We walk slow through the fire. The flames confining us as I find it hard to breath. Walking hand in hand we watch as everything turns to ashes around us.
Is this really happening?
No...yet it feels like it.
As we walk hand in hand past the guards of the palace, the front doors of the palace opened for us as reporters try and get news from us. All the media wants is a good story. They want to create rumors, lies, to get anything they can. Zion and I are nothing but another penny to the paper.
As we reach the last step, Zion's tensed body seems to relax, his hand not as tight around mine. Once in the palace, the doors shut tight and I let out a deep breath.
Only two hours ago did we land back in the States from Europe, driven right away back towards the palace. News reporters were already out here, ready for a story. They knew I was gone for over a week, rushed out with no remains. The media knows something is going on here.
"We have a meeting tonight," Zion informs right as the doors shut and we enter the throne room. Right away a maid approaches the two of us, the King'd robes in her arms as she asked which fur he would like to wear tonight.
As he gives the order and the maid leaves, I stand before Zion, looking into his bloodshot eyes. "With who?" I ask.
"He's-
"Not Nixon," I mumble as Zion shakes his head.
"Lord Kane will be attending tonight."
A small smile crosses my lips. Lord Kane is the man who hear me say the word penis for the whole palace to hear. I have him a laugh and I'm glad he was not offended. No mad that a woman within the palace would say such 'childish' words.
"What over?"
"The war is coming to a close, we are talking of the construction of the Kingdom due to all the loss."
Nodding, I watch as the beautiful Alpha enters the throne room, those killer heels clicking against the palace floors as she walks with her head held high. If anything, Alpha Penelope Shannon is one hell of a woman I would not mind reading a massive biography off of. She's strong and determined, transforming a weak pack into one of the most feared in the world.
Zion turns around to greet his cousin, caught off as she passes bye him and stops before me. "Do you mind if we hang out in a bit? Say thirty minutes, meet me in the library?"
I agree, watching as Penelope disappears into the palace once more as I'm left alone with Zion.
"Sometimes she scares me," I admit. "Her whole presence is enough to make me wonder what she is up to at every second."
Zion smiles, placing an arm over my shoulder as we walk back to the royal chambers.
For the next twenty minutes before I'm to meet Penelope, Zion and I chat of the war, how he expects it to end within the month, only a week till Christmas. Zion explains that he will be gone tomorrow till the end of the next week, to return next week's Tuesday and hopefully beginning the ending of the war. Zion believes we shall win. I don't doubt him, for the statistics he lists are enough to make me think the other side has no chance.
"Sybil?"
I shoot my head to the side to see Zion staring at me, a soft smile upon those lips. "I believe Penelope is awaiting you."
"Oh!"
Right away I head for the door, pulling it open to free the familiar foyer behind me where only select maids and guards are allowed to enter. I recall my first night beside the King, how I didn't know what to feel. I felt both scared, unsure, and yet happy all at once. If seven-year-old me who wanted to marry a prince would have known about her future, she would of been bouncing off the walls due to pure and utter raw joy.
"Forgot about time?" Her voice calls out, the library before me reminding me of the one from Beauty and the Beast. It's massive for sure, four stories, massive windows, thousands upon thousands of books.
"Time slipped by fast," I admit, looking at the female Alpha as she sits before the fireplace, the snow outside covering the forest. "Does the lake ever freeze over?" I ask.
"Not since the last millennium. King Robert the Third put a curse on it to never freeze over again."
I nod, taking a seat across from Penelope as she looks to the flames of the fire. "I wanted to ask you something."
I raise an eyebrow as the female Alpha turns to face me. "Anything."
"Has your stomach been upset besides last night?"
"What are you-
"Do you have safe sex?"
"Penelope, we do!" I hiss. "I'm not pregnant, Zion and I are sa-
"Condoms and birth control are not one hundred percent effective."
"...you're saying I could be pregnant," I whisper-yell, looking behind me to make sure no one is here to hear us. "I have had stomach problems, but only one other like last night."
Penelope shakes her head, letting out a sigh. "You guys bang when he comes back for visits, right? When he takes a break from the war you are in your bedroom or wherever the hell else you can find in the palace with no guards. Am I right?"
My cheeks flush bright red.
"There's my answer," she mumbles.
Penelope holds out a white stick for me, a pregnancy test. Goddess is this truly happening? "If you don't think you're pregnant then you won't mind testing anyway."
"Why are you so concerned?" I ask.
She smiles at me, placing the plastic item into my pocket. "If there is a royal child along the way, it means many things. One being that you shall start to show, two being that the media will go ballistic, and three that you and Zion have better watch out for people like Nixon or enemies."
I nod my head.
Keva? Would she want anything to do with our child...if we were having on? Would the elf want our child or something else in return? When you make a deal with an elf, it becomes an unbreakable one, one you can never go against. The promise is set in the stars.
"Keva....did Zion ever tell you what he promised her due to the elven troops?"
Penelope escorts me out of the library, down in the hallway, and two stories up the palace into her room.
As she shuts the door, Penelope is quick to close the curtains as well, explaining how we need privacy. "Did he tell you what he promised?"
She nods her head.
"What was the promise?"
"Ask your husban-"
"He won't tell. Thus I believe that it has something to do with me."
She nods.
"What is it?"
"You pee on the stick and then I'll tell you."
Letting out a deep sigh, I head into the bathroom, the female Alpha close behind as my hands begin to shake. What if I am pregnant? I'm nineteen now...barely even wise enough to make decisions. Hell, if I'm pregnant, I'll be a mother before I can even drink or buy sharpies.
"I'll explain as your urinate on the stick."
"Do you have to be in here right now?" I ask, crossing my arms as Penelope rolls her eyes.
"Just pee on the damn stick."
I take in a deep breath as Penelope turns her back to me. "Keva stuck a deal with Zion, one that he knew you would either hate or be okay with..." I await her next words. "Zion agreed that when you have your first child, that your child would bear the seal of Keva's elven tribe."
I know what that means. If any child is given the seal of an elves tribe, it is a great honor, one of the very rare you ever see. It means that the child will be protected by that tribe, that the child will be treated like a deity to the tribe as they watch over the child. The seal is a small tattoo upon the forearm, made from star dust mixed into ink from a rare plant that glows in the night.
Keva wants our child to be protect with the highest honor.
"Why would I hate that?" I ask.
"Because Keva had him promise a second half to that part." What does she want with our child? To fatten him or her up and eat them!? No, that's too extreme. "He promised that when your child turns fifteen, they shall be raised within Keva's tribe four months of every year until eighteen. There your child will learn elven traditions, learn to fight like one of them, and much more."
"Why does Keva want that?"
"You know many are drawing their support back from the elves. Even the vampires don't associate with them. Zion rarely does. Keva and her tribe believe that your child will start a new era of elves and wolves as allies."
So the deal does not sound bad to me. If anything, I rather like the idea of it.
"Are you done?" She asks, making my lips form a firm line.
"Let's check."
Placing the stick upon the sink, my heart sinks down into my stomach as my hands begin to shake.
What happens if I'm pregnant? How will I tell Zion? How will he respond? Will I tell him right away before he leaves for war? Will I tell him when the war is done?
My eyes shut tight as I try and take in steady breathes. What if I am pregnant?
"Open your eyes, Sybil."
And I do, my eyes meeting the news that awaits me.
Golden eyes flash through my mind.
I'm pregnant.