Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 40113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 160(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Those sons of—
I’m about to swing the door open and tell them all exactly where they can shove it when the hissing voice speaks up again.
“This is not a matter of preference. It is a matter of life and death. We need to secure the future of our race. Your Majesty, you know there have been rumors of mutiny on the ships. Well I am here to tell you that they are more than rumors.”
This silences everyone.
“Now more than ever, we must demonstrate to our people that our Queen’s pregnancy was not a one-time aberration. Many question whether this child about to be born to you will even be Draci enough.”
“What?” Giselle cries but the voice cuts her off.
“It is a delicate time and a wise ruler would know that another pregnancy is needed to both calm fears and reassure your subjects. You have been made King but you have yet to prove yourself. As I have said, there are many who would see your kingship undone. You cannot let down your entire race because of a single person, human or Draci.”
Oh.
Shit.
I back away from the door even as I hear Ezo begin to argue loudly.
Oh God, what am I doing? The stakes here are so much bigger than I thought. And Ezo has the chance to be more than just a soldier. If he produced a child, he would be a hero to his race.
All he’s ever wanted is to fit in, to belong. And to save people.
I’m costing him everything and for what? He’d run away with me and leave it all behind but what can I really give him in the long term? I might not ever be able to bear him children.
He’s just been blinded by good sex and thinks it’s more. Okay, it’s been great sex, but still. What else is there between us, really? He barely knows me.
That’s not true, a small voice argues.
But there are too many other louder voices.
Deformed, that was what the doctor called me.
Why can’t you be more like your friend Giselle? I remember my father looking up from my sixth-grade report card with a frown. You’ve disappointed me, Ana. Again. I’d tell you to try harder but I’m not sure you even can. He sighed and pinched between his eyes. This is pointless. Just go to your room. And as I left, I heard him mutter under his breath, At least there’s her sister.
I’ve always been a failure and nothing has changed.
I wanted to believe—
I wanted to pretend—
I turn and sprint for the window as tears pour down my cheeks. I have to get out of here. Ezo deserves better. He deserves someone like Giselle.
I unlock the window, shove it open, and hike my legs over, one after the other. And then I run for my car.
Chapter Nineteen
Ezo
I cannot believe what the doctor and first advisor are suggesting. They would discard my mate with so little thought and without consulting me at all.
I know this is the Draci way. I’m nothing but a pawn to them. A lowly soldier.
But now I know what it is to be a man. And I know what it is to love a woman. They will not take my Ana from me. Not while I still draw breath.
I open my mouth to tell them so when the Queen suddenly cries out and clutches her stomach.
“My Queen!” calls the doctor, both him and Shak rushing to her side.
Just in time, too, because she slumps and seems like she might have fallen to the floor apart from their support.
Water gushes from the Queens legs and makes a puddle on the floor.
“Her water’s broken!” the female called Giselle says. “The baby’s coming!”
“We need to get her to her bed,” Shak calls but Juliet shakes her head.
“No time. Oh God, Shak!” Her face twists in pain as she lets out an agonized grunt.
“Doctor, what’s happening?” Shak shouts at the same time that Juliet’s wings flare outwards from her back, extending to their full six-foot span. Several of the King’s advisers stumble backwards to avoid being hit by them.
“He’s coming,” Juliet cries. “There’s not much time.”
“Help me get her leggings off,” Giselle says to Shak, and together they tug the black leggings off the Queen. Only her long t-shirt dress keeps her somewhat modest.
But then her great, golden wings begin to flap, creating such a storm of wind that trinkets and decorative vases around the room crash to the floor.
Shak holds her waist but not even he is strong enough to keep her on the ground. She lifts up, her bare legs shuddering as she twists with pain.
I watch on, helplessly.
But the Queen is not the only one with wings in the room. The doctor unfurls his wings and then he lifts up off the floor and flies right to her side, the both of them hovering near the ceiling of the huge room.