Chapter Six #2
“And nothing, not my stepmother, and not a king, will keep me from being the mother that I want to be. Both of you are so busy spinning narratives about how you think I might be, and I am here.” She turned to her stepmother.
“All I ever wanted was for you to be a mother. And when I saw that that wouldn’t ever happen, I wanted you to at least show me kindness.
But you couldn’t even do that. I’m no threat to you.
I’ve done everything that you’ve ever asked me to do.
And still, you will not allow me to be part of this family.
And you.” She turned to the king. “I cared for you. I saw something in you. Kindness. And I’m a fool for that, because when I needed your kindness it wasn’t there.
I don’t believe it ever was. Which means, I was mistaken.
The both of you have left me feeling ill used.
But between the two, I will choose you, Your Highness.
Because if there’s one thing I know how to do, it is defer to the one in power for as long as I must. And that’s all it is.
” She looked at her stepmother. “It’s all it is.
There is no loyalty left within me, and if I should ever gain any power in this country, I will bestow nothing good upon you. ”
Onyx grabbed her arm, and looked at her, his gaze full of fury. “I would not count on power.”
“Then let’s get the rest of the humiliation going, shall we?”
He pulled her out the front door, and her stepmother seemed to animate, shouting as they went. “I will alert the media that you have kidnapped my stepdaughter.”
“You will receive a payment. Keep your mouth quiet.”
And that was all it took to quiet her stepmother.
Birdie wished emphatically that the woman would get nothing. No money of any kind. But he seemed determined to silence her. That money would be the fastest way to do it.
There were two cars outside. One, a black town car, and the other a limousine. Andrei got into the town car, while Onyx pushed her into the back of the limo, and followed behind.
Once the door was closed behind them, the car was nothing but silent. “Is what your stepmother said true?”
“Now you ask me?”
“Yes,” he said. “I’m asking you.”
“How nice for me. Finally, I’m being consulted on myself.”
“I do not have time for you to have an attitude.”
“Yes. I am actually the Whore of Babylon that was foretold in the Book of Revelation. Sorry to disappoint you. The child might actually be the Antichrist.”
His expression was shocked. Surely no one had ever spoken to him like this before, but then, he’d probably never put anyone in this position before. She had nothing left to lose. Not her pride, not a single thing. She might as well let him have it. Utterly.
“I’ve never known you to be sharp-tongued in all the time you’ve worked in my study,” he said.
She laughed. “Because you don’t know me.
Because I was a fixture. An appliance. A figment of your imagination.
I have only ever been what is convenient for me to be in your mind.
An invisible waif who brings you tea. A fantasy woman who gives you pleasure.
A beautiful aristocrat for you to seduce in the garden, and once I became myself in that moment, it was easier for you to make me into a villain.
” She paused to try to collect herself. “Do you think that you know your servants, Your Highness? Do you think that we show you the substance of who we are? I meant what I said. What I am very, very good at is being the thing that is required of me. But I have reached my end with that. I am going to be a mother. And I cannot care about your feelings regarding being a father to a child being carried by a commoner. Your feelings don’t concern me.
If you would like to let me out of this car now, I’ll go.
I won’t ask for a thing from you. I will make my own way, because that is something that I am very good at.
Surviving. I will survive. And I’ll do it without you. ”
“Is the child mine?”
“It is a ridiculous thing that you must continue to reframe a question you already have the answer to. I have not introduced this distrust. You have.”
“You maintain that it’s mine?” he pressed.
“Do a paternity test. I’m not engaging in debates about the state of my uterus with you.”
Silence fell in the car.
“You are contentious,” he said.
“No, Your Highness. I’m not allowing you to speak and let your insults go unanswered. I think you will find that you are the contentious one.”
She was proud of herself for that. If there was one thing she would do, it was stand on business for herself. For her child.
He picked up his phone, and made a call. “I must arrange for a paternity test to be done at the palace. In utero… Yes… Thank you.”
He hung the phone up and she simply sat there, looking straight ahead, refusing to meet his eye.
For all that she felt powered by her anger now, she also felt so sorry for herself.
And pity wasn’t usually an emotion that she let herself feel.
But this could’ve been different. And it was a mystery to her why nobody in her life treated her like she mattered, treated her like she could be trusted.
There was nothing she could do about it.
She couldn’t make people care about her. She couldn’t make…
He wasn’t different. He was the same. It was a short drive to the palace, and one she knew well.
But she didn’t typically get delivered right to the front doors, and she was never ushered through them.
She went through the servants’ entrance.
And as they went through those doors, she was stunned when they were rushed by Elizabeth, and by Princess Emerald.
“Onyx, what are you doing?”
“Your Highness, I beg of you.”
Onyx stopped, and looked at both his servant and his sister. “This is none of either of your business.” His gaze landed on Elizabeth especially hard. “You are speaking out of turn.”
“I’ve known you since you were a child,” she said.
“And I believed a certain thing about you. About your honor. You have disgraced it with Birdie. She is a lovely girl. And I’ve watched over her since she first came to the palace, as I watched over you.
I’m not speaking out of turn. I’m speaking as someone who watched you grow into the man you are.
And I’m uncertain how you became this version of yourself. ”
“You are dismissed,” Onyx said.
Elizabeth held his gaze, then turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Birdie standing there, her heart pounding. “She cares for me,” Birdie said. “I don’t want her to face any consequences for—”
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
“But I am,” Emerald said, moving to Birdie’s side. She never had much interaction with Princess Emerald, and was surprised that she was taking up her cause now. “What exactly are you doing?”
“This is something I have to figure out myself,” Onyx said.
“You’re unraveling,” Emerald said. “Storming some woman’s house and dragging her back here? She’s not a prisoner.”
“For all intents and purposes at the moment, she is. And when I need your input, I’ll ask for it.”
“I am furious at you,” Emerald said.
“I’ll survive,” Onyx responded.
And with that, swept Birdie through the entry, and up the stairs toward his study. It didn’t take long for clinicians to arrive after that. There was an explanation of how the fetal DNA would be collected, and Birdie felt a rush of anxiety as she was prepped for the procedure.
She had agreed to this. In fact, it had been her idea.
Because she wasn’t going to argue with him.
She wasn’t going to justify herself. She certainly wasn’t going to admit that she had been a trembling virgin when he had taken her.
Because it said too much about her own feelings for him, and while she hadn’t been embarrassed about them before, she was now.
Because he had taken something lovely and turned it into something vile. She didn’t care for it in the least.
Once the procedure was done, neither of them spoke.
“It will take a few hours to process the results.”
“As soon as they’re ready, let me know.”
And then they were left there, just the two of them, in the study where she normally served him.
“There is nothing to do but wait,” he said. “You will be shown to your bedroom.”
“What’s the point of giving me a bedroom? Why don’t you just throw me in the dungeon?”
“It’s a possibility.”
“Do you know what I’m looking forward to?
” she asked. “It’s you finding out the results of the test. Because I already know what they are.
And here is a fun bit of information for you.
What you’re going to discover is that I didn’t do anything to you.
You have fashioned me into an adversary because you find the truth of what you did to be inconvenient.
You’re the villain. I’m not. I was a servant who walked into your library after your wife’s funeral.
I offered you comfort. You wanted sex. I gave it to you.
I’m a servant, and you’re a king, could I have denied you?
I made no move to hide my identity. You simply didn’t recognize me.
And now you’re treating me like I set out to trick you.
This is a betrayal of your own making. But yes. I’m happy to be shown to my room now.”
He waved a hand, and then went and opened up his study door. “Will you please show the lady to her quarters.”
Andrei was standing outside looking stone-faced. And he led her out of the study, up the stairs, and she said nothing as he held the door open for her, and ushered her into a lushly appointed bedroom. “I hope your wife doesn’t make you sleep on the couch tonight,” Birdie said.
Andrei lifted a brow. “You have quite the attitude.”
“It’s called matching energy,” she said. And with that, he left her there. Then on shaking legs, she walked over to the bed.
Then she threw herself down on it, and cried until she couldn’t breathe.