**DAPHNE**
It’s been fourteen days and fourteen nights since Ash left. I have spent nearly every waking moment in my bed, weak with an illness only Dionie, Petra, and I are privy too. The king hasn’t sought me out even once. The word is that he has been away on some sort of manhunt.
So, when I awoke today, on the fifteenth day of bedrest, and Ash still hadn’t returned, I was determined to feel better.
The mind is a powerful muscle indeed. As my sister, Diana, always says, ”Believe it to be true and it will be.”
I was able to finish my soft cheese and toasted bread that morning without any form of nausea.
Now, I am standing alone in my room after a long warm bath and cup of steaming water concocted from boiled herbs. Smiling out the window, I watch the stuffy assemblance of nobles in the courtyard.
Hearing someone enter the room, I spin around with an open mouth smile - until - I see who it is.
“H-Highness,” I balk, stepping back toward the window.
Prince Hayden smirks at me as he wanders toward my bed to lay across the mattress. My eyes shoot toward the door as I wonder where Dionie is.
Hayden notices this and grins. “Are you looking for the large blond guard that is always under your skirts?”
“What do you want of me?” I ask, ignoring the question.
“He’s busy. I sent him to the village to fetch someone from the tavern,” he chuckles.
*Fetch someone?*
*Someone who?*
*Ash?*
“You’ve been keeping secrets, Daphne,” he chides. Standing, he begins to stalk toward me with sinister purpose.
I am rooted to the spot as he approaches, growing more and more afraid with the widening of his smile.
“Secrets?” I blanch.
My first thought is that he knows about Ash and me, though I can’t imagine how.
Maybe he witnessed Ash carrying me from his chamber that night!
Or maybe one of the servants told him! Perhaps they heard my cries of pleasure through the walls in the kitchens and recognized my voice!
My mind begins to whirl with all the possibilities of how Hayden may have happened upon this knowledge. Suddenly, all I can think about is how I might gain Hayden’s confidence. The one idea that might actually work, is the one I cannot stomach.
*I could offer him my body.*
Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I am on the verge of doing exactly that, when something stops me. Disconnection from myself and from the room takes place as a voice sounds inside my head.
*Noooooo!*
*You must not taint yourself!*
My eyes snap open to find Hayden directly in front of me. His eyes are leery as his fingers lift my chin. But that is not what alarms me.
The voice in my head.
It wasn’t mine.
It wasn’t Hayden’s for certain!
It was female, certainly, and naught but a whisper to bounce between my ears - except - that it was familiar.
I have heard this voice before, yet I know not where.
Placing a hand over my stomach, I begin to sweat. Fighting panic, I release a slow breath as Hayden nods. His wicked blue eyes begin to dilate as his gaze wanders over my breasts.
“You’re truly a remarkable creature Daphne.” Pressing my body against the large windows, he leans into my ear. “I know you are pregnant with my father’s bastard. Your bosom grows plump with milk, even as we speak.”
My body jerks, my hands going up to touch my tender breasts protectively.
*Pregnant?*
*No! Don’t be absurd!*
*I couldn’t be!*
*Could I?*
I attempt to shove Hayden away, but he doesn’t budge. Instead, he cackles cruelly as his right hand grabs my breast eliciting a yelp of pain from my trembling lips.
“If you think, for one minute, the peasant in your womb has any kind of claim on my throne, you are sadly mistaken.”
*Safety!*
*Didn’t Ash say that if I were pregnant with the king’s heir that I would be safe?*
*But, even if I am pregnant, it is not the king’s child!*
*It is Ash’s child.*
That realization hits me from every angle all at once. My mind dances through all of the events that have led to this point.
Ash, saying he would save me.
Ash, tricking Hadimere into thinking that I was the one in the tower with him that night.
Ash, yet again, ordering me not to please the king.
Perhaps this, all of this, was part of Ash’s plan.
The thought is mind blowing and at the same time, empowering. Grabbing Hayden’s wrist in one of my hands, my grip surprisingly firm, I hiss, “Do not touch me!”
The power of my voice resonates. The air quivers in each corner, shading the space with dark energy. I can feel it as it begins to rise along the walls. The room appears to dim, despite the six tall coverless glass windows that surround us.
What on earth is happening here?
I can see it now, swirling like pulsating smoke. Colorless yet vibrantly alive as it climbs about the tower’s interior walls to spiral around my person. Like a cloak of protection, it rests upon my body. I begin to pant, my eyes shooting left and right as I watch in fascination.
“Stop it!” Hayden’s strangled voice breaks through and I glance at him to see him wincing from the pain in his wrist.
I gasp and I push him away. He stumbles toward the opposite wall at the same time the dark energy dissipates and light returns.
*What on earth?*
*What was all that? Where did it come from?*
Hayden’s body heaves with anger and I try not to smile at the look of wonder upon his face. Straightening his clothes and rubbing his hand, he rolls his eyes upward with a chortle.
“Have it your way.” He sneers, taking a single step toward me. He seems utterly oblivious to the threat that I felt dance around the room moments ago. This time, the manner in which he speaks is devoid of perversion. “I only meant to offer you an alternative fate. Not to anger you.”
“Alternative fate?” I repeat, questioningly.
He chuckles, leveling me with a steady gaze. “Do you love my father?”
*What type of question is that?*
*Of course not.*
But I can’t tell him that. Prince Hayden is always cruel to me. I can’t imagine much has changed for him to suddenly have my best interests at heart.
This might even be a trick designed to anger the king in his favor. No, no. I can’t answer this question. Doing so would more than likely be a monumental mistake.
So, I say instead, “He is my king.”
Not really an answer, but at least I didn’t say no.
Hayden giggles manically, then with a nod of his head he says, “He will not make you queen. You are not of noble birth.” Then, with a mocking wink, “He’s old-fashioned that way.”
I raise my chin at him, preparing my bones for the cruelties he will surely spout next. I’ve already had enough of his taunting, and I would just as soon get this over with.
“The way I see it,” he says smoothly, eyeing me up and down with the raise of his brows. “You can make one of two choices.”
Wrapping my arms around myself, I close my eyes and mumble, “I don’t even know if I’m truly with child. It was probably just a stomach ailment.”
He sighs, taking a seat at the window to glare down at the gardens. “I have been watching you, Daphne. Or rather, your maid. Each time she enters the kitchens, she leaves with the same things. Herbal supplements, regularly used to calm the stomachs of horses when they are breeding.” Then, locking eyes with me, he states, “She also tends to you with the same meals often administered to whores in the tavern that have gone and gotten themselves knocked up. I’m on common terms with quite a few of them, so I would know. You’re pregnant, I’ll bet my royal ass you are.”
“Oh God,” I whimper. I want to argue, I want to blame anything else for all that he’s seen, but in my heart, I feel it to be true.
*I am with child.*
*Ash’s child.*