Luna’s lip curled. "You are an expert at avoiding pregnancy with me," she spat, her hand gesturing sharply to her own womb, "but when it comes to another woman, you are suddenly naïve? Really, Damien?"
Damien’s jaw clenched. His eyes flickered with desperation, shame, and raw honesty. "It’s not the same! It’s—It’s hard enough that I have to fight the bond! You think I don’t bleed inside every time I resist it? In that moment, in that tiny sliver of weakness, I didn’t think there would be complications. I gave in, Luna. I gave in to the bond!" His hand tore through his hair. "I’m sorry that I’m just a man, Luna!" He roared, his vulnerability laid bare.
Luna’s nostrils flared, "She said she would get you back. She was hoping this would happen. Don’t you see? She planned it, Damien! What... what if it’s the same that happened with Seliora? What if she is faking?" Her stomach twisted with dread at the thought.
Damien’s eyes snapped to hers, dark pools drowning in guilt. "Then we get someone trusted to examine her," he said.
"Doctor Thessa," Luna whispered, seizing onto the idea. "Doctor Thessa. Yeah." Her gown swished as she turned on her heel and stormed toward the exit.
"Where are you going?" Damien demanded, striding after her. His hand caught her wrist, but she tore it free.
"To fix this mess!" she snapped. Follow current novᴇls on noⅴelfire.net
"It is my mess!" he thundered. "I will fix it!"
"No! It is our mess! And don’t you think for one second that I am going to allow some inconsequential bond screw up our lives. If Isolde thinks she is fire, then I am the damn erupting volcano." Her eyes blazed. She was a woman claiming her throne in his heart, her territory marked, her dominance undeniable. With a furious twist of her dress, she turned.
Luna burst through the doors, her presence magnetic, her authority palpable. "A vehicle. Now." Guards scrambled.
"Has anyone seen Talon?" Luna barked, scanning the grounds.
Eryk stepped forward. "Just at nights, your highness. He says you gave him an assignment."
"Fine." Luna’s lips pressed into a thin, furious line. Her mind was already racing ahead, weaving possibilities, calculating dangers, every instinct honed on one singular purpose: protecting her child and her crown.
"Do you need me to drive you, your highness?" Eryk offered.
"It’s alright." Luna shook her head.
When the vehicle pulled up, Luna wasted no time. She climbed in, her fingers gripping the wheel. The engine roared to life, the sound matching the tempest in her veins.
Talon had carved a vantage point near Isolde’s building, a place high enough to see. From here, the boundary stretched out.
His orders from Luna were precise: one month of surveillance. If the woman behaved like the innocent, heartbroken damsel she painted herself to be, Talon would fade back into the mist and let her be. But if she so much as sneezed wrong—or whispered to the wrong person—he would know. He would act.
He still didn’t understand this madness.
From his perch on the hill, he spotted the royal vehicle. Out stepped Luna. Beside her, Doctor Thessa moved with a softer, steadier rhythm.
Talon rose smoothly, muscles rippling and slipped down the slope.
Isolde opened the door after a few knocks, her fingers trembling only slightly on the latch. She had expected them—had hoped they would come. And there they were: the queen herself, and the physician.
She bowed and stepped aside for them to come in. Not because her heart wanted to bend—but because no one left the Queen of Blood City standing outside. The queen technically owned everything
"Your Highness," Isolde said.
Luna’s swept over Isolde’s frame before landing squarely on her stomach. "I hear you are pregnant. How convenient."
Isolde lifted her chin just a touch. "It is the blessing of the Blood Goddess."
Luna bit down on her cheek. The primal urge inside her screamed for her to leap across the room, to pin Isolde to the floor, to rip her spine out through her back and hold it aloft as a warning. The fantasy alone made her pulse race.
"Do you know what happened with the last royal concubine?"
Luna’s eyes narrowed, daring Isolde to test her patience. Beside her, Thessa folded her arms, gaze cool and assessing.
"Yes. I heard she fabricated a pregnancy." Isolde’s posture was deliberately proud, chin tilted upward. "I assure you, Your Highness. That is not the case here."
"I’m sure it’s not." Luna’s laugh was a low, dangerous chuckle. "I mean, you would have to be stupid to pull the same trick, right?" Luna turned her gaze to Thessa with a lazy wave of her hand. "But just to put all of us at ease, Doctor Thessa is here to check if you are really telling the truth."
The queen’s eyes flared. "She is going to examine you. She is going to check if you are actually pregnant. She is going to check if you truly carry a true-blood child. And when the child is born..." Luna stepped closer, "...she is going to find out if the child is of royal blood."
"I’m sorry," she repeated, firmer this time. "But I do not consent to this."
Luna’s brows arched in mock surprise. "If you do not consent, then I have no choice but to believe that you are lying."
"I do not consent to being examined by you." Isolde finally stood straighter. "Not by a queen who is biased. Not by a rival who would see me torn apart before I even finish my first trimester." Her hands protectively brushed her stomach.
"Biased?" she whispered. "Oh, sweet child, you don’t understand. If I were biased, you wouldn’t be standing here to argue."
Isolde swallowed hard, her bravado cracking. She had wanted this confrontation. But standing in the queen’s presence, she realized the queen was a storm she may not have any power against.
"You seem to think you have any choice whatsoever in the matter. You will be examined Isolde, today."