“Thanks, Damon,” he smiles. His baby is cooing in its bassinet by the bed, and Charlie strokes the baby’s cheek. “Elle was fantastic.”
“You? Not so much,” our new Queen smiles. “Charlie passed out.”
“That is officially a state secret,” Charlie laughs. “That does not leave this room.”
“You didn’t!” Dahlia exclaims, laughing.
“There was more blood than I was expecting,” Charlie says.
Dahlia goes to the new baby and lets out a soft sigh. Her hand drifts to her own stomach, and her eyes soften. Feeling my gaze, she lifts her eyes up to mine.
For the first time all week, a genuine smile stretches across her lips.
“You want to hold him?” Elle asks.
Dahlia sucks a breath in. “Can I? I’m scared.”
“Don’t be,” Elle grins. “He’s only the heir to the throne.”
Dahlia giggles and reaches for the baby.
“Support his neck,” Elle instructs. She’s smiling, staring at her new son like only a mother can.
Dahlia has a similar look on her face. She looks so happy, holding that baby, and it makes my heart skip a beat. For a fraction of a second, it looks like Dahlia is holding her own child.
It makes my mind rush in a million different directions. Is that what I want?
A lump forms in my throat as I watch Dahlia with the baby. There’s so much joy in this room, and Dahlia looks so natural as she holds the newborn. She rocks him and lays a kiss on the baby’s forehead.
Glancing at me again, she gives me a shy smile.
I gulp.
A part of me wants that—a part of me would put a baby in Dahlia’s womb right now. I’d be a father to our child. I’d love her until the ends of the earth.
But another, bigger part of me hesitates. I’m not ready to be a father. I barely even know Dahlia! Plus, there’s so much damage inside me that I don’t even know that I could be a parent.
I’m not fit to be a father. I’ve always known it. There’s too much badness inside me, too much scar tissue. I couldn’t. I can’t. I won’t.
My heart starts to thump, and suddenly I need some air.
I duck out of the room and lean against the wall, taking long, slow breaths until my heartbeat quiets down. After a few minutes, Dahlia appears in front of me.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I sigh. “My mind just started going crazy there. I started thinking about having kids and…” I shake my head.
“And…?”
“And, well, I’m glad we’re not having any right now.” I laugh, shaking my head.
Dahlia’s face falls. “You don’t want kids?”
“No! I do! It’s just… I don’t know.” I put my hand to her waist and Dahlia pulls away ever so slightly. She looks devastated.
I clear my throat. “Not right now. It’s not… How would we…”
“I get it,” she says, nodding quickly. “Yeah.” Dahlia glances up at me and then away again. “I’d better go back in there.”
She slips away from me without saying another word. I’ve done something wrong, but I don’t know what.
Just like that, in two or three minutes, I know that something has shifted between us. The happy, domestic life that we’ve been living for the past few weeks shimmers in my mind as if it were all a mirage.
25
DAHLIA
HE DOESN’T WANT KIDS. The father of my child doesn’t want a baby.
I drift through the day, doing my best to act normal, even though everything inside me is crumbling.
Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I’ve felt like I’m walking a tightrope. At any second, I’m going to fall down, down, down. Hearing Damon say he doesn’t want kids made me wobble, and I try my best to keep it together.
I’m pregnant. Even thinking the words makes my heart thump harder. It had to be the day in the study, at the royal wedding. I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to figure out how this happened. We’ve been safe every time except for that day.
I can’t believe this is happening. When Elle got pregnant, I thought she was the most irresponsible person in Farcliff. I never thought it would happen to me.
How could I be so stupid?
Damon and I make our way back to the house in silence, and all the while I’m pretending that I’m not coming apart at the seams.
The Prince says a few words to me, and goes into the bedroom to sleep before his next shift. I mumble a response and watch him walk away, and my heart turns black in my chest.
I lounge on the couch and run my hand over my stomach.
I’m pregnant. Squeezing my eyes shut, I let out a sigh and slump down.
I thought everything was going well. I thought my life was starting to look up, and that Damon and I had a chance at happiness. I even thought that my family would be able to come back to Farcliff.
I thought I’d live happily ever after.
Ha!
Panic starts to well up inside me. My mind races a million miles an hour, thinking of every possibility in my future.
Getting rid of the baby—adoption or otherwise—is out of the question. Even a few weeks in, I know this baby is mine to keep. In a flash, I understand how Elle felt just a few months ago.
The Prince doesn’t want kids. My parents would have a fit if they knew I was having a Prince of Farcliff’s baby.
So, what choice am I left with? Lie to my parents? Lie to Damon, and do this on my own? Tell them, and risk the fallout? Disappear back to the Rocky Mountains and pretend this never happened?
My heart squeezes, and I do my best to take a full breath.
I jump when knock comes on my door. Sitting on the couch, I stare down the hall without moving. I’m not answering the door. I don’t care if it’s the King of Farcliff himself, I’m not talking to anyone.
No way.
They knock again, a bit louder this time. I sigh as I heave myself off the couch, trudging down the hallway. Whoever it is, I’ll just tell them to leave.
But then, I open the door to see my mother and father standing on my creaky old stoop. My heart sinks. I’d forgotten they were invited to the Farcliff Castle, and now with baby Charlie being born, it’s the perfect opportunity for this reconciliation to begin.
Wonderful.
I can’t wait for us to be one big, happy fucking family again.
I say a silent prayer of thanks that Damon is sleeping, but my palms still start to sweat. I know that my parents are nervous about coming back to Farcliff—how would they react if they knew Damon and I were seeing each other?
How would they react if they knew he was sleeping in my bed?
How would they react if they knew I was carrying his child?
“Darling, is this where you live? You could have asked us for money,” my mother says, her eyebrows drawing together. She looks at the front porch, rotting and falling apart in places and then sweeps her eyes over the front yard. I feel like crying.
I’ve never been embarrassed of my home, but there are too many emotions swirling inside me.
“Nice to see you too, Mom.” I lean over to kiss her cheek. My father wraps me in a tight embrace before pulling back with his hands on my shoulders. He studies my face, frowning.
“Your mother is right, Dahlia. You can’t live in a place like this.”
“Like what?” My spine stiffens. How dare they come here and criticize my house like this? They shipped me off to the mountains to be homeschooled by my aunts, but now, all of a sudden, I’m too good for Grimdale? Now, all of a sudden, I’m a Raventhal again?
Anger spikes through me and it takes me a moment to catch my breath. I don’t know why I’m feeling defensive about this house, but it’s been my home for over two years. With Elle gone up to the castle, and my love life taking a sharp turn toward disaster, this house is the last familiar thing that I have.
“Maybe we should get a hotel, Harry.” My mother glances around the neighborhood, and fru
stration bubbles up inside me. They didn’t mind me living in a shack in the woods until I was sixteen, but apparently when I’m in Farcliff, I’m supposed to live in the lap of luxury.
“You guys want to come in?” I ask, pulling the door open wider. Defiance makes me jut my chin out. Let them find out about me and Damon. Maybe I’ll tell them all about the baby! They probably wouldn’t care about a few rotten planks of wood on my front stoop if they knew about that!
My father glances at me, and then he looks at my mother. “We tried, remember? Everywhere is booked up. People have come from all around for the birth of the Prince. The King invited us to stay at the palace, Tabitha,” my father continues. “We should accept the invitation. They’re expecting us today.”
My mother wrings her hands in front of her, biting her lip.
I take a deep breath to compose myself. My emotions are cranked up to a hundred right now, and I need to remember who I’m talking to. My parents have been away from Farcliff for years. Of course they’re worried about me, and about themselves.
“Tell you what,” I say. “I’ll come up to the castle with you. All three of us can stay there. Elle said she’d appreciate some help with the baby, and it’s closer to campus.”
Not to mention, that means they won’t be staying at my place—and they won’t know about Damon just yet. They’ll get to stay in nicer accommodation, and I’ll have time to figure out how to break it to them that I’m falling in love with one of the Princes…
… Oh, and that I’m pregnant.
Holy Farcliff, how will I tell Damon? My stomach clenches, and I feel like I’m going to throw up. I can’t keep up with this roller coaster. Is this what they mean when they talk about pregnancy hormones? Am I going to spend the next eight months struggling to keep up with my own emotions?
“I don’t know,” my mother says, shifting her weight from foot to foot.
I force a smile. “It’s fine. I’ve met the royal family, and my best friend Elle is the Queen now. It’s safe over there.”
“My best friend was the Queen, too,” Mom snaps. My father squeezes her hand and they exchange a loaded look. They’ve probably talked about this a million times.
My mother straightens her shoulders. “Okay. Fine.”
“I have class in an hour, but I’ll meet you there tonight, okay?”
My mother lets out a sigh and nods. “Okay. It’s good to see you, Dahlia.” She wraps me in another hug. She holds me tight, and it takes all my self-control to not break down in her arms.
What if I did tell them? What if I blurted it out—blurted everything out about Damon, and the baby, and how I feel about it all?
Maybe they would help me.
But my mother pulls away and takes a deep breath. She forces a smile and nods to me. “See you tonight.”
I watch them walk away, and my lips stay sealed.
DAMON WAKES up around four o’clock looking tired as hell. I’m waiting for him in the kitchen when he stumbles out.
“I made you lunch for your shift.”
“Thanks, babe,” Damon says, kissing my forehead. “That’s nice of you.”
“Also… I’m moving up to the castle.” And I’m pregnant, and you’re the father. “My parents want me to go up with them. Moral support, I guess.”
Damon frowns. He’s still groggy, and I can tell he doesn’t understand what’s going on. “Okay—but I thought you hated the castle.”
“I don’t hate it. It’s just… My parents are in town. They’ll only go up there if I’m with them.”
Damon rakes his fingers through his hair and takes a deep breath. “All right. Did you tell them about me?”
I bite my lip. “Not exactly.”
“Not exactly as in ‘no’?”
I snort. “Yeah.”
“Are you embarrassed of me?”
“No! Not at all. It’s just that it’s hard enough for my parents to come here in the first place. For me to be dating a Farcliff Prince? That might be a little much for them to take in.”
I resist the urge to put my hand to my stomach. Every second sentence, I think of telling him about the baby, but the words just won’t come out.
It’s been nice having him here. It’s been comforting knowing that my pillow smells like him, and that his shoes are lined up beside mine by the front door.
If I tell him now, it’ll ruin everything. The past few weeks have been so, so good, and I just… I can’t bring myself to say the words that will end it all.
Damon wraps his arms around my waist and rests his chin on top of my head. I nuzzle into his chest and listen to his heartbeat. I’m stuck in limbo, torn between enjoying his company and telling him the truth. I know that once I tell him about the baby, everything will change.
“We’re going to have to tell people that we’re together eventually.”
“I know,” I say.
His arms tighten around me and I take a deep, shuddering breath. My world is falling to pieces around me, and all I’m doing is standing here, watching it happen.
Right now, Prince Damon and I are in a safe little cocoon. No one knows that we’ve been seeing each other—not even Elle. Our relationship has been loving and tender and perfect. We’ve spent every night with each other, and text each other throughout the day. He hasn’t needed to self-harm, and I haven’t worried about being cursed.
But now…
…everything is different. It’s all going to end.
It would be enough of a controversy for one of the Princes of Farcliff to be dating a Raventhal—but to have a baby with me? An illegitimate baby with me?
Scandal-city. Tabloid central. The end of Farcliff as we know it.
Worry knots my stomach. The Prince cups my cheek and presses his lips to mine.
“We’ll figure this out, Dahlia.”
I nod, not believing a word.
“You do want to be with me, right?” His eyebrows arch and his eyes look so clear and sincere that my heart aches.
“Of course I want to be with you.” I choke on the last word as emotion clouds my eyes. I try to fill my lungs up, but it’s hard to take a full breath. I want nothing more than to be with him! Being with him has been like finally taking a breath of air after being stuck underwater. It’s like seeing the sun after being underground for months. It’s like waking up after a bad dream.
Being with Damon is everything I never knew I wanted, and it’s all going to change the minute I tell him the truth.
“Look, if you don’t want to go public with me yet, I understand that. I saw how the media swarmed my brother and Elle. We’re both busy with school and work, and I know that everything will change once people know we’re together.” Damon tightens his arm around me.
“It’s just so perfect now,” I whisper. “I don’t want to ruin it—us.”
“Nothing can ruin us,” Damon says as he kisses me again. “I won’t let it happen. I promise.”
I nod and force a smile, but the sick feeling in my stomach gets stronger and I know that’s a promise that Damon can’t possibly keep.
Damon’s hands slide down to my ass, and I tilt my head up to look at him. He’s still the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. He still makes my pulse quicken. I still want him more than I can explain.
So, for a little bit longer, I want to stay in this cocoon of ours. When I figure out the right words to use to tell him about the baby, then I’ll say them. For now, though, I just press my lips to his and enjoy the warmth of his embrace.
26
DAMON
I MOVE BACK to the castle after my shift at the Farcliff General Hospital. As far as I can tell, no one even noticed I was gone.
It’s okay. I usually keep to myself, anyway. I have no staff, and I spend most of my days studying. Being out of sight for a few weeks wouldn’t be unheard of, so the past couple of weeks at Dahlia’s house didn’t raise anyone’s attention. The entire castle was too busy preparing for the baby to notice anything about me.
>
Wandering over to our private sitting room, where guests are usually received, I find my brothers with Elle, Dahlia, and her parents.
All eyes turn to me when I walk in. Dahlia’s face brightens, but she stays seated where she is, beside Elle and the baby Prince.
Mr. and Mrs. Raventhal are different from what I’d expected. They’re somber, serious people—nothing like Dahlia. Mrs. Raventhal’s face is creased and aged beyond her years, as if she’s been wracked with stress her entire life.
She has Farcliff to blame for that, I suppose.
“Damon,” King Charlie says, standing. Everyone else in the room stands as he does. “Nice of you to join us. I’d like to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Raventhal. We were just talking about how thrilled we are to have them back in Farcliff.”
Introductions are made all around. I take a seat in a chair across from Dahlia. Her eyes dart up to meet mine and a blush creeps over her cheeks.
I hadn’t anticipated that I might actually enjoy being at the castle with her—that I might like sneaking around.
Dahlia crosses one leg over the other, and my eyes follow the movement, my mouth salivating at the thought spreading those legs wide.
How does she do this to me?
I can be in a room full of people—including her parents—and Dahlia still turns me on like crazy. She doesn’t even realize she’s doing it.
I put on my best polite smile and try to act like a normal person in a normal social situation, even though all I can think about is getting Dahlia and her pink-tipped hair back to my chambers. We haven’t had sex in days and there’s been weird distance between us.
Maybe being at the castle is exactly what we need—a change of scenery. A new bed.
When she looks my way again, I try to motion toward the door. Her lips twitch, and I know she understands. I stand up, take my leave, and then slip out through the door.
My heart thumps. I practically run down the hallway toward my chambers. My hands tremble as I reach into my pocket for my phone so I can tell Dahlia where I’m going. My blood is flowing hot through my veins, and the anticipation is making my vision tunnel.
Heartless Prince: An Accidental Pregnancy Romance (Royally Unexpected Book 2) Page 13