Page 43 of Queen Takes Knights
“I know,” she whispered. “But it still feels… wrong. Wasteful. I should have taken it off.”
:I for one loved ravaging you in the fairy dress,:Daire’s words twined through our bond, rubbing fur deep inside me.:Keep it on, my queen. Let Greyson in particular see how well we feed you. And how you feed us.:
Her phone rang. She let go of my neck and I set her down gently so she could rummage through our clothes and find it. “Hello, Dr. Borcht?”
She put the phone on speaker so we could all hear. “Your Majesty, I have your results.” Even to my rock troll, the doctor sounded particularly grim.
Shara looked at me, her face paling. “And?”
“I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’m just going to give you all the facts.”
“Okay.”
“You’re not half-human, Your Majesty.”
Her mouth fell open. “What?”
“You’re not half-human. There’s no way that Alan Dalton could be your biological father.”
Shara sat down on the edge of the bed. “Oh.” She swallowed hard, her eyes filling with tears. “He died to keep me safe. He put me on his shoulders to get me away from the monsters. And he wasn’t even my father? Then who is?”
“There’s no way for me to know at this point, other than to say that part of your DNA is Aima, and the other part is… not. At least not exactly. And not human, either. I have suspicions, but… it’s complicated.”
“Do you need to run more tests?”
“No,” she sighed. “Not unless you want me to test specific DNA to compare to yours to identify and rule out anyone in particular. I meant it’s complicated by what I can and cannot say.”
“Court politics.” She looked up at me, her eyes hardening. “You mean it’s something you can’t tell me.”
“I have suspicions,” she repeated. “No proof though. I can only state the facts. You are not half human. And you are not pregnant currently.”
“So she’s not in heat?” I said.
“I didn’t say that,” Dr. Borcht replied. “She’s not pregnant from the blood I tested from this afternoon. Whether she’s ovulating at this time, I can’t say. There are some very… interesting… elements in her blood. I have no way of knowing what it all means but I can speculate.”
“Tell me,” Shara’s voice rang, tight with rage and helplessness and yes, grief. It was like she’d lost her father all over again. She’s mourned for the human who’d helped raise her… and now had learned there was someone else to mourn. A father she’d never known. “At least what you can.”
“Very powerful.” Each word was rough, strangled, as though Dr. Borcht had to fight to get them out. “Feared. Too powerful. Enemies. Your mother—” She gasped, as if in pain. “Not.” She cried out and Shara clutched the phone.
“Dr. Borcht? Are you all right?”
Silence on the other end. Then a click. The line went dead.
Shara leaped to her feet. She ended the call and immediately dialed back. The call rolled directly to voice mail.
“Call Gina,” I told her, but I feared it was too late. Someone had silenced Dr. Borcht. Hopefully not permanently.
Someone didn’t want Shara to know the truth about her parentage.
“Gina, can you check on Dr. Borcht?” Shara paced back and forth at the foot of the bed. “I was talking to her, and the line went dead.”
“I’m here at the lab. Hold on. Mala? Are you all right?”
“Yes.” At Dr. Borcht’s voice, Shara closed her eyes, her shoulders relaxing. She paused the frantic steps.
“Shara was worried about you,” Gina said.
“Your Majesty,” Dr. Borcht said, taking the phone. “I’m so sorry you were worried. I was…” Her voice thinned, her breathing labored. “Overcome.”
