Chapter 201

I was going to have to come to terms with the fact that I was probably pregnant, and this was probably morning sickness. And it probably explained why I’d been so tired. But the hope that I wasn’t still kept tangling up my will to talk to Charles about it.

Perhaps the doctor would call back and tell me that these were all just my fears getting the better of me. I was sick and nothing more.

Then again, at the very least, Charles deserved to share this with me. And maybe sharing with him would help relieve some of the anxiety that I was feeling.

My phone rang out in the bedroom, and Charles knocked on the door. “Elena, it’s for you. It’s a number that I don’t recognize. Do you want to take it?”

“Yes,” I said.

I opened the door crack, and he handed the phone through. I saw the number and swiped.

“This is Elena Laurentia,” I answered, shutting the door on Charles.

“Elena, it’s good to speak to you. This is Monk Blythe.”

“Oh, hi,” I said, trepidation knotting my stomach.

“I rushed through that blood work of yours.” He paused, and my stomach bottomed out.

“Yes?” I insisted, trying to hurry him up.

“Congratulations,” he said. “It’s official. You’re pregnant.”

“Th-thank you.”

I’m not sure how I formed the words. My lips were completely numb. And I hung up the phone only to realize afterward that my response had been rather rude.

But I couldn’t wrap my brain around the facts swamping my life, let alone manage pleasantries with a man I barely knew.

My whole body trembled, and I curled my knees up to my chest, hugging them against myself. Now, what did I do? I wasn’t just sharing fears with Charles now. I was sharing that I was having his baby with him.

What if he wasn’t pleased? We’d already talked about the fact that now wasn’t a good time to have a baby.

What if he and his mother made me quit and stay home? I was SO close to finally breaking this wide open and taking down the king.

But by doing that, would I have to claim to be the heir?

I shook my head against my knees. No, that was stupid. I wasn’t meant to lead a country. I was meant to tell the truth to a country.

Besides, being some long-lost heir was ridiculous, even more ridiculous than my being pregnant. There was no way I was the child of the king.

Every girl dreams of being a long-lost princess at some point in their life, I suppose. But that’s always in a fairytale sense. It always involves castles and people falling over you and great fanfare and the Kingdom welcoming their lost princess.

For me, being the heir meant risking my life, the life of the ones that I loved, and now an unborn child’s life by claiming such a thing.

I took a deep breath and let it out, feeling like I might throw up again with it, but nothing else came out. There was nothing else to throw up. I had to tell Charles. He needed to know.

He deserved to know what the stakes were, and more than anything, I needed his advice. This wasn’t a decision that I could make on my own.

Besides, the child inside me was half of him. If anybody deserved a say in where we went from here, it was Charles.

Clinging to that resolve, I hauled myself up off the floor. I was doing this now before anything got in the way. I couldn’t stand the thought of having to find my courage a second time.

I marched out into an empty bedroom. Charles had already headed for the living room, evidently. I poked my head out, and sure enough, he was sitting at the dining room table with Theo and David.

“Charles? Can I have a word with you, please?”

He stood up and made his way over toward me. “Did you need some chicken soup or something?” he asked. “Some electrolytes?”

I shook my head. “No, but thank you. There’s something important I need to talk to you about.”

I held the door open and gestured for him to join me inside. Once he was inside, I shut and locked the door and fidgeted with the bottom of my shirt. Now that it was time to tell him, and he was standing in the room with me, words failed me.

My throat constricted, and I wasn’t even sure I could breathe properly, let alone speak.

“Elena? You’re scaring me,” he said. “Is it your health? Is there something wrong?”

I shook my head.

“Was there some sort of threat? Was that phone call from the palace? Are you in danger?”

He made a motion for me.

When I shook my head again, he gripped my shoulders. I opened my mouth to confess several times but couldn’t manage words.

The door opened inward and bumped into the two of us.

“Not now,” Charles snarled.

“You guys need to come out here right now.” Theo’s tone was tight.

Charles gave a sigh and let go of my shoulder, throwing open the door. “I hope whatever you need is really important.”

Theo pointed us into the living room, where David stood in the middle of the room, staring at the television. On the screen was the news, and on David’s face was a look of utter shock.

“And we’re back with continuing coverage of this breaking news,” the reporter said. “It has been confirmed through a blood test that the Alpha King has an heir.”

My heart stumbled and faltered, and my stomach sank. My throat constricted even further. I reached for the back of the couch to steady myself, feeling faint. But the news reporter blared on as if they weren’t changing everything.

“The blood test confirms that the person in question is the offspring of the late Queen Rosemary and the Alpha King himself. We’ve been able to identify the individual via the werewolf registry, and we are pleased to announce that our own Elaina Laurentia is indeed the long-rumored heir of Orlune.”

I sank down until the back of the couch caught under my armpits, holding me up. My knees were inches above the ground, and my toes barely supported the lower half of me.

All three of the men in the room turned and stared at me with open mouths.

“You knew this?” Charles demanded,

I opened my mouth and shook my head at the same time. “I… no… I mean, I found out at the monastery,” I stumbled to say. “The monk. Monk Blythe. He delivered me as a baby. I guess he remembered my smell.”

Theo started to say something, but pounding on the door to the apartment stopped him. Without waiting for an answer, the door burst open as if pummeled in, and a troop of officers marched into our apartment, standing and saluting as the mousy man from the palace hurried in, looking unsure of himself.

He glanced around at the two bodyguards and Charles and then at me. “Elaine Laurentia,” he said. “I’ll need you to come with me. The king has requested your presence at the palace.”

Some resolve hardened in my stomach, and I tipped up my chin, trying to look as firm as possible. “I’m not going anywhere without Charles. And my bodyguard. And Charles’ bodyguard, too.”

If I was going to be claimed as a princess, or worse, punished for upsetting whatever the king’s plans were, I wasn’t going down without a fight. But I needed these three at my back if I was going to do anything.

A small part of me worried that maybe I was getting Charles into a fight that didn’t belong to him. But it was clear that they were willing to separate us at the palace. I’d have to trust that after he was done having my back, they wouldn’t punish him just for me bringing him along.

The mousy man glanced between the three men and then nodded. “As you wish. Now, come along. The king awaits.”