I wanted to throw myself on the floor and scream, so the last thing I wanted to do was talk to Luce or be checked out.
“I feel fine. A thousand times better than yesterday,” I told her as she came around the couch. “I think—” I squared my shoulders. “I think I can go home.”
Her forehead wrinkled as she took the seat Tatiana had just vacated, much to my dismay. “We’ll talk about that later. There’s something more important to discuss.”
A laugh burst out of me. Something more important than learning that the man I loved could end up risking not only his life but also the lives of his entire Court and mankind by being with me? Unless I chose to be his…his side piece while he married a fae and fathered a whole litter of children.
Luce frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay, Brighton?”
“I am.” I stopped the next laugh from bubbling up. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
She looked down and then up. “Remember when I said that I was waiting on some blood work to come back? I wanted a full workup to make sure there were no hidden infections.”
I nodded. “I’m guessing it came back?”
“It did, and there was something noted that required further testing to confirm.”
“What? I have sepsis of the heart or something?”
Luce’s brows crinkled once more. “I do not think that is a thing, but I will have to check—”
“I was kidding,” I said. “What did you find?”
“The blood test picked up an abnormality in a hormone, an increase in HCG.” Her eyes searched mine. “After seeing that, I ran a quantitative blood test just to confirm the levels that were present and what it meant.”
“Can you just give me antibiotics for it?”
Her frown increased. “You cannot take antibiotics for this.”
“Okay.” I stared back at her. “Then what do I do?”
“Well, there’s a lot to do, actually. Another test just to be sure, and then—wait.” She drew back. “You don’t know what HCG means, do you?”
“No. I mean, maybe I did, and I’ve just forgotten it.”
Her shoulders tightened. “HCG stands for human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone that is produced when someone is pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” I repeated.
Luce nodded. “You’re pregnant, Brighton. And based on the levels, you’re at about eight weeks. Maybe a little more, but you’re definitely pregnant.”
My brain stopped working.
“That means you conceived before you were taken. And, somehow, by some miracle, you’re still pregnant,” Luce continued. “I would like to do some more testing. Your body has been through a lot, so there are a lot of risks that this…this fetus will not hold or may be...”
It was like an out-of-body experience.
I was sitting, but I felt like I was floating, and I knew Luce was still talking, but I couldn’t hear a word she said.
I was… I was pregnant?
Possibly eight weeks or more pregnant?
That was….
“… I have to ask you this because it could change everything—the tests I need to do, what you can expect,” Luce was saying as I refocused on her. “Is it possible that the…?” She paled, much like Tatiana had earlier when I’d spoken Queen Morgana’s name. “Is it possible that the King is the father?”
Possible?
