by Tara Rose
“I can’t be.”
“Why not?” asked Deirdre.
Chelsea tried to remember the last time she’d had a period. She’d been here six weeks. And she hadn’t had one since she’d arrived. She put a hand over her mouth. “Oh holy fuck…”
The princes chuckled, but Deirdre’s eyes widened and she cut her gaze toward her king.
Atheron was trying hard not to smile. “Perhaps you’d best go and find that healer yourself, and quickly. But make sure no one outside this rooms knows about it.”
“You can count on me, Majesty.”
Deirdre left the room by way of Chelsea’s room, but Chelsea frowned, confused. “Where is she going?”
“She’s going to my room,” said Denver. “There’s a hidden hallway behind a drape. It winds behind the servant’s quarters, but we keep the door locked from the inside.” Denver rose to follow Deirdre. “I’ll wait in my room until she returns and then lock it behind her.”
She’d noticed a drape always closed, but thought it covered a window. This castle had a lot of secrets. Chelsea gazed into Archer’s face. “I can’t be.”
He smiled, and her heart gave an odd lurch. “Why not?”
“Because…” She cut her gaze toward Atheron, wishing she had Archer and Roland to herself right now, but the king clearly wasn’t leaving this room until he found out. “We’ve never discussed that. We wouldn’t even know which one of you fathered it.”
Roland knelt next to her and brushed a finger along her face. “Do you honestly think that would matter? You belong to all of us, Chelsea.”
She choked back tears. But you don’t even know I love you. She had to tell them, but not now. Not like this. Not with their king in the room.
They were happy about this. She couldn’t wrap her head around that. They weren’t even a little upset. They looked like someone had just told them the best news of their lives. She didn’t understand it.
When Deirdre returned to the room, a man followed her. He asked for privacy with Chelsea, and they all went into the sitting room.
The man listened to her heart and abdomen with what looked like an old-fashioned stethoscope, and then he took out crystals and placed them on various areas of her body. He laid his hands on her forehead, over her heart, and then on her lower abdomen. He asked her questions about what time she’d taken the potion each day, and when her last period was. Then he examined her tongue and her nail beds.
Finally, he asked her to pee in a cup, just as if she was back home and in a doctor’s office. He went into the bathroom after she left the pee in the cup on the sink, and then he returned to the room. She had to ask.
“If I am pregnant, will the potion hurt the baby? I’ve been drinking it every day.”
He shook his head, smiling. “You have no idea the number of women I’ve attended who drank it up until the day they realized it on their own, even before they sent for me. And their babies were fine.”
“But I was never more than…” She counted in her head. “I guess there were quite a few days I was hours late with it.”
“That’s all it takes, Miss. I’ll leave detailed instructions for you and Their Highnesses, including what you should eat and drink, and how often they should send for me to examine you. Your baby will be fine.”
Finally he rose and opened the doors to the sitting room, asking them all to come back inside.
“Well?” asked Denver, glancing at her anxiously, as if he were afraid she might faint again.
“I am ninety-five percent certain that this woman is with child.”
Chelsea tried to keep breathing as all three of her princes came rushing toward her at once. She was overwhelmed by the joy on their faces. They gently pulled her to her feet and took turns holding her, while she listened to questions about whether they were allowed to have sex and play with her, as if no one else was in the room. Her face burned with embarrassment, and her heart pounded with fear.
How could she do this? Especially now, knowing what they knew about Lawrence and Anne? This was crazy. This wasn’t supposed to have happened. But the guys weren’t upset. Quite the opposite. They looked like any man she’d ever known who’d been hoping his girlfriend or wife was pregnant.
Did they love her? Was it possible they felt the same way but had never told her? She had to tell them. She had to find out. This couldn’t progress without that knowledge. It simply couldn’t.
Finally, Atheron, Deirdre and the healer left, after giving her and the princes so many instructions that Chelsea knew she’d never remember them. He promised again to write them down.
When she was alone with her princes, they started in again with their celebration but she stopped them. “Please, please. I have to breathe. I have something to tell you and if I don’t get it out I’ll burst. You have to know this before we go any further. I can’t have this child without you hearing this.”
They looked at her with fear in their eyes, so she didn’t hesitate this time. She just blurted it out. “I love you. All three of you. I’m so head over heels in love with each of you that I can hardly think most days. But we’ve never talked about love. We never mentioned children or happily-ever-after. I have no idea how you feel about all that, and if you don’t…”
She took a deep breath. “And if you don’t love me, too, I just don’t know what I’ll do. I have to know the truth.”
Chapter Fourteen
Roland glanced toward Archer and Denver, merely to ascertain that both men thought Chelsea was as crazy as he thought she was for asking such a thing. Then he realized she was right. They had never discussed this with her. He’d been in love with her for so long now that he assumed she knew.
He crossed the room and held her close. “Oh, Chelsea. Of course we love you.” He didn’t need to ask if Archer and Denver did as well. It showed. But how had she not seen that? “We all do. We’re crazy about you.” He tipped her face up toward his. “Don’t you know that?”
Her breath hitched in her throat as tears ran down her beautiful face. “No. Not until right now.”
His heart nearly burst at the sound of her voice, so lost and afraid. All three of them now held her close and told her they loved her, over and over. She cried and they wiped her tears, and then when it looked as though she might faint again, they led her back to the sofa and made her drink several glasses of water.
“Are you hungry?” asked Archer. “We should bring you some food.” He rose and left the room.
“Are you comfortable enough?” asked Denver. He pulled a footstool over and placed her legs on top of it. “The healer said to keep your feet up when you’re sitting down.”
“It’s a pregnancy, not a wasting disease,” she said. Roland was relieved to hear the humor back in her voice. “I’m merely overwhelmed.”
Archer returned with a plate piled high with fruit, crackers, and cheese. He thrust it at her. “Here. You seem to have developed quite a taste for cheese, but the healer said you need to eat a variety of foods now.”
She took it, giving him an indulgent smile. “Thank you. All of you. Thank you for this. I had no idea. I’m so sorry.
“Sorry?” asked Roland. “There is nothing to apologize for. This is a miracle. We’re thrilled.”
“But I don’t understand. You told me that the princes who do this, who entice women to cross over through the paintings, don’t want this. Children and marriage and all this. Marriage…God. What am I saying? I can’t marry all three of you. Will we have to do that? Will one of you have to become my husband now?”
“Slow down,” said Roland. He moved her legs off the footstool and sat on it, taking her hands. “Our laws and customs inside this castle are quite subjective, as you’ve probably noticed. We don’t need a ceremony to make this official. You already belong to each of us because we chose you. But you are the first woman who has crossed over to become with child, that we know of, at least.”
“But what about what you said—”
He cut her off. “We�
�re not all like that. Yes, this started out that way. We chose you, and we couldn’t wait to claim you. But Chelsea…I think I’m safe in saying each one of us fell hard and fast for you. We loved you from the start, and not just for sex. We didn’t say anything because we weren’t sure how you felt, and because you’ve been hurt so much in your past by other men. We wanted to give you time to adjust to everything.”
She gazed at him with so much love in her eyes he thought he would die from happiness. This was what he’d secretly dreamed of his entire life. No one knew that. He hadn’t dared to voice it out loud.
“And I’ve felt the same way, but didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure what you three wanted. But now I know. You want the same thing I do. And I’m truly blessed,” she said, gazing at each of them in turn. The love shone in her beautiful eyes. “I have everything I always wanted, but never thought it would happen to me.”
Roland pulled her close. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll watch over you and take care of you. And when Anne and Lawrence tip their hand, as they will soon, the danger will be gone.”
“I hope you’re right about that.”
Roland hoped he was right, too. He couldn’t shake the premonition that this situation would only get worse before it got better. And how were they supposed to hide Chelsea’s condition from the servants? It would be impossible very soon to do so, especially if she fainted again or became sick as he knew some women did.
The prudent thing to do would be to reassign Anne and Lawrence, but then someone else would have to watch them. Maybe it was time to let that happen? They couldn’t find out that Chelsea was with child. Surely His Majesty had already come to that conclusion, after what he’d revealed to them today.
* * * *
Denver, Archer, and Roland talked well into the night long after Chelsea had gone to bed. She was in Roland’s room, and they had the door to that room open from inside the sitting room. The servants were asleep, as far as they all knew, but they kept their voices low, just in case.
They discussed the necessity of getting Anne and Lawrence away from Chelsea. Denver had already gone to his father, who had agreed with him. An hour after Denver had spoken to his father, they’d heard from their king, who also agreed. Arrangements were being made to move Anne and Lawrence into service together with someone who would watch them closely.
Chelsea needed to be protected even more so now, so Atheron had allowed Roland, Archer, and Denver to tell Jaxon, Parker, Jarrett, and Colton the news. Brenna and Abigail had both come to see Chelsea earlier, and all of them had promised to help keep her safe and watch over her at all times.
Finally, the men decided to try to get some sleep, but they didn’t want to disturb hers. Roland slept on the sofa in his room so she wasn’t alone, and Denver and Archer slept in Chelsea’s room since it was closer to Roland’s than either of theirs were.
As Denver tried to fall asleep on the sofa in Chelsea’s room, he pictured a son or a daughter. Whom would the child resemble? Would they be able to tell which of them had fathered it? He knew that Roland and Archer both hoped for sons, but Denver hoped that Chelsea bore a little girl, who looked exactly like her.
He finally drifted off to sleep with possible names for the new princess racing through his mind.
* * * *
Chelsea woke in the middle of the night from a bad dream where faceless people chased her and her baby through dark, damp corridors. She was bathed in sweat, and glanced around for her princes, but the bed was empty. They’d never left her alone before. She climbed out, and then spotted Roland sleeping on the sofa.
Relieved to see one of them, at least, she didn’t want to wake him. They must all be exhausted because she’d heard their voices, muffled beyond the doorway to the sitting room, until well after midnight.
She put on her robe and crept into the sitting room where she half expected to find the other two, but it was empty. They must be sleeping in another room. She was about to return to bed when she heard noises coming from Archer’s room. Assuming he was in there, she opened the door and gasped when she saw Anne and Lawrence rifling through Archer’s dresser again.
“What are you two doing?”
The pair glared at her, and everything Atheron had told them earlier came back to her. She turned, intending to wake up Roland, but two men came out of the shadows and rushed her. Before she had the chance to scream, one of them placed a cloth over her mouth and she smelled something sickly sweet just before her world went dark.
* * * *
Archer woke and couldn’t remember where he was, and then the events of the previous night came back to him. But that’s not what had woken him. He’d heard Chelsea’s voice, calling to them. It must have been a dream. He was in her bed, and Denver was asleep on her sofa. She was right next door, in Roland’s room, and Roland was with her. She was safe.
But the unsettled feeling remained even after he had used the bathroom and listened at the doorway to Roland’s room, so he went inside to check on her. He heard Roland softly snoring, but all he could see in the bed was a lump of sheets and comforter. Was Chelsea wrapped up in them?
He walked over to the bed and touched the mass, but there was no body under it. Archer turned on the bedside lamp and let out a sound of fear. Where was she? The bathroom door was halfway open, and although they’d never barged in on her, his heart was pounding. He had to know she was safe. As he peeked inside, he realized she wasn’t in there. Roland was awake now and asked him what was going on. “I can’t find Chelsea.”
“What?”
The two searched the sitting room and then went into Chelsea’s room to wake Denver. They searched Denver’s room, and then when they went into Archer’s room and saw the overturned furniture and his dresser drawers open, Archer was certain he’d die from fear. He remembered Chelsea telling them how she’d caught Lawrence in here once before, using the excuse that Archer had asked him to retrieve something.
Had she caught him in here snooping again? And if so, had he taken her somewhere? Had he dared to touch her? Archer would kill him if he had.
The men went out into the hallway, and became even more alarmed when the guards told them no one had come this way, including the servants. They sent two of them to wake the king, and then they went into Denver’s room, straight to the door that led to the passageway that Deirdre had taken earlier.
It was unlocked, and the passageway was empty.
Archer could hardly breathe. “They knew about it. Anne and Lawrence. That’s how they’ve been sneaking around our rooms without being seen.”
“But where is Chelsea?” asked Denver.
The men woke Jon and Samuel, who said they hadn’t seen or heard anything. Chelsea wasn’t in any of the servants’ rooms, and Anne and Lawrence were also missing.
It took less than twenty minutes for Atheron to arrive at their suite. They told him what had happened, and he sent out the alarm.
“What can we do?” asked Archer.
“Nothing. It’s not even light out yet. If she’s in this castle we will find her.”
“And if she’s not?” asked Roland, quietly.
“Then we will still find her. They can’t get far in the darkness.”
Archer sat in the nearest chair because he was about to fall down anyway. He buried his face in his hands. This was their fault. They should have sent Anne and Lawrence away yesterday, as soon as they found out that Chelsea was with child. They had chosen her. They had sworn to protect her. And now she was missing. They’d failed in their duty, and they’d failed her.
Chapter Fifteen
Chelsea’s head hurt and she was sure she was going to throw up. She was in the back of a wagon, or at least that’s what it appeared to be. She heard horses’ hooves pounding, and smelled hay. The damn thing bounced around so much it had to be traveling at breakneck speed.
Two riders on horses were ahead of them. The wagon was following them.
She tried to sit up and became
dizzy, so took deep breaths of fresh air and then tried again. The sun was just coming up, and they were well out of the woods that surrounded the castle. She glanced behind, and could just see the tops of the towers.
Hot panic rose up, prickling her skin like a nest full of fire ants had been turned loose on her. A tiny whimper escaped her throat but she tamped it down before it became a full blown scream.
She had to stay calm and figure out a plan. Surely her princes would realize before long that she was gone. They would be looking for her. Were Anne and Lawrence driving this wagon? Is that who had knocked her out?
No. There had been two men dressed as guards, but she hadn’t known who they were. Where were those two right now? Is that who her kidnappers were, and had Anne and Lawrence stayed behind? Whether they had or not, she had to get away.
Anne and Lawrence had been in Archer’s room, looking for something. But what? It didn’t matter. She had to get back to the castle and warn her princes and the king.
She glanced at the driver’s seat but all she could make out were two cloaked figures, holding the reins. She wasn’t sure if both were men, or if they were a man and a woman. But at least they hadn’t realized she was awake. If she stayed quiet and moved slowly, they wouldn’t notice her.
She glanced over the side and had to pull back because that made her nauseous. She placed her hands over her abdomen and gently rubbed it through her robe. Then she realized she was still in her nightgown and robe.
How in the hell could she walk through unfamiliar territory to try to find her way back to the castle, dressed only in her nightclothes? But she had to try. She couldn’t let them take her wherever they were headed.
She dared to glance over the side again and saw they were on a road. It was covered in gravel, but it was a distinct road. That meant it had to lead somewhere. A village, perhaps? Or back to the castle?
Could she do this? She’d have to jump, and then she’d have to hope the drivers didn’t hear her or feel her do so. Was there another choice? Not if she wanted to warn the others.