Chapter 100

Chapter 100
Elora

It’s been weeks since the war began, and we are no closer to winning, we are no closer to destroying the creature who levelled my world into the ground. How long do I have to wait for my revenge? I’m going insane just sitting here day in and day out. I need to fight. I need to fucking destroy him. Even if it is the last thing that I ever do.

He deserves death, pain, lots of pain. But no amount of his blood will be enough until he is dead before my eyes. He is suffering, this entire world is suffering. But it is nothing compared to what happened to my people.

Massacred. My people were slaughtered in their own homes, even after helping their enemy to win. My parents, gone. My friends, dead. Everyone I ever knew was destroyed, and so was my world. I can never forgive him for that. He must pay. My mates escort me to the dining room, insisting that i must eat to preserve my strength, and although i don't feel the familiar sting of hunger, i eat anyway. I force the food down and almost vomit it back up.

“You look pale.” Ryker remarks, “Is the food not to your liking?”

I gulp down a breath and try my best to smile, “It’s fine, i am just not feeling myself.” i take another breath, struggling with the food in my stomach, “The food is fine.”

Maddox gets up from his chair and kneels beside me, his eyes on mine and he strokes his hand down my stomach, “Your stomach is swollen.” he says, his eyes growing softer, “when was the last time that you bled?”

My eyes widen in surprise, i haven't bled this month, i can’t remember the last time i did. But it was a while ago.

“I can’t be.” i murmur, shaking my head.

Maddox smiles softly, no longer looking like the fierce beast i know he is. “You are, Elora.” he tells me, his eyes bright with joy.

Ryker places his fork back onto the table with a bang on his fist, “What the hell are you whispering about? Is she going to eat or not?”

Maddox turns to him, “Have the kitchen prepare something else for her, she can’t eat this.”

“Why the hell not?” Ryker demands, leaning back in his chair, “She has never complained about the food before.”

“Ryker.” Maddox warns in a tone that makes me shiver, “Now is not the time for your deluded opinions.”

The dragon king growls, smoke puffing from his nose, “You do not command me, Maddox, just as i do not command you.” he takes a calming breath, “now tell me why she has such a problem with this particular meal.”

Maddox stands, turning his whole body towards him, “She cannot eat it because she is with child, my child.”

Ryker's eyes widened, his form slumping back in the chair, “She’s pregnant?” he asks, “I didn’t even know that the two of you had been together in that way.”

Pregnant. I’m pregnant with the beast King’s child.

How the hell did i let this happen? I should have been more careful.

“We were intimate about three or four weeks ago, before the war truly began.” Maddox explains, “I did not tell you because i didn’t want you to become jealous.”

Ryker nods, turning to me, “And you want this child?”

I freeze, glancing between the two of them, Maddox was bright with excitement and Ryker was pale, did they want me to have this baby? Would it improve things between us if i did?

Now wasn't the right time to have a child, not when the war was so close to us, one wrong move and me and the baby would die.

“I don’t know.” i admit, my throat closing, “This isn’t a good time.”

Maddox kneels in front of me again, “I won’t let any harm come to you or our child, you have my word.” he smiles down at me, “This is a blessing, Elora, a gift from the gods.”

“But what about the war?” i ask, panic consuming my chest, “you said that you couldn’t win without me.”

“we will find a way.” Ryker interjects, “you shouldn’t worry about such things, not in your condition.”

“You make it sound like pregnancy is a death sentence.” i joke, though my heart clenches, “In my world, women did all kinds of things whilst carrying a child, working very strenuous jobs being one of them.”

They exchange a look i can’t quite read, Ryker walking towards the kitchen and demanding they bring me soup and bread. When he returns to his chair, he is a lot calmer, though i am spiralling.

“I don’t think I'm ready for this.” i admit, touching the small bump on my stomach, “I don’t think i can do this, i am not ready to be a mother.”

“Is anyone truly ready to become a parent?” Maddox asks, though it was very much a rhetorical question. “You’ll be fine, Elora, you were born for this.”

Born for this? It doesn’t feel like it.

I turn to Ryker, my voice colder than i intended. “and you, are you fine with me carrying his child?”

Ryker smiles at me, the kind of smile that makes me forget exactly who he is and what he has done. “You are not mine alone, love, you belong to Maddox as much as you belong to me.” he walks towards me, placing a gentle hand over mine, “This will be good for you, for all of us. A child can bring people closer.”

This can’t be happening, a baby? At a time like this? I must be crazy for even considering keeping the thing.

I knew this would come eventually, after all, it is my job to give them an heir, but right now? Now is not the best time for a child to come into our lives.

Darax won’t let me live if he knew, not that he was going to anyway. He hates my kind. The fae are no use to him anymore. And I am the last of my kind.

I place a hand on my stomach, not the last, not anymore. This child is half fae, just as it is half beast.

Two parts came together to make the child, two broken parts. Will a baby help to bring us together? Or is this child just another nail in my coffin?