I hung up the phone before he could say more. I’d apologize later.
This time I followed the directions to the letter. It said hold it in the stream for five seconds, I counted for a full five seconds. It said to wait for at least three minutes and no longer than ten minutes, then that was what I would do. I needed answers. Now.
I couldn’t stand not knowing.
If Erich and I had made a child… then we would face the consequences of that. For better or worse. I had no idea how he would feel about it. I didn’t even know how I would feel.
Tears burned in the corners of my eyes. My heart thundered in my chest. The room felt too small. Like the walls were closing in with each second that passed on the timer that I set.
Thirty more seconds.
Twenty-nine.
Twenty-eight.
Soon, I’d know if I carried Erich’s child.
Chapter 2
Jaq
Five years prior
We were T-minus ten minutes until my dear brother walked down the aisle in order to marry a man he had been betrothed to for fifteen years or eighteen. I never bothered to keep the timeline straight. It was a long-ass time. Long before he or I could even say the wordbetrothed. There wasn’t a time in our lives when we didn’t know that someday he would marry into the royal family of Swena. Honestly, I didn’t know how he could ever put up with such a thing—to have your fate decided for you, locked in before you even had any say.
Then again, how was my own lot in life any different? As the bastard child of the king, my lot in life had been decided for me at conception. I couldn’t hold a title. I couldn’t get an education. I couldn’t even hold down a job. No one wanted to employ the king’s bastard son because they knew that the king’s consort loathed me.
Thankfully, I had my brother, Thomas, the only person who had ever fought for me in any way. He was the only reason I was wearing a tux, standing at his side, putting up with this insanity. The pomp and performance that came with royalty, especially a royal wedding meant to solidify an alliance between two nations, was downright ludicrous. The fanfare and money spent all for what? To show the world that they could? I didn’t get it.
I was here for Thomas. That was the important thing.
I was relatively safe knowing that not much could go wrong. In public, my father—I hated even thinking of him like that—would never risk a scene. He would simply look right through me should I ever dare cross his path. His husband, however, would seek to embarrass me at every opportunity. At the reception, there would be plenty of opportunity for the king and king’s consort to corner me somewhere and remind me that I was in their debt since they were so gracious and kind to open their home to me. Except they hadn’t done it out of the kindness of their hearts, they did it because Thomas had thrown a fit and refused to cooperate with anything until they gave me a room. He even refused to eat and threatened not to follow through with the treaty. We had been eight years old at the time. He didn’t even know what the treaty was for, but he knew it was important to them.
Then there was my dear old stepdad. I had no choice but to bite my tongue whenever I was near him. I would not embarrass my brother on his day. Even if I did not enjoy it, at least he looked handsome.
“Jaq.”
I looked up to see one of the future king’s brothers standing there, holding out his arm. He was the one I’d be walking down the aisle with. Erich was his name.
Even though I cared little for the whole affair, I did my homework. Thomas and I had spent countless months learning about each member of the royal family. We studied the history of the country and their traditions. We probably knew more about Swena than they did.
“We’re almost up,” he said. “Time to look alive.” His smile was kind as he looked at me. The whole family that my brother was marrying into was kind. I hardly knew what to do with them.
“I’m sorry. I must have spaced out for a minute. It’s been a long day.” I forced a smile. I wanted to be happy for my brother, I truly did. I only wished he could be getting married for love and not… whatever this was. He deserved to be happy, and so far, Prince Cort whatever-the-fuck his full name was, hadn’t proven to me that he was going to make my brother happy. I hated that my brother might be entering into a marriage where he could be cheated on. No one deserved that.
“I don’t blame you. This music always puts me to sleep. In fact, I missed my cue at Augustus’s wedding.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that, imagining a prince like him having such a faux-pas in public.
“Oh, no. How did you survive the scandal?” I said, with a little more snark than I should have.
He laughed loudly, having people turn and look at us.
“I am so sorry, Your Highness. That was incredibly inappropriate.” Fuck, I was going to cause a scene if I didn’t rein it in. The last thing I needed was for Thomas’s parents to tell Cort’s parents to throw me out of the country or whatever.
“Accurate, though. Still, let’s get this show on the road.”
“Indeed,” I said.
