Chapter 197

“The moon goddess actually showed up at the baby’s birth,” Monk Blythe explained. He sighed and rubbed his face, then recrossed his arms. “I’m getting ahead of myself. I should probably explain how we got to the birth of the child. Because the poor thing certainly didn’t make it to term.

“She was close, in her last trimester, but not ready to give birth yet when it was apparent that Queen Rosemary was succumbing to the poison. King James had been slandering her for their entire marriage, telling the entire Kingdom of Orlune how weak and inferior she was. The couple never even announced her pregnancy.

“But honestly, Queen Rosemary was a better werewolf than King James ever could hope to be. And ten times stronger than he understood, putting up with all of his abuse when she could have fled like Queen Yarrow.”

He held out his hands. “Don’t get me wrong. That makes it sound like I don’t respect Queen Yarrow. I’m in hiding as well, so I can’t say that I blame her for her choice. All I’m saying is that Queen Rosemary wanted her child to be legitimate. She wanted Orlune to have a way out from under King James’ rule.

“And so she tried to stay in the palace and see the pregnancy out, determined to protect her child for as long as possible so that we as a nation could have an heir.” He shook his head. “The amount of strength that was required staggers me, and yet it wasn’t enough because the poison still did its job.”

He sniffed before continuing. “Once she weakened and had to be in the hospital full-time, the king gave out that the queen was dying of her weak constitution. He started up affairs before she passed, trying to find a woman he could impregnate.

“His greatest desire was to have a male heir that he could mold into an image of himself.” Monk Blythe shuddered. “I can only imagine how horrible it would have been for the rest of us if that’s where we had ended up.

“I attended her that whole time Queen Rosemary wasted away, neglected in the hospital. The king made a public proclamation that I had failed her, and in some ways, I did. I couldn’t save her. But I did try to grant her last wish as she lay dying in the hospital. I did an emergency Cesarean section to deliver her baby.

“The king was there for the initial birth. I’m positive he chose to hide it from the nation because he was waiting for a male. The moment I delivered the child, I knew I had been right. Queen Rosemary delivered a baby girl. The king took one look at her and ordered me to dispose of the baby.

“He said she was weakened by the poison and declared the child dead before I even had a chance to examine her vitals. And then he stormed from the room.

“That’s when the goddess showed up. She took the child and disappeared. And I have no knowledge of what happened from that moment on. I never got a chance to verify that the child was born alive. Although I did have heart rate monitors on both the child and Queen Rosemary before the delivery and during the c-section.

“So, I know that the baby still had a heartbeat when I pulled her out.” He gave me a strange sort of smile. “I think I know what happened now, though.”

I cocked my head confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, the baby had one identifying feature that I will never forget. When I pulled her from her mother’s womb, the most amazing scent filled the delivery room. Normally, when delivering werewolf children, there’s a mingling of scents between the mother and the baby, but not in this case.

“The baby’s scent was so unique and so amazingly peaceful and wonderful that it set everyone in the delivery room at ease. And the greatest miracle of all was that poor infant’s mother passed on the delivery table with a smile on her face, soothed in her last moments by her daughter.”

By now, my heart was thundering inside my chest. His story about a unique scent and the goddess had started all sorts of turmoil, turning my stomach inside out until my guts felt like they were going to come up and out.

He nodded at me. “I can see it in your eyes that you’re connecting the pieces together. And you are correct. I recognized the scent the moment you neared the moon pool, but I feared that perhaps you had been taken back by the king and had sought me out for vengeance.

“You are that child. I have never smelled anyone with a scent like yours. There’s no mistaking it.”

“B-but…” I stammered. “That would… If-if I was… Then I’d be…”

He chuckled. “Yes, my dear. I’m telling you, you are the missing heir.”

My head spun, and the world tilted at a crazy angle. The room got fuzzy and black around the edges. And I could hear the doctor calling me from what sounded like far away, his voice echoing and metallic before everything went black.

I drifted in soothing nothingness for I don’t know how long before the sharp smell of herbs pulled me back into reality. I jerked up in an unfamiliar bed, panic racing across me.

A warm hand came down on my shoulder and I looked up into the concerned face of Monk Blythe. “You need to calm down,” he said. “You’re safe. You’re just passed out.”

I sighed and looked around. I was in some sort of infirmary, and the two of us were alone.

“It was probably the shock of what you told me. Is what’s in my head the truth? For real?”

He nodded. “But I don’t think it was the shock that sent you to the floor.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Well, I’ve been having a lot of trouble with jet lag, and I’ve been feeling a little under the weather, sick to my stomach and such. I’m putting a lot of strain on my body, especially being hunted by the king.”

Monk Blythe gave me a strange smile and handed me a little box. I took it from him and flipped it over and stared at it uncomprehending.

“Why?” managed to escape my lips.

“Are you telling me it’s not possible?” he asked.

I shook my head. He’d handed me a pregnancy test. Now, the floor dropped away from me for a whole new reason.

“It’s not impossible,” I murmured. “We’ve been careful most of the time, though.”

“Most of the time isn’t good enough if you are determined not to have a child.” There was no scolding in his words, just facts.

“The restroom is right over there.” He pointed across the infirmary. “I highly recommend you go take it, and then I can offer my advice as a former doctor, though I no longer practice.”

I clutched the little box in my hand, still trying to wrap my shocked brain around what he was suggesting. There was no way I was pregnant.

But like so many women that I had talked to at the office and my friends, the moment even the possibility entered my mind, all sorts of creeping doubts and worries wormed their way in.

Whether it was the anxiety of an anticipated pregnancy or the anxiety of something unexpected and perhaps even unwanted, I hadn’t met a woman yet who took a pregnancy test with a calm heart.