Chapter 132

Violet’s POV

I was in bed. In the middle of the day. Again.

It was embarrassing.

Thankfully, I had the fake bond rejection to excuse my symptoms, so no one suspected my pregnancy.

A soft knock on my bedroom door had me inviting Kincaid in. He poked his head into my room, whispering gently, “How you feelin’, Alpha?”

I groaned in response. Some days were better than others but today was not one of them.

“The High Priestess has arrived for follow-up healing services. Shall I bring her in?”

I nodded through the dizziness, and Kincaid disappeared.

When Kincaid reappeared, opening the door for my aunt, I scooted to sit up in bed. After verifying that there was nothing he could get for me, Kincaid shut the door and left us alone. I waited for his steps to recede fully before I spoke.

“You told them that you’re here to help the symptoms of my rejection?” I didn’t expect her to reveal my secret, but I was surprised that she would lie. I felt a little guilty for having put her in that position.

“I said nothing,” she explained as she began her examination. “I show up places and folks come up with their own conclusions as to why.”

Her response yielded my first smile of the day. This sounded more like her than lying.

“How have you been feeling since I last saw you?” she asked, hands glowing a little as she passed them over me.

I shrugged a shoulder, breathing through more nausea. “Symptoms pummel me on days like today, then disappear entirely other days. It seems completely random.”

Auntie chuckled. “Welcome to pregnancy.”

Despite my smile at her quip, she also noticed my quivering chin. “I am your aunt and your High Priestess. If you can’t talk to me, who can you talk to?”

I let out a nervous laugh, and a few tears broke free at the same time. “I’ve just wanted this for so long. The joy I feel every second, even with the symptoms that sometimes keep me bed-ridden, is overwhelming.”

Another sob snuck through, and I fought to recover. “At the same time that I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, I’m forced to keep it secret. The most important experience of my life is happening right now, and I can’t tell anyone.”

I breathed in to steady my wobbling voice. “Even if I found a way to share the good news with my mate, I couldn’t celebrate with him. I feel so utterly alone.”

I realized what I said while my aunt was taking the time to care for me. I hoped my feelings of solitude didn’t offend her. As much as I loved her, sharing the pregnancy with her was not the same as sharing it with Theodore.

Though it did remind me that if it weren’t for her, I’d have no one to share it with at all.

“I’m so grateful for you,” I said, blinking back happier tears. “Thank you for helping me – with everything.”

She dropped her hands, the examination complete, then kissed my brow. “Of course, my niece. I will support you, always.”

After an affectionate moment, she straightened her shoulders, leaning back into the wisdom of the High Priestess. “By my evaluation, you and the baby are healthy. The symptoms you’re experiencing are unfortunately normal,” she smiled sympathetically.

“I will return once a month to check on you both,” she promised, “though you should know you only have a month, maybe two, before you start to show. Since King Owen has produced no heirs as of yet, I can imagine he would see this baby, the first viable heir to the throne, as a threat.”

My face fell. With all my scheming, I hadn’t thought about that. I hadn’t considered this baby under any context other than a happy one.

“If I want to take Owen down, I have to do it quickly. Or he’ll come after me and the baby once knowledge of my pregnancy becomes public,” I realized out loud.

Auntie’s face was grim, but she said nothing. As a leader of the temple, her role in our society was kept severely distinct from government. She had a delicate balance to maintain in all this.

“Checking in on you and the baby is not the only reason for my visit today.”

My gaze snapped to Auntie at her words, at the hope weaved in them.

“I found an ancient spell,” she began, “in the depths of the magical libraries. It allows a mate bond to be imitated.”

Hope surged in my chest at the news, and she went on.

“The spell requires DNA – blood, a fingernail, or a hair for example – from all parties: the two between whom the bond will be feigned as well as anyone already bonded to them.”

I let the information filter through my brain. “If Eva is a willing pawn, then she would have offered up her DNA. Theo…” I sighed in realization. “Would Owen’s blood have enough of Theo’s DNA to work?”

“You and I had the same thought,” Auntie said. “I researched that exact question and found that the answer is yes.”

I furrowed my brows. “So the only person whose DNA they would have had to steal would have been mine…”

I wracked my brain, playing through all the possible ways Owen could have captured my DNA. Maybe the first time he met me, though I doubt this plan had been in place that long.

Or while I was unconscious at the hospital, but that was after the fake mate bond had been implemented.

It occurred to me that he could have hired or asked an ally to harvest my DNA. Could that have been why his wife attacked me in the bathroom during the court hearing? Then again, that could have easily been an illogical, emotional response to her life not going as planned.

Maybe it didn’t matter how he had stolen a sample of my DNA. Although if I could answer that, then it would serve as evidence against him using the spell. Then another thought occurred to me.

“If Owen cast that spell, he is in violation of the Unlawful Magic Charter. If he used magic, he would be legally required to be expelled from the country by the regulation he created.”

When I looked at my aunt, I realized she had been waiting for me to come to that conclusion.

She only said, “It would be fair of me as a representative of the temple and as a healer to follow-up with both parties experiencing an unexpected mate rejection. During my evaluation, it would be normal for us to chat.”

She was so good at this game. She only stated facts, none of them traitorous to the crown. But an astute listener like myself understood she was offering to pass information to my mate on my behalf.

“I’m sure he would love to hear about this ancient spell you’ve been reading about recently,” I responded.

She nodded, waiting for more. When I added nothing else, she asked, “And you would prefer I not offer information about your pregnancy… to anyone?”

I thought about it for a moment, imagining Theo hearing about our child for the first time from the High Priestess, unable to see me or hold me once he knew. “I would appreciate being the one to share that information when it’s time – and it’s not time yet.”