Chapter 15
Andrew woke slowly, his body still heavy with sleep.
For a moment, he lay on his back, staring up at the wooden ceiling where thick roots twisted through the structure like veins.
Morning light shone into the room from the open side, warm against his skin.
It was not a dream.
That thought came easily now. It no longer startled him the way it had before.
He turned his head. The space beside him was empty.
Ayla.
He could almost feel her there—the memory of her warmth, the softness of her presence, the way she had made this strange world feel a little less overwhelming.
He swallowed and looked away.
Andrew pushed himself up slowly, rubbing a hand over his face as the events of the previous day returned in fragments.
He let out a quiet huff.
He could still see the look on Valeria’s face. She had been taken aback, yes, but there had been something else beneath it. Slight amusement? He wasn’t sure, but he had caught it before it had disappeared again.
“You cannot simply call upon the Queen,” she had said.
He had held her gaze. “Then I won’t give my seed to anyone until I can.”
That had changed things. She had studied him, then inclined her head slightly. “I will see what I can do.”
Andrew shook his head faintly. “Get it done,” he muttered under his breath.
He smirked at his own audacity. He closed his eyes again.
He would demand it of her Highness. He wouldn’t stay here waiting around all alone. No. He would ask for company. Some of the women, if he liked them, would stay. Even after he had done the deed.
I’m not going to be a simple pump and dump machine.
If he was going to stay here for at least a while, he wanted to have a bit more connection with however ended up in his bed.
A sudden sound caught his attention. At first, it was distant. A faint disturbance beneath the steady sound of wind through the trees. Then it grew, rising from below in a way that felt different from anything he had heard before.
Voices? They sounded excited.
Andrew frowned, turning toward the open side of the room. The sound carried upward through the layers of the city, gaining strength as it climbed.
A horn sounded. It was deep and resonant, and cut through everything else. A moment later, drums followed, their rhythm strong.
Andrew sat up straighter. “What is going on down there…”
The energy was unmistakable now. Cheers. A kind of collective surge that didn’t fit with the world he had seen so far.
Before he could move, footsteps rushed toward his quarters.
Valeria appeared in the entrance. For the first time since he had met her, she didn’t look as calm.
Her eyes were alive with genuine, unfiltered excitement. “It’s incredible,” she said as she stepped inside.
Andrew turned more toward her. “What is?”
She looked at him as if he should already know. “A pregnancy!”
The word landed, but didn’t settle in his mind. “What?” he asked.
“A pregnancy,” she repeated, stepping closer. “Outside of the usual ten-month cycle given by the gods.”
Andrew stared at her, his mind struggling to catch up.
It can’t be…
Valeria didn’t hesitate. “Your seed,” she said. “It has made the miracle come true.”
He shook his head once, then again, more firmly. “That’s not possible,” he said slowly. “That doesn’t make sense.”
The timing alone was all wrong. “That’s impossible,” he said again, quieter now.
Valeria didn’t argue. She didn’t need to. “Get dressed,” she said, her tone sharpening slightly, though the excitement still lingered beneath it. “We have been requested to go down to the city at once.”
Andrew didn’t move. He sat there, staring at her, his thoughts racing, trying to force logic into something that refused to fit.
His doctor’s words echoed in his mind.
‘Low odds. Maybe impossible.’
His body tensed.
Then what the hell was this?
Valeria stepped closer. “Andrew,” she said, more firmly now.
He still didn’t move. He just stared, caught in disbelief.
If this was actually by his doing, then things were about to get unlike anything he’d ever dare to imagine.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” he muttered.
To be Continued in Book Two.