Bonded Ever After (The Royal Gold Keepers #3)

Chapter 3

THREE

Elora

We sit on the floor, the tests between us, sitting in silence. Time ticks by and neither of us looks at the tests. She just stares at her watch, waiting for the five minutes to pass.

“It’s time,” she finally says.

I pick up one test. There are two lines. My stomach flips. “Two lines. That means…”

“Yes,” she says softly, “but check the others.”

I grab the next one, and dread fills me as I read the results. “Two lines.”

“Okay.” Her voice shakes.

Then I lift the third test. “Two. Fucking. Lines.”

Dropping all three, I lean back against her bed, feeling myself spiraling. This can’t be happening. I can’t be pregnant with a Runefall man’s child. With a man who hasn’t spoken to me in three weeks. I mean, he hates me. Hates me with every fiber of his being.

Should I even tell him about this?

And the two families seem to only be able to have one child now. Will this be the only child for both our families? Will Callum try to claim it as his family’s child?

All that is if the Council finds out and allows this to happen. I put my hands on my stomach. Would they try to take my child away if they found out? Would they think doing so would allow us to have more children?

I feel sick. My hands skim my stomach and already I know that I wouldn’t allow that to happen. Children are a rare and beautiful thing. I could never let someone hurt my child, no matter what it costs me.

“Are you okay?” Beva asks. “You’ve been quiet for a while.”

I don’t know what to say. “I’m just scared.”

“I understand, but let’s look at this practically. You’re a Gold Keeper. Children from Gold Keepers are rare and prized above all else. The Council might not like you going to Neverwood pregnant so soon, but they’ll be ecstatic that there’s a Gold Keeper baby on the way.”

She only thinks that because she doesn’t know the full truth. But, I realize, she’s right. If this were just a baby, the Council and all our people would be happy. I could try to pass it off as Ferone’s… but that would require having sex with Ferone soon. Even if the dates didn’t entirely line up, he probably wouldn’t question it, because he’d just be so happy at being linked to a Gold Keeper. We would marry. He would spend his life in complete luxury, enjoying all that life would bring, and I know he’d be good to me and the baby.

But could I do that?

Ferone might not mind, but I wonder how Callum would feel. Probably relieved. Not only would no one know what he did, but he wouldn’t have to play dad to a kid he doesn’t want, with a woman he doesn’t want.

So is that what I should do? Sleep with Ferone? Pass the baby off as his? Get married? And give Callum the freedom from me that he so desperately wants?

I don’t know. I don’t know what to do. I just know that I have to keep this baby safe at all costs, even if it’s a cost to Callum.

“It’s okay. Just breathe.” Beva rubs circles into my back.

I look at her. “You don’t understand. There’s so much the Council can’t know. That no one can know.”

Her lips tighten into a thin line. “Do you want this baby?”

“Yes.” The word comes easily.

“Then it looks like you’re going to have to get really comfortable with lying and lying a lot. If you and this baby are going to be safe, you need to be able to look a person in the eye and lie, even if it means lying for the rest of your life.”

I’m surprised. “Do you really think–?”

“You can do it. The gods know that I’ve had to lie about a lot of things to stay safe too. It’s hard, but it gets easier with time.”

“Beva…”

She sighs. “Elora, do you know what I would do if I could do anything?”

I shake my head, surprised by the turn in the conversation.

“Nothing. I would read all day, maybe explore the woods, and do absolutely nothing else. But the only reason I’ve been allowed to survive is because of you, and because I ‘want to be a great scientist.’ It’s never mattered what I really want. I need to be a scientist to survive.”

I swallow. Hard. “I understand.”

She gives a nod. “I know you. I know the second you stopped spiraling you started thinking about this baby, and I know you’re going to love and protect that baby the same way you’ve loved and protected everyone close to you. If that means lying, if that means betraying everyone around you, do it, and don’t feel the least bit guilty about it.”

I realize that she’s right. I also realize that if I already love this baby this much, Callum deserves to know the truth. If he then chooses to have nothing to do with me or the baby, that’s his choice, but he needs to be the one to make the decision.

And, secretly, I hope that at a minimum he can guide me about what to do. My gut says the only way out for us in this situation is to have Ferone believe it’s his baby and marry him, but Callum may have ideas that I don’t. Unless he’s a total ass, talking to him should make this easier because he’s the only person in the world I can be fully honest with.

Yet my heart says talking to him is just a formality. With the way he’s been acting, I fully believe I’m on my own with this, and that I need to accept a life with Ferone, no matter how wrong it feels.

Because in just three days I have a Council-mandated physical, and everyone will know I’m pregnant after that. Time is ticking to put my plan in place with Ferone, and if I’m not quick enough, it could cost me more than I can even imagine.