𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋 | 𝟏𝟖+

𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐘-𝐎𝐍𝐄 | 𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐍

ততততত

𝐈 𝐌 𝐎 𝐆 𝐄 𝐍

The wedding day has arrived.

A hand pounds on the door of my washing chamber. Dauphine, my uptight designer who dares to make me follow a strict schedule. She's just as restricting as the damn corset she's about to make me wear for my wedding gown.

Elena holds back my hair as I vomit into a bucket, hoping that the wave of sickness will pass. Most would attribute the nausea to pre-wedding nerves, but I know for certain that this is the sign I've been waiting for. The morning sickness. It's been six weeks since I've neglected to take the elixir, and this comes right on cue. When the vomiting subsides, the briefest of smiles crosses my lips for just a fraction of a second.

Pregnant. A little Tobin baby is growing inside of me.

Only the father has been sentenced to death, waiting in chains in the dungeon.

Maybe Tobin had his suspicions these final few days that I might be pregnant, but he always believed I took the elixir. Now, I fear he's lost all hope down there in the darkness. My attempts to see him in his cell have ended with me being escorted back to my bedroom. My father has guards monitoring the entrance to the dungeon on a constant rotation. Even when I tried to maul my way between them, they simply picked me up and placed me back in the main corridor. Those guards have heard every curse imaginable from my lips, curses I then repeated to my father, who simply shook his head and ignored it.

I'm desperate just to see Tobin once more, because that final night faded into oblivion before I could catch it with my fingertips.

As the nausea eases, I lean back to meet Elena's suddenly bright green eyes. She knows what I've done, for it was her idea in the beginning. Leighton will never receive a true heir to his throne, at least not from his doing.

"Now we know," Elena mutters as she helps me up.

I nod my head, wiping my mouth with my sleeve. "I just wish I could do this with Tobin." Because if he knew I was pregnant, he'd fight teeth and nails to see his child. To Tobin, family means everything. Aspen. Me.

His little baby that he'll never get to meet.

Guilt mixed with panic rises inside of me, and I set a hand to my chest to steady my erratic breathing. What have I done? I kept something so miraculous from Tobin, and now he's laying in a cell thinking that his life is about to end when a new life that we made together is just beginning.

"I made a mistake," I stammer, putting a hand on my stomach.

A gigantic one.

Gods, this was stupid of me.

Elena shakes her head. "No, you didn't."

"Tobin should've known. He should've known what I was doing—"

"It's okay," Elena assures. "Just think about how you're carrying the heir to Adorid inside of you."

"Is that supposed to help? What if—"

"Princess, there's no turning back now. You're pregnant, and it's a child that belongs to you and the man you love. You'll fight for that child, and they'll learn everything they need to learn from their beloved mother," Elena takes my hand in hers and squeezes tightly. "If Leighton wants an heir to the throne, then this is the only way, because I will never let him get close to you."