some of her new inventions and had quite a laugh when she mischievously told the boys to use her inventions on T'Challa when they had their second round of roughhousing. Unsurprisingly, T'Challa was at a disadvantage with the four eight-year-olds charging at him with dangerous weapons. He ended up being thrown onto a wall. But no one was more delighted to see children playing with hers as Queen Mother Ramonda. Nefretti was anxious at first when she brought them to the patio where the Queen Mother was having her afternoon tea. However, all her worries faded away when her mother-in-law nodded her head approval and gave a warm smile. Sometimes, Nefretti thought that perhaps she was more excited for the birth of Nefretti's child more than the parents themselves.

It was past supper now, and the children had gone home to their families to tell them about the exciting day they had. They would be back again tomorrow since Nefretti gladly welcomed her home for them to play in whenever they liked.  The queen ran across the dark garden dragging the king by his wrist to follow her. She laughed picking up her pace, much to T'Challa's dismay. 

"Hurry up T'Challa!" 

"I can't see! It's the middle of the night Nefretti. Where are you taking me?" 

Nefretti giggled even more ignoring her husband's question. She retraced her steps from this afternoon, sometimes getting lost in the process, but after a fifteen-minute journey. They had reached their destination. In front of them was a wall of dark green. T'Challa looked closely at the blank wall expecting to see something, however, it was impossible to see in this lighting. 

"C'mon" Nefretti pulled her husband and reached for the hidden door handle. The king was about to say something when he closed his mouth in shock when Nefretti pushed a couple of vines out of the way to reveal a wooden door. She opened it and ran inside kicking her shoes and jumping onto the swing in the middle of the garden. Just as she had predicted this afternoon, the vibranium flowers decorating the garden was glowing purple making the scenery more beautiful than it already was. T'Challa stood in the entrance still in shock about this discovery. "Well, are you going to join me or not?" She called out pushing her feet from the ground swinging herself in the process.. T'Challa slowly walked inside and made a full 360 taking in every part of the secret garden. 

"This is amazing Nefretti. Beyond anything, I've ever expected." He finally said after a long moment of silence. He examined the tree in the middle, the one that held the swings. Upon further inspection, he saw two very familiar initials engraved inside a heart on the bark of the tree. "Look at this! It's my grandparents' initials!" He shook his head smiling. 

Nefretti turned her head and mimicked his amazed expression. 

 "To think that I spent my whole life here and to have never found this... " He mumbled to himself but loud enough for his wife to hear.

"Me neither. The kids showed me this place after I caught them." Nefretti explained.  "Poor Nuru, the young fella fainted after he screamed his guts out when I came out to say hi." She chuckled to herself reliving the memory.

"You're gonna be an amazing mother you know that." 

Nefretti stopped swinging. In all honestly, she didn't know what kind of mother she was going to be, and the thought of her being a bad one scared her. She remembered her mother and how she spent her childhood loving her, her teenage years hating her, and her adult life missing her. Nefretti's mother was overbearing yet she loved her daughter more than anything in the world. Every argument and fight they ever had always stemmed from her caring and wanted the best for her daughter. But sadly, Nefretti had only realized that when it was too late.

Nefretti was pulled from her thoughts when she felt T'Challa grabbing a hold of her hands and placing them onto his lips. He knelt down in front of her, their hands still interlocked with each other. "I know you have a lot on your mind right now my love. I won't force you to tell me what's going on until you are comfortable with me knowing but I want you to know that I will be by your side throughout it all-whatever it is. Till death do us part, remember?" 

Nefretti melted at his words feeling a lot better. But the uncertainty still loomed within her. Shakily, she said, "There's something I haven't told you T'Challa. Remember what my parents warned me about, that one of us will eventually die?" 

T'Challa nodded confused, "Yes, but we defeated Klaw and Killmonger. They're no longer a threat to us."

"Well, the last time I had visited them, they told me that the prophecy still stands. Apparently, what's about to come cannot be stopped. 'The end is near.'" She quoted. "And I'm terrified. For you, for me, for our little one. I cannot lose you either of you T'Challa, I would die before that would ever happen. Our baby cannot end up being an orphan-"

T'Challa shook his head. "Nothing will happen to you or our baby."

"Bu-" 

"-Nothing will happen. I will make sure of that. I will lay down my life protecting both of you. And don't you dare come and save me if I do." He looked her dead in the eyes, he was nothing but serious. 

Nefretti shook her head letting a few silent tears come out. Her husband embraced her as she silently cried into his chest. The hormones certainly didn't help her as she wept even more. If T'Challa was in danger, she would be the first one running to his side stopping at nothing until they were both out of harm's way. But her husband's voice kept echoing in her mind. Even if it meant losing the love of her life, her newest and most important priority was protecting their unborn child.

YAY! Another update! Thank you guys for supporting this story, I really appreciate it sm❤️ If you haven't read book one, I suggest you do before reading this book. It's called Wakanda Forever and also feel free to check out some of my other stories🤩🤩

BTW, I will be starting new fanfic soon! I won't get into details but it will involve superpowers🤭 So if you guys have any suggestions for cool powers, pls dm me or comment them! That would really help a lot huhu.