Chapter 170: Chapter 170: The physician is pregnant

Seven Months Ago

~ Liam's POV ~

I woke up gasping for air.

My body felt weak, like I hadn't eaten in days. My head pounded with a pain so sharp I thought my skull would crack open.

"Your Majesty!"

Someone grabbed my shoulders. I blinked, trying to focus. The room was spinning.

"What... what happened?" My voice came out rough, probably from lack of use.

"The ritual, sire. High Priest Marcellus broke the curse."

The curse? What curse? The last thing I remember is planning a surprise for Raven.

Memories started flooding into my head. At first, I thought they weren't mine until I started seeing myself. Each one made me feel sicker than the last.

Raven came to my chambers, tears in her eyes, begging me to listen. Me standing there, coldly, watching her cry.

I remembered the look in her eyes. The moment her heart broke. And I'd felt nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"No," I whispered, horror blocking my voice. "No, no, no."

"Your Majesty, you need to rest…"

"Where's Marcellus?" I tried to sit up. "Where is he?"

Theo's face went pale. "Sire... the High Priest is dying. The ritual, it took everything he had."

I stumbled out of bed, nearly falling. My legs wouldn't work right. But I didn't care. I had to see him. I need to know what happened.

They'd laid Marcellus in a chamber opposite mine. He looked so small on that big bed, his skin looking so gray beyond recognition.

"Your Majesty." His voice was barely a whisper. "The curse is broken. You'll remember everything now."

"I do remember." I knelt beside the bed, grabbing his hand. "Marcellus, what did I do? What did I do to her?"

"Nothing that wasn't the potion's doing." He coughed blood on his lips. "But she doesn't know that. She thinks you betrayed her."

"Where is she? I need to find her, I need to explain…"

"Gone." Marcellus's eyes were sad. "I heard she ran the night you rejected her. No one knows where."

My heart stopped. "What do you mean, ran?"

"She left the palace. Disappeared into the city." Another cough and more blood poured out. "Your Majesty, you must find her. Tell her the truth. Don't let princess Julie's poison destroy what was real between you."

"I will. I swear I'll find her."

Marcellus smiled weakly. "Good. That's... good. Only… by…finding…her…can…everyone…be…safe."

His hand went limp in mine.

"No. Marcellus, no!" I shook him. "Don't you dare die on me!"

But he was already gone.

Yet again, I have lost a man who'd been more of a father to me and it was all my fault for letting the Titan royals stay.

Fear hit me as the thought of Raven being injured struck me. What if she was hurt? What if she'd done something desperate because of what I'd said?

What if I'd killed her with my cruelty?

"Find her!" I suddenly screamed at the guards running into the room. "Search every street, every building, every corner of this city! Find my wife!"

They searched for three days. Yet there was no trace of Raven anywhere.

But they did find something else.

"Your Majesty, Lady Cecil was caught trying to flee the kingdom."

I was in the throne room when they brought her to me, dragged in chains by four guards. She looked terrified, as she should be.

"Your Majesty, please, I can explain…"

"Explain what?" I had been too busy searching for Raven that I hadn't bothered with them but now, she has fallen into my arms.

"Explain why you're running? Also explain why you helped poison me?"

She went white. "I... I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Don't lie to me!" I stood, and she flinched back. "High Priest Marcellus broke the curse before he died. I remember everything now. You are the only one who serves me tea in this palace. So tell me why?"

"It wasn't me! I swear it wasn't me!"

"Then who?"

She pressed her lips together, shaking.

I walked down from the throne, slowly, letting her fear build. "You have one chance to tell me the truth. One chance to live. Who gave you that potion to give to me?"

"Guards. Take her to the dungeons. Remove each of her fingers one by one until she confesses.”

"No! Wait!" Lady Cecil broke. "It was Lady Johanna! Lady Johanna planned everything!"

Finally, "Keep talking."

"She... she used Princess Julie. Promised her you would marry her if Queen Raven disappeared. They used me to deliver the potion, added it to your tea and wine for two days ."

"Where did the potion come from?"

" I don't know! Although, I heard it's from the darkling merchants." Lady Cecil was crying now. "Please, Your Majesty, I'm sorry. I didn't want to do it, but Lady Johanna said if I didn't help, she'd ruin my family…"

“ You feared her but didn't fear me? The only mercy I will grant you is a quick death. Take her away.”

"Your Majesty, please…"

"Execute Lady Johanna and Lady Cecil. Publicly. Tomorrow at dawn."

Lady Cecil screamed. The guards dragged her away.

I turned to my Dorian who just returned a few days ago from the northern border looking relaxed and fresh.

When he saw me and heard everything that had happened, he was filled with anger.

"Find Lady Johanna. Now."

“ Yes, your majesty.” He left and a few hours later, he returned with Lady Johanna who was trying to flee.

The executions happened the next morning. I watched from the platform as both women were beheaded. I felt nothing but cold satisfaction.

That left Edward, Princess Julie, and Lady Annalise. Edward, from what I learned, had left before I woke up but Julie, his daughter, was still here.

I went in search of Julie and I found her cowering in her chambers, surrounded by guards.

"Liam, please, you have to understand…"

"Princess Julie is now just Julie. A servant. She'll scrub the palace floors for the rest of her miserable life."

"You can't do this!" Julie screamed. "I'm the princess of Titan!"

"Not anymore. Your father will hear about this soon enough."

Julie fell to her knees. "Please, Liam. I love you. I've always loved you…"

"You destroyed the woman I love. You poisoned me. Manipulated me. Made me hurt Raven." I leaned down, my face inches from hers. "You will spend every day for the rest of your life scrubbing the same floors Raven used to walk on. And you will remember what you did. Every. Single. Day."

They dragged her away screaming.

Lady Annalise was a harder nut. The nobles begged me not to execute her, pleaded with me not to completely destroy the House of Pitburg.

For five days, they pleaded. I could damn them all and do what I wanted but I remembered what Duke Pitburg did while he was alive. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be king.

"Fine," I said finally on the fifth day. "She will live. But she's to be imprisoned in her duchy home. Caged there. The moment she steps outside, she dies. Make sure she understands."

The nobles bowed, grateful.

I didn't care about their gratitude. All I cared about was finding Raven and any news of her.

But before I could search, I had another problem.

King Edward of Titan sent a furious letter demanding Julie's release, threatening war if I didn't return his daughter.

I wrote back one sentence; "Come and take her."

And so the war began, seven months of brutal warfare followed. I threw everything into that war. All my rage, all my guilt, all my pain.

We tore through Titan's armies like they were made of paper thanks to the mercenary soldiers I bought that Helena had made into real battle warriors.

Finally, we won after I killed Edward and hung his head on the wall of his palace.

For these seven months, I kept searching for any news of Raven but never got anything.

Until, one day while training aimlessly in the palace, Dorian walked towards me with a smile on his face.

"Your Majesty, there's talk of a miracle physician in Voss," he said excitedly.

"I don't care about physicians."

"This one appeared seven months ago. I heard she is a woman. She is young and skilled beyond belief."

Seven months. That's when Raven disappeared.

"It can't be her right?" I said, but my heart was already racing. "Raven couldn't possibly be the physician right?"

"With respect, sire, did you forget how she healed Lady Annalise’s face and even that maid's face?”

He was right. Raven had always wanted to join the medical facility in the palace.

That was the surprise I had planned for her which I wanted to show her that day.

I had built a medical facility for her in the palace that she would run by herself and any staff of her choice that she chooses.

But I couldn't even show her before I destroyed it all because of some stupid potion.

"Send scouts to Voss. Immediately."

The scouts came back two weeks later.

"The physician left Voss, Your Majesty. She accepted a job from Duke Vincx Hastings of Belgravia. His mother is dying."

Belgravia. Isn't that dangerous?

"And your majesty... there's more. The physician is pregnant. Six months along."