Amethyst (A new Kingdom)

Part 12

"I will talk and you will listen," the King said. we all turned to him. the prince did keep glancing at me but he listened 

"Father?" the prince asked as we waited for the king to start. 

"I have had Estella under surveillance since she got here. I apologize my dear girl but your arrival caused such a rift that I was trying to heal the damage. I was hoping to use one of the other loopholes in the contract. if you became pregnant by someone else here in the castle we could get the money and send you away. I thought it was the only way to make my son happy again." the king explained. Faith looked at me wide-eyed, how much had the king heard did he know what we were?

"so who is the father?" Cora asked giving me a sly grin. 

"Rachel surrounded Estella with the most visually appealing men in the palace but she never looked at them. Estella chose to spend her time in the company of her ladies or reading. the prince is the only man she had relations with. meaning that he is the father of the child. all my spies can confirm that" 

"No" Cora shrieked and ran at me. surprisingly it was the prince that grabbed her and dragged her out of the room. 

"Estella, while I am confirming the father of your child you have some explaining to do" he turned a hard tone on me. I knew what was coming he was going to out me as a witch. "how could you think this was an appropriate way to take care of yourself. instead of being round and healthy, you look skinnier than you were before. there are bags under your eyes and you were swaying on your feet as you walked in. if you are a weak woman you will bear a weak son" 

"I am sorry your majesty" he was yelling I didn't realize how bad I looked until he was pointing out every flaw. 

"that is enough Vladimir" Queen Rachel stated but she didn't get hear as well because the prince reentered. 

"I need to speak to my wife alone" he stated. Rachel ushered the children out. Ziv dragged faith away who was fighting to get to me. the king was the last one to leave us. when the king closed the door the prince pulled a chair near mine and collapsed on it. his head rested in his hands as he just breathed. I waited to see where this was going. "I needed a moment to catch my breath" 

"take all the time you need" I responded. it was hard to figure out if I should eat or not but Nema told me I had to so I started picking at the foods in front of me. he brought his food over to the table and we ate in silence. then he cleaned up our trays. 

"how long have you known?" he was so quiet with his question I almost didn't hear him. 

"the whole time" I answered honestly 

"did you think me cruel" I stared at him where did he come to that thought "I would understand if you did? if you feared me I would understand I broke your arm and the way I took your virtue. I would see why you think me no better than a vagrant not deserving to know of their child" his back was turned but I felt. tears pooled in my eyes. what I feared came to pass all these games to carry the prince's child has hurt him and the relationship I should have been building. I rose from my seat, dizzy at the change of height. I swayed as I walked to him and wrapped my arms around him my face pressed into his back. 

"I don't blame you. I pushed you to do those things and I know you did not mean them" he turned around and held me as I cried into his shirt "I don't know what happened to me these last three months. I heard that you and Cora were fighting over what we did and I knew that I was the cause of your pain. I felt so guilty that I started pulling away. and when no one noticed or at least no one said anything I felt alone. I felt abandoned that it was me and I would have to care for this baby alone. I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to ruin your life" 

"shh, you have not ruined anything. you are bringing into this world a new person to love" he scooped me up and sat me in his lap. I felt like a child being held like that. but best of all I felt safe in his arms. "we need to work some things out. first, we need to help you feel better so that the guilt and grief don't eat you alive as it has been" 

"OK" I nodded into his shirt "I can do that" 

"it is not an only you thing we all need to step up because you are right we didn't notice you were falling apart and we should have, I should have. also, I think we should move your room to the one adjoining mine so that I can be there if you need anything" there was a knock at the door and the king walked in. I didn't try to clean my tear-stained face I simply hid in Demetri's shirt 

"son I brought the Physician to look at her" the king sat at the main table as the physician walked in. 

"Ok he is going to look at you but I will be right here if you need me" the prince joined his father at the table where they silently argued back and forth. 

"alright princess firth things first you need to start eating more and we need to get you drinking more liquids that should deal with the dizziness. my wife always said her sickness would leave her during the fourth month so there is hope" he winked at me 

"thank you physician" he nodded and looked to the king

"as far as I can tell there doesn't seem to be permanent damage to the heir your majesty. she should not be left alone so that there is someone there to take care of her." the king waved him away. with a bow, the physician was gone. 

"Estella," the king called my attention "I apologize for yelling earlier I didn't know all the details and overreacted but you must understand that baby will be the heir to the kingdom so we take its life very seriously here." he stood to leave but as I went to curtsy I would have collapsed if Demetri did not catch me

"I'm sorry," I cried again "I got so dizzy" 

"I have you I'm not going anywhere" he mumbled into my hair as the king left.