Page 108 of The Princess and Her Grand King

“And I ask again, for the thousandth time, what is going on here, Aekeira?” King Orestus's voice boomed, laced with irritation. “Why on earth would your sister even attempt to journey back to that savage kingdom that enslaved her?”

Only Aekeira’s muffled sobs answered him.

“Motherfucker!” the king cursed. “When will either of you speak to me!? What the hell is wrong with both of you? It’s as if those beasts sent two strangers back to me! You’re both either crying, locked away in your rooms, moping, not eating, or crying even more.”

Emeriel groaned. Her head was pounding too hard for this.

Go away. Just leave me alone!She wanted to scream, but she was too tired to muster the strength to shout.

And her stomach…it was on fire.

Blessedly, she drifted back into sleep.

A sudden, piercing pain ripped through her, jolting her awake.What the…

Another one followed, sharper and more excruciating, Emeriel doubled over, a strangled cry tearing from her throat.

Struggling to her feet, she clutched her belly as she staggered to the lavatory, desperate to relieve herself.

But when she pulled down her drawers, there was… blood. So much blood.

It soaked the fabric, trailing down her legs.

She stared, horrified. Bewildered.

Crying through another vicious cramp, she wondered what the hell was going on. She hadn't had her menstrual cycle in over a year!

Gripping her garment so hard, her knuckles turned white, her breath coming in ragged gasps.Gods, my stomach really, really hurts.

Could it be…?

“No, no, it cannot be,” she choked, shaking out of her body, “I can’t be… I can't be p-pregnant."

Blood trailed like a painter's careless brushstroke, staining everywhere it touched.

“I ca-an’t be pregnant!" Covering her face with her hands, Emeriel screamed in denial. “They said it wasn't possible! They said it t-took time!! I can't… I can't," she sobbed. "I can’t be losing my ch-child.”

Her knees gave way, and she fell like a rag to the ground,bawling like never before.

The slight distension of her belly was not bloating from malnutrition; she was with child.

Right there, in the lavatory, Emeriel's heart broke all over again.

With every trail of blood down her thighs, every stab of searing pain in her belly, Emeriel knew, with a growing, soul-shattering certainty, that a soul was leaving her body. Her child was leaving.

And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

***

THE PRESENT

Seated on the bed, Emeriel shook uncontrollably in the stillness of the night. Her uneven loud breaths echoed in the silence of her chambers as she rocked herself back and forth, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees.

None of the grand rulers had returned from the ancestral shrine.

Why do you do this to yourself? Why revisit the most painful memory of your life?

But she knew why this particular memory had broken free from its chains. The intimate conversation with King Daemonikai about children.

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