by Shona Husk
Was that what the attack had been about? They all thought she was pregnant and Stuart had wanted to make her miscarry? The image of his raised leg ready to stomp down on her stomach filled her mind.
“He told you I was pregnant?”
“Not in so many words.” Her eyes narrowed. “You have to be pregnant for him to take the throne. He needs an heir, and you won’t conceive once you’ve given your soul to Annwyn.” Dylis almost glittered with annoyance. She would’ve been beautiful in her anger if she’d been angry at someone else.
“Pregnant?” Jacqui leaned back. Felan had failed to mention that as well. If he’d been here, it was entirely possible that she would have killed him. How could he leave that bit out? It was so typical of him. She closed her eyes and saw him wading out to get her, remembered the heat of his kisses as they’d made love on the beach. He’d known and said nothing—surely he could have slipped that in while telling her she’d have to give up her soul?
Dylis laughed. “You agreed to be his wife without examining the fine print? Never make deals with fairies without understanding the terms.”
“Enough.” Lydia got up and put her arm around Jacqui. “Dylis is honest, in the brutal fairy way, which I’m sure you’re used to. And I’m sure Felan had a good reason to lie about the baby.” There was an edge to her voice that couldn’t be hidden.
But Jacqui didn’t want to be coddled. She’d ask Felan about the lie later—although he would deny that it was a lie and more of an omission of the truth. To her, an omission was still a lie, but to Felan they were completely different, as a lie was a deliberate and misleading act.
Did slimy Stuart know that he’d have to give up his soul to rule? Even if he didn’t, he’d probably sell his own mother for the power. It wasn’t just Felan versus Sulia. It was Jacqui against Stuart. The downside being Stuart didn’t need to be pregnant.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to be pregnant after last time…
Had the sex on the beach been simply because he needed to get her pregnant, or had he actually wanted her? She drew in breath loaded with suspicion. Is that why he’d tried to sleep with her after their first date? No, she’d invited him back. He’d simply accepted.
And if she needed to be pregnant before going to Annwyn, hadn’t he left his run a little late? These things could take months, and they had days.
“Felan is coming here this evening?”
“Then he goes to Annwyn. I will smuggle you in later so Sulia doesn’t try and kill you.” Dylis smiled as if what they were talking about was perfectly normal.
“So if I don’t get pregnant tonight, what happens?” The silence was complete and unnerving. “I mean, there has to be a backup. These things don’t just happen. Fairies aren’t known for their swimmers.” And she only had one ovary. Surely there was another plan.
Dylis looked at her fingernails as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world.
Lydia shrugged. “I don’t know. He needs an heir…do the rules say the Queen has to be the mother?”
When Dylis looked up she didn’t need to speak. Jacqui could see it in her eyes “There has been more than one heir before. While the Queen is usually the mother of the first child, the others are fairy through their father’s line.”
“So he could have an heir already.” She felt sick. The room was too hot. Her throat prickled and sweat beaded down her back. He could’ve been having sex with half a dozen different women in the hopes of getting one pregnant. No, he’d said he had no other children except Caspian. Could Caspian be his heir, or was that not allowed because he was changeling?
Dylis shook her head. “He doesn’t. It’s why we were hoping to see you walk in with a rounded stomach.”
“And you know this how?” Just what was Dylis’s relationship with Felan? They were obviously close from what she had glimpsed in the mirror.
“Because I’ve occasionally been his lover over the last seven years.”
Right. Of course. She hadn’t expected him to be celibate. She hadn’t been single. They’d separated, so there was no need to be faithful. Yet when she looked at the delicate blond with icy-blue eyes, Jacqui wondered how he could see anything special in her—aside from her soul and womb. Today was getting steadily worse with each passing hour—just maybe she was starting to regret saying yes to him.
“I know you humans think sex is everything; it’s not. It’s love and power that count. When Bram and I want a child, I will find a suitable human male. If he wants one for his line, he will find a suitable female. The children will be raised by us. They will be our children. Our love will be unchanged. In Annwyn, to let your husband or wife go and create a child is seen as a great gift, not only to them but for all of Annwyn.” The snark was gone from her voice. Dylis actually believed what she was saying.
“But he would be having sex with someone else.” Even the thought was too much. She wanted to be the mother of his child.
“It’s just sex. Fairies aren’t fertile with each other; if we didn’t sleep with humans, we’d have all died out years ago.” Dylis was frowning, as if she couldn’t understand the fuss. “His heart is yours and has been for years. I knew it when I was with him.”
“Then why sleep with him?” Jacqui snapped.
“It was convenient. It stopped others from hassling him for a place in his bed and gave me someone to do while Bram was trapped as a tree. It was an arrangement that suited us both at the time.”
Lydia gave Dylis a glare, then looked at Jacqui. “This is a lot to take in, and you’ve been up most of the night. Why don’t you go upstairs, have a shower and rest, and when Felan gets here, you can talk to him?”
“She’d better do more than talk. If the Court knew he was bluffing…” Dylis made a slicing gesture across her neck.
If the Court knew, Felan would lose all support. Sulia would win by default and Felan’s life would be forfeit. The crushing weight was back—the same weight that Felan must have been carrying alone for decades. She didn’t know how to deal with all of this. She needed time that no longer existed. “You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?” Jacqui asked.
“Of course not. That won’t help get him on the throne, and I will do whatever it takes to make that happen.” Dylis stood and walked out the kitchen door. The door swung closed behind her.
Lydia inhaled. “She’s been Caspian’s guardian since he was born. You can trust her. She won’t do anything that harms Felan or Caspian.”
“But I’m expendable.” As she’d once said to Felan, any woman could be Queen. She’d just been the one dumb enough to agree. She wasn’t sure their love was enough to conquer Annwyn.
***
The second floor of Callaway House was all bedrooms and one bathroom. Lydia had given her a room with a four-poster bed, complete with sheer curtains. If it was meant to make her feel like a princess, it wasn’t working. After a shower and some food, she’d slept a little. Now she was watching the sunset, knowing Felan would be here soon and wondering what to say to him. She didn’t want to argue, but she wanted answers…or reasons, since she already knew the answers.
She fiddled with her cell phone. If she didn’t ring her parents soon, it would be too late. With the death toll climbing by the hour and hospitals overflowing, maybe she was already too late. She found her mother’s cell phone number and pressed dial.
It rang a few times, and just when she thought it was going to go to voice mail, it connected.
“Hello?” Her mother’s voice was still rather prim, as if she were blaming the unknown caller for interrupting.
Jacqui bit her lip. What did she say?
“Hello?” her mother said again. She’d hang up in a moment.
“Hi, Mom. It’s Jacqui.”
“Jacqui? Oh my God! Are you all right? You’re not sick?”
“I’m fine.” About to leave this w
orld but fine. She swallowed to keep her throat from closing up. “I was just ringing to see if you and Dad are okay.”
“We are. Your father made sure we stocked up on water and canned food, so we are going to stay inside for as long as possible. I hope it doesn’t get any worse. Your brother can’t get home.”
“I think the airlines are just about grounded.” She sniffed. She wasn’t going to cry. She would see her parents again. She’d make sure Felan gave her that. “I saw his last game on TV.” There would be no football this week, as large gatherings were banned and the teams couldn’t fly. The whole country was grinding to a halt.
“You’re safe?” her mother asked again.
“I am.”
“Did you want to talk to your father?”
Jacqui closed her eyes as a tear trickled down her cheek. I’m not going to cry and blubber all over the place. “No.”
She didn’t want to listen to him tell her how much of a waste of space she was for getting pregnant, for dropping out of college, for breaking down, for stopping her meds. Her mother had wanted her to stay on the meds and stay at home, so she could be easily controlled. They were both as bad as each other, but they were still her parents.
“He loves you. He just wanted what’s best for you.”
He wanted what was least embarrassing for him. “Just tell him I’m happy. That I’m engaged to Felan and we’re expecting a baby.” Now who was lying about the baby?
Jacqui could almost hear the shockwave hitting her mother in the seconds of silence that passed before she spoke. “What?”
“Yeah. It took seven years, but we found each other again. And this time you and Dad won’t get between us.” It was because of their hatred of Felan that she’d kept the baby a secret the first time, a secret that had almost cost her life. She hadn’t meant to tell her mother that, but she wanted her father to know that he was wrong. Wrong about everything. She was strong and capable and smart. And she could save the world.
“Are you sure that’s what you want? He was so bad for you.”
“Mom, he was the good part of my life. You let him believe I’d terminated our baby. But I forgive you, and I forgive Dad.” They didn’t see the world the way she could. They didn’t know that fairies and Greys walked among them, and that it wasn’t human governments causing the plagues.
“Honey, you’re scaring me. What’s going on? Are you sure he’s not hurting you?”
“He never hurt me.” She drew in a breath. “I just wanted you to know I’m fine. I’m glad you and Dad are holed up in the house. When this is over, I might come and see you if Dad can be civil.”
“What about a wedding?”
“It will be overseas.” Which was about as close to the truth as she could say.
“I thought you were in California?”
“Not anymore, Mom.”
“Where are you?”
“It doesn’t matter.” The bedroom door handle turned. She knew before the door opened it was Felan. “I have to go.” Felan stood in the doorway, hesitating as if he wasn’t sure he was welcome. Perhaps Dylis had told him about their conversation.
“Jacqui, please. I miss you. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom. I will see you soon. I promise.” She was looking at Felan as she said it. She hung up as he closed the door and then leaned against it as if for support. She’d never seen him look so tired. He was still in the same clothes. His dark blue coat was crumpled. His hair looked like he’d raked his fingers through it many times.
“Tough day at the office?” She tried to sound like she was joking and failed. There was too much going on for her to find anything funny. She just wanted it all over. The deaths, the anguish, the uncertainty of if they would survive until morning.
“I heard you were attacked.”
“I survived. So did the imaginary baby.” She patted her stomach.
He closed his eyes. “Jacqui.”
“Don’t. Whatever you are going to offer as an apology, I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want sorry. I want to know why you didn’t tell me what you needed.”
Felan looked up. “I did. I said I need you. I love you and I can’t live without you.”
“The fine print, Prince Felan.”
He winced and glanced away at the use of his title. When he looked at her, his face was unreadable—the mask of the Prince who wouldn’t let anything slip. “I thought you wanted to know what I wanted, not what Annwyn needed?”
She threw a pillow at him. Damn him for tossing her words back at her. He caught it and let it fall to the floor. “Don’t split hairs. This is my life too. Dylis said you need a pregnant Queen and if I can’t give it to you, you will go elsewhere. Is that true?”
“No.” He pulled something from beneath his coat and tossed it on the bed.
It was the drinking horn that had been on his belt at the beach. Even though she wasn’t fairy, she could feel the magic lifting the hairs along her arm. She glanced from the horn back to Felan.
“I never planned to have a child with anyone but you. The cup of life ensures that happens.”
“You said it heals.”
He nodded. “It heals the sick, creates life, and is the opposite of Annwyn.”
“Where did you get it?” Had he been carrying it around so he could use it with her? Would he have told her first? He’d have had to, as there was no way she’d have drunk anything out of a magic horn without noticing—although she had drunk fairy wine without noticing.
“My father.”
Did everyone know they had to make a baby tonight?
Felan gave her a half smile as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. “I borrowed it a while ago. He never asked for it back. I suspect he knew I’d need it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I had so many things I wanted to tell you last night, but you didn’t want to listen to me. You wanted me to prove that I love you. I did. And have again. I want only you as the mother of my child.”
Jacqui raised one eyebrow. “That’s not as sexy as you think it sounds.”
“I’m not trying to be sexy. You would know if I was. We need to close this deal. This is business. I need a pregnant Queen.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not having sex for business.”
“Then have sex with me because I’m going into a full Court meeting as the unpopular choice. Because if it all goes bad, this could be it. But if it goes well, then plan A is covered and you become Queen of Annwyn with me, and our child will be the future ruler—in a millennia or so.”
“And if I say no?” She wasn’t ready to get pregnant.
He shook his head as if he didn’t want to answer, then set his jaw and looked at her. “I don’t want to take that option, but I will if you don’t want my child.”
“I do.” That lump was back in her throat. “But I’m worried it will happen again. I’ve had less than a day to get used to the idea of having a child with you now…as opposed to in five years or so. What if it doesn’t grow in the right place? What hospital will you take me to in Annwyn? What happens to me then?”
“You don’t think I’ve thought of that every second of every day since you told me what happened? I don’t want to lose you. I will take you to the best mortal hospitals. Tell me what you need to make this happen and I will give you everything in my power.”
“I want more time to accept all of this. I want time for us.” They’d only just got back together. It was all happening too fast. She hadn’t planned on having children in the near future, not when she’d only just got her life sorted. But then she hadn’t planned on Felan coming back into her life in such a dramatic fashion either.
“That is the only thing I can’t give you. I believe in us. I never stopped loving you, I just didn’t know what it was or how to get it back and keep it safe. Ho
w to keep you safe.” He pressed his lips together and frowned. “Perhaps you can use the time difference between the mortal world and Annwyn in your favor, so the baby grows slower. Nine months in Annwyn is far longer than nine months in the mortal world. Traditionally, the Queen would spend time in the mortal world, so the baby would be born sooner and summer would return to Court.”
She nodded. That was better than nothing. She’d just be pregnant for a very long time…in mortal time anyway. No wonder Felan lost track of time between the two worlds so easily; it was already hurting her head. “I also want ultrasounds, early ones to make sure it is growing in the right place, that the baby is okay this time.”
Felan’s eyebrows pinched together as his frown deepened. “I don’t know what an ultrasound is.”
“It’s a scan. You can see the baby as it grows.”
“Really? You have technology that lets you see the baby inside you?” He seemed almost excited by the idea.
She risked a smile. “Yes.”
“Annwyn should have that magic.”
She nodded again. Annwyn should have that magic. She was sure there’d be plenty of fairies who’d love to be able to see their baby growing. “I also want to see my family again—not now, but after you are King.”
“You may come and go between worlds as you wish. But you won’t age, so we will need to think ahead, maybe glamours. I want you to be happy, Jacqui. I don’t want you to regret this choice, now or in two hundred years’ time or even two millennia.”
“What if I wanted a second child, like the Queen did?”
“Then we would have to talk.”
“We’re talking now.”
“If there are two heirs, then there will always be war for the throne.”
“That’s different than now because?”
“Neither of us has declared war. I might have to once you are in Annwyn if she won’t step down, but I see your point.” He studied her for a moment. “If you want a second child, you would have to have sex with a mortal.” He gritted his teeth. “I would let you, but I think I would want to be there. And what if I want a second child and you do not?”