Page 17 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
“I can’t be pregnant.”
Sure, Elias and I didn’t use condoms, but I’d been on birth control since I was seventeen. There’d been a gap after my cabin exploded, six or seven days maybe, but after settling in Niev, I’d seen Leah and taken the herbal contraceptives she’d given me.
“Every morning, I take the herbal contraceptives you gave me. I don’t think I’ve gained weight, and my breasts feel fine. I haven’t missed a single dose,” I rattled on. “Even when Elias and I don’t. . . don’t.” I mashed my lips together to keepmyself from rambling further. “I can’t be. I’ve taken the contraceptive.” The last few words came out desperate.
“You could’ve done everything right, my lady, and still ended up pregnant,” Leah said. “The herbal contraceptive I gave you was formulated for fae. While your anatomy is similar, I don’t know how effective they are for humans, or what the correct dosage should be for someone like you.”
“I . . . I didn’t know that,” I whispered.
“I’m sorry if I didn’t make that clear,” Leah said, her tone as gentle as the smile she gave me. “That’s my fault.”
“You’re sure?”
It wasn’t that I didn’t want a baby. I did. I often dreamed about having Elias’s children. I just didn’t want one right now. Not when Elias had so much weighing on his shoulders. When he still hadn’t accepted his father’s throne. When he worried about his mother and his people, and now the missing fae. I knew Elias would love any child we had together, just as he’d come to love Victoria and the other kids. That wasn’t my concern. A baby was another added responsibility. And knowing Elias, he’d want to be there for me, for the pregnancy, while also needing to be in the human realm to find his missing people. I couldn’t do that to him.
“You’re six weeks pregnant.” She eyed me carefully as she told me.
My breath caught. My heart wouldn’t stop pounding. Emotions surged inside of me. Fear, yes, but underneath was something brighter. Something warm and rising and unstoppable.
Love
“My lady?—”
“Teddy. Please call me Teddy.”
Her lips tilted up in a polite smile. “I know this isn’t the news you wanted to hear?—”
“The baby—is the baby okay?” I asked her.
“Babes,” she said, watching me carefully.
I hugged a hand to my stomach, breath wrenching from my lungs.
My eyes squeezed shut. “Babes? Plural?” I blinked at her. “As in more than one?”
Her warm smile did nothing to calm my drumming heart.
“Two babes,” she answered. “Both male, both healthy.”
Two babies, both healthy.
The sigh I let out was one of relief. I rubbed my hand over my belly where they were.
My smile came slow, almost hesitant, but when I looked down at my still-flat stomach, I beamed.
“I’m having twins,” I said.
“Two little males,” Leah confirmed.
While she kept her features neutral, I caught the flicker of excitement in her eyes. Was it for me or that two new royals would soon be born?
Twins. Two little . . .
Wait. “Two males?” I asked. “You can see the gender this early?”
“No, I can’t see it the way you’re thinking,” she explained. “Right now, your babes are little more than the size of an apple seed, but my magic lets me detect a pregnancy and identify gender as early as seven days after conception.”
My mouth hung open. “That’s an incredible gift.”
