Chapter 214

All of a sudden, a whisper of a breeze rippled through the courtroom and around my head, whispering reassurance in my ear. This breeze wrapped itself around me and then swirled out into the courtroom, where it produced an answering wind of murmuring whispers. Suddenly, everyone was shaking their heads, turning toward one another. Members of the jury shook their heads as if trying to clear them.

Again, I heard a whisper in my ear, and I recognized the voice of the moon goddess. “Don't fear,” was all she said. And then her presence was gone. But the entire courtroom, everybody in the gallery, the jury, the judge, the lawyers, and even the king had all relaxed.

The judge brought her gavel down and dismissed the jury to go deliberate. But this time, I wasn't frightened. The goddess had never steered me wrong yet. And she told me not to fear, that I needed to trust her and the fate surrounding her and me.

I scurried out of the witness stand and back to my spot beside Mr. Wilcox. “What was that?” he hissed between his teeth. “You completely went off on a tangent. That wasn't anything like what we discussed.”

I sighed and slumped in the chair. “I don't think it would have mattered what we discussed,” I said. They were ready to convict me regardless.”

“Goddess,” he took a sniff at me. “Have you always smelled like that like?”

“Like what?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Summer vacation?”

I laughed. “I've never heard it described that way before. But the people who can smell my scent have always told me that it was a source of peace. So, I guess if you find summer vacation peaceful, then yes.”

He arched an eyebrow in my direction and turned back to his notes, tapping them together and tucking them inside his briefcase. “Well, it's out of my hands now,” he said. “It's up to the jury, and we'll just have to see what they've decided.”

“Thank you for everything. You've done it on such short notice,” I said.

The warmest smile I'd ever gotten from him turned his mouth upward. “I'm happy to help. And if you should find yourself with an unfavorable verdict, I will do my best to mitigate what I can.”

“I know you will,” I said, “and again, thank you.”

We got up and followed Theo and David out of the courtroom. We would get called back into session once the jury announced that they had a verdict. Until then, there was no sense in panicking.

Charles slipped his hand into mine, gripping our fingers together. And for the first time since the first day in court, we followed David and Theo to the secret passage and out so that we could avoid all of the reporters.

I certainly couldn't stomach rolling over all the possibilities that the jury might return for reporters’ questions right now.

All the way back to our safehouse, Charles kept my hand in his. And he led me straight to the bedroom. He shut the door behind us and immediately started kissing my neck.

I started to push him away, but he was faster, twining his arms through the gaps my blocking left. He managed to lift my skirt, running his hand up and over the curve of my butt.

I twisted away from him. “Charles, stop,” I ordered.

He had a serious look on his face, but I shook my head.

“I don't care what your rationale is. There's something that I've been trying to tell you for over a week now. And I have to tell you.”

I had changed my mind. I was going to keep the baby a secret from everyone else. But Charles deserved to know. And he was going to find out now before the chance disappeared again. Because if the goddess was telling me not to fear, and that she would be with me until the end, then I was out of time. For better or worse, everything was nearly over.

Charles crossed his arms and looked at me sternly. And I pointed him to the edge of the bed.

“You might want to sit,” I said.

I took a seat beside him, and he continued to stare stonily at me in silence. I worked my fingers underneath his hand, between his palm and his chest.

“Charles. I'm pregnant.”

His arms went limp and fell away from his body, knocking mine to his lap in the process. “You're what?” he said.

Then he got an angry look on his face. “How cruel of you!”

I stared at him open-mouthed in utter astonishment. “What are you talking about? What cruelty?”

“If anything goes wrong, now I know that I lose you and my unborn child.”

“Would you have preferred I didn't tell you?” If anything goes wrong, then you would never have known it all.”

I burst into tears at Charles’ reaction. Here I had been dreaming about how telling him would go, but I never dreamt that he would call me a monster. I suppose, looking at it from the way he pointed it out, I deserved that.

Remorse flashed across his face, and he quickly hurried to my side, scooping me into his arms. “Don't be like that,” he said. “I just…it's a lot to process at a bad time.”

“I know,” I sobbed. “I've been trying to manage this for a couple of weeks now.”

“And you waited this long to tell me?” he growled.

I sobbed even harder. “It was an agonizing decision,” I cried. “Knowing that my safety was in the balance and what the news might do to you, for exactly the reasons that you just said. But I continued forward, knowing what kind of pain this might cause you. If things went wrong, you'd never know the difference, but if things went right, how would you feel if I hadn't told you?”

He made a face. “I probably would have felt betrayed,” he admitted.

I nodded. “With everything going on, this wasn't a choice that I made lightly,” I said. “I'm also scared about what would happen if the news got out. Then the king wouldn't just be against me, but possibly against our child.”

He let out a growl. “Over my dead body.”

“That's not at all the way that I want this to happen,” I said.

He pulled me over to the bed and sat me on his lap, smoothing my hair back and soothing my tears. “Under any other circumstances,” he said, “this really is amazing. Now I'm just not sure how to process it.”

I nodded, still huffing, trying to calm my crying.

“How far along are you? Do you know?

“It can't be more than a month or two,” I mused. “It had to have been one of those times where we forgot protection.

“My mother will be thrilled.”

“She'd better not find out,” I warned. “At least not until after things are settled. I don't want her to get defiant. And use that in some attempt to save your baby.”

“She wouldn't attempt to just save my baby.” He pointed out.

“I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that I could see her get emotional and spill information that we weren't ready to share at an opportune moment.”

Charles slowly nodded in agreement. “You're probably right about that.”

“No matter what happens to me, you can tell her afterward.”

He nodded. “If this goes wrong, it might be hard to control myself in the courtroom now.”

“And it wouldn't have been before?” I raised an eyebrow, looking at him.

He chuckled. “Point taken. It would not have been easy before. But now, if they want to see what enraged alpha can do, all they have to do is turn the king loose and put your life in danger.”