CHAPTER 35 (PART II): PREGNANT ROYAL

CHAPTER 35 (PART II): PREGNANT ROYAL
“Your Highness, you have got it all wrong,” another elder minister came to the courtier’s defense. “The kingdom’s secret scrolls were indeed found in the Late Queen’s safe. How could have anyone tampered with the safe that only opened from her magic? She was not executed for being an omega. She was executed for treason!”

Sebastian did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned my face toward him with two fingers under my chin. His eyes lowered to my lips as if the entire court no longer existed. The movement of his fingertips was subtle but unmistakably intimate. My chest rose in a shaky breath he felt against his own.

Only when he saw I was steady enough for his liking did he look up at the ministers.

“Thank you for stepping forward, Minister Zang. You have given me the perfect segue to show your true colours. Beta Zane!” Sebastian sharply commanded.

“Yes, Your Highness!” Zane bowed in front of Sebastian on one knee, fist over his heart.  

“Light up the sky screens. Let everyone witness the power of the magic orb of justice won by my dear Queen here. It seems too fond of the Queen that it resides permanently with me,” Sebastian rasped and melted me with one of the softest kisses publicly while the roof and skies above us burst into sparkles of colours, shimmering into a silver screen playing a scene from the same throne room we sat in, except that the throne was empty and the council of ministers sat in a circle, which included prominent and influential figures like Selene’s father, Courtier Graham and Minister Zang.

“We can not let Queen Olivia turn in evidence of our account books! We will be ruined if the King and the public get to know that we emptied the treasury and lost the money to the rogues.”

“The Queen has not told the King yet. We still have time. She will be back from the North the day after tomorrow while the Lycan King has gone to pray for their unborn child in the Temple till tomorrow night. We can move out of the kingdom along with our families before it is too late!”

“Why should we move out just because an omega decided to play the role of a just Queen. She is a lowly breed of bitches who happened to have money. She would have been nothing without us. We brought her here and we can throw her out of here as well.”

“Yes! Why should we listen to that inferior woman? She should have just focused on breeding and not put her nose in our affairs! A lowly omega like her deserves to die.”

“Hail, hail! We agree!”

“But how do we convince the King to throw her out?

“Why throw her out when she can be killed?”

“She has locked our account books in her safe. How will we get them back? She might have even told the King about them.”

“Then we let the public kill them. Tomorrow, we can let the rogue prisoners out of the dungeon and blame it on the Queen. The King and Queen will be left fighting the furious rogues while we can break the Queen’s safe with the help of my witch wife and get back our books,” Selene’s father suggested.

“But the royal soldiers will foil our plans. We need them by our side!”

“The soldiers never join traitors and I know how to blame the Queen of espionage,” Mister Graham smirked and the scene shifted to a furious public pelting the pregnant Queen while her mate shielded her.

The rogues had scratched them and poison oozed out of the royal couple’s wounds. The King died in the Queen’s arms while the Queen was publicly executed. Even in death, she managed to protect the young lycan prince and safeguarded his future. She managed to issue a royal decree and will in the former King’s name that Sebastian was the next heir. Sebastian carried the royal blood of the mighty Northern Queen and powerful Lycan King, and he would ascend the throne when he came of age after entrusting him to her husband’s loyal friends.

“Th-this is untrue! We never did this. We are law-abiding subjects!”

“Mercy, oh King! We are being framed.”

“Framed? Are you a painting that I need to frame you? The orb of justice doesn’t lie. If you want mercy, sign this confession or else I will let the public decide for you. Clearly, every minister here is dirty and compromised. I don’t even want to let this matter sit with the Ministry of Justice like lead.”

“How dare you accuse us and play tricks with the public? You are being unjust. We demand a trial in accordance with the law.”

“Isn’t that what you denied the former Queen when she was executed for treason? Isn’t your crime worse than hers? How is it any different?” Sebastian asked, his warm and comforting palms rubbing over my exposed mid riff. “My Queen, you are an omega. Is it a crime to be an omega and not get a fair trial? These ministers shunned my mother’s achievements over her status and instigated the public. No one stepped in to help my parents. My unborn sister died with them. Then tell me, oh Queen, how do I settle this matter with these treacherous ministers?”

My cold hand cupped the King’s cheek and I placed a soft kiss over the emotional man’s forehead. I turned, unable to ignore the way my knees wobbled again. For a moment, my vision swayed. His grip tightened so fast that I did not fall. I leaned into him, breath catching. He bent slightly, lips brushing my cheek that felt loving to the court, but his lower hand quietly slid along my hip in a slow, deliberate glide that sent a rush of heat through me.

For a hot moment, I felt a strange energy course through my entire being and the mate bond strengthen. Over the pack link, my voice rang out, “Don’t kill them, oh King! I implore you to let them go.” My voice came out steady yet strange over the pack mindlink, as if something ancient spoke through me.

“WHAT?!” A gasp rang out throughout the court in disbelief.

“What are you saying, my Queen? You are asking me to let these scoundrels get away with their heinous crimes scot-free?” Sebastian’s voice was strained, his anger barely contained. “You get your voice back over the pack link and you wield it to defend these criminals?” he asked, disappointment marring his every word.

I chuckled and looked him in the eye as I said through the pack link, “I request you to spare them and their families, and let them rehabilitate in the Northern pack.”

The entire court exploded in disbelief.

Living in hell was better than a clean wipe-out execution. Dying a bit everyday would teach them for the next few lifetimes as well.

For the first time ever in a long time, I saw a ghost of a genuine smile on my mate’s face. “You are the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said and with that the orb of justice shone at its brightest and brought back long-lost justice in the lycan kingdom. Sebastian let out a slow breath that warmed the back of my neck. His lips touched my skin. “You are extraordinary,” he whispered. “I will honor your words.”

As the orb of justice flared in blinding white light, sealing my decree, a sharp spinning sensation hit me. My legs buckled. The world tilted.

I barely registered my fall because Sebastian caught me mid-collapse, one arm under my knees, the other cradling my back. My head lolled against his shoulder, the scent of him enveloping me. I felt his heart pounding, strong and steady, while mine hammered far too fast.

“My Queen has fainted. Clear the hall,” he commanded. His voice trembled with the slightest edge of fear.

I kept drifting in and out, hearing pieces of worried voices, Carl, Valerie, and Zane rushing forward.

“She is conscious, Your Majesty,” Carl said gently. “Her body is still recovering from extracting silver from your system.”

A ripple of guilt crossed Sebastian’s features. “I pushed her too hard,” he muttered.

My eyes fluttered open weakly. “I am fine,” I whispered.

His gaze fell on me with such tenderness that it almost hurt to look at him. “You scared me.”

He pressed his forehead to mine, right in front of everyone. The moment should have been solemn. It should have been formal. Instead, his thumb brushed the corner of my mouth in a caress so intimate my breath stuttered.

“Take us to the palace,” he told Zane without looking away from me.

Zane cleared his throat awkwardly. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

Sebastian held me the entire way. Not once did he let someone else take me from his arms.

At the palace, after the Northern Pack doctors confirmed my baby was safe, we rested in the private royal chambers. My vision cleared. My limbs steadied. And when Sebastian helped me sit upright, the intensity in his eyes told me he had not forgotten how I responded to him in the throne room.

“Come here,” he murmured.

I did.

I sat beside him on the royal couch, my hand reaching to brush over the side of his face. His eyes softened. His breath deepened. The tension between us grew thicker, richer, hotter.

I whispered through our strong mindlink, “You were frightening today.”

“And you were magnificent,” he replied, his voice low and full. “You took control of a kingdom with one sentence. You saved lives. And you…” His fingers slid slowly down my arm, sending a shiver racing through me. “…you carry my child.”

My breath hitched.

He leaned in, his lips brushing mine without fully kissing. “Do you have any idea,” he said, barely above a whisper, “how much I am falling for you?”

His thumb stroked my cheek. My heart beat faster. I pressed my palm against his chest. His muscles shifted beneath my touch, taut and warm.

His breath grew heavier as he fought restraint.

“Sebastian,” I whispered through our mate bond.

He let out a quiet groan, deep and raw, before kissing me.

Not frantic.
Not hurried.
Slow enough to unravel every thought in my mind.

His lips shaped around mine, deepening the kiss until my breath trembled against his mouth. I felt his chest rise and fall faster. I felt the warmth of his hand slip to my waist, pulling me closer.

The world narrowed to the sound of our breathing.

His low hum of want.

My uneven gasps.

He kissed me until our foreheads rested together, both of us panting softly, breaths mingling.

Then he whispered, voice rough, “I need you. Not for release. Not for possession. I need you because everything in me moves toward you. I can’t imagine taking another breath without you. You are my life now.”

“My King,” I replied, voice trembling through the mindlink. “I feel the same.”

He lifted me, set me on his lap slowly. His hands traced my sides, my spine, the curve of my neck, exploring without crossing the line we both knew not to break. His body reacted beneath me, his breath coming harsher.

He kissed my jaw.
My neck.
The place beneath my ear that made me gasp aloud.

He groaned again, the sound thick and unrestrained. “Your reactions drive me wild.”

“Zane is outside. He will hear,” I whispered breathlessly.

“Zane will survive,” he replied and brushed another heated kiss down my throat.

By the time his lips met mine again, my entire body trembled in his arms.

He made love to me with nothing more than his hands, his mouth, and the sound of his voice shaping my name like a vow.

And when the night finally drew its curtain over us, he held me close, whispering into my hair, “You are my peace, my strength, my desire, my Queen.”