Page 3 of Pregnant With Their Babes

“If you don’t show yourself, I’ll have to tell your father. I know you’re unhappy with his plans, and I sense you think to run away from the castle… but Idoubtyou really want the Draugar after you, now do you?”

The Draugar? That’s a bit much.His father wouldn’t really send the undead army out to stop him. Llyr frowned, unsure.Would he?

Prawnsby added to his earlier threat. “Do you wish to embarrass your father? And with Prince Alphonse and his parents here, too?”

At the mention of the deathly Draugar, panic had churned in his gut—but as soon as he heard Alphonse’s name, he slid farther behind the barrel hiding him, regardless of his fear. His father thought to marry him off to Prince Alphonse to strengthen the bonds between Aegeaus and Atlantia. He refused to be a political pawn—moved into play and bargained off to some tyrant in the making nearly ten years his junior. He refused to marry a child, especially a child as awful as Alphonse.

He still pulled bits of sticky tar from his hair and swore he could taste the muck Alphonse had added to his toothpaste. Those were only the latest of the little terror’s pranks. Llyr wouldn’t sign up for a lifetime of that torment. Or worse.

There was only one way out—and that wasup.

On the surface.

The place his father had always demanded he never go.

He clutched the coin purse he’d fished from its hiding place, hoping it would be enough to buy the spell he needed from the Enchantress.

“I know you’re in here, Llyr,” Prawnsby scolded, still searching behind barrel after barrel. It was only a matter of time before he’d be caught and his dreams of running away shattered.

Unless I make a swim for it.

Llyr tightened the cord of the coin purse before shooting out from behind the cask and swimming toward the open door. Water sluiced over his body as he jetted along, leaving a wake behind him. He sped past Prawnsby and out into the passage. Not stopping, he was barely to the next corner when he heard his keeper screaming behind him.

Giving the seahorse one last glance, his gut clenched. A last heartbeat of doubt. The surface held many unknown threats, and he would be hurtling headfirst toward that strange and wonderful world. He had little knowledge of humans—only from the wrecks he’d snuck out to visit and stories he’d gotten from Ryland. From his father, he’d heard different stories about how violent and dangerous humans were—but then he’d seen violence amongst his own kind, too. Were they and humans really so different from one another?

There was only one way to find out.

I must escape. No matter the consequences.Llyr sped off toward a secret exit he and Ryland had used many times before. As he traveled the long hallway, he noticed a guard posted outside the spot he’d been using for months to sneak out.Damn it!

But then fortune smiled on him. As he neared, he saw it was Ryland. Propelling himself forward, Llyr prayed that friendship would serve him now when it meant the most.

Ryland seized his arm as he neared. “Whoa, whoa there… aren’t you supposed to have a chaperone when leaving the castle, Your Highness?”

Llyr scowled. Since becoming a guard, his friend had changed. Gone were their adventures. Now Ryland followed the rules when Llyr needed them broken most. “Ry… Ineedto get out of here. Please help.”

“Your father would have my scales, and you know it. He posted me here himself and told me not to let you leave.”

Llyr frowned. “Did you tell them I could escape here?”

Ryland appeared guilty. “Not in those terms. It’s a means that could be exploited by those wishing to harm you and your family. Ihadto speak up.”

Llyr backed away, stunned. “Ry… my one way out.”

Ryland frowned. “It was foryour safety, Llyr.”

“Stop him!” Prawnsby squawked as he finally reached the other end of the hall. “Stop him!”

“I’m a virtual prisoner inmy own home… about to be wed to a nine-year-old monster and taken as far as possible fromeverythingI know, to live in an ocean I do not know.Please. Help me.”

He realized Ryland’s hands were tied. Llyr saw the desire to help in his friend’s eyes, but also the need to remain loyal to his king. He slanted his gaze away, knowing he asked too much of the merman. His freedom could mean Ryland’s imprisonment.

“Hit me.”

Llyr’s head whipped up. “What?”

“Hit me…hard. Give me a good wallop.” Ryland grasped his shoulders. “Then swim faster than you’veeverswum before.”

It took a few seconds for Ryland’s words to kickstart his brain. He reeled his arm back. His fist struck Ryland’s cheek before the guard went flying through the water. Llyr slipped into the labyrinth a few beats before Prawnsby reached them. A labyrinth he knew like the back of his hand. He could swim the maze with his eyes closed. Driving through the water, he needed as much distance between him and his keeper as possible. After a moment, he glanced over his shoulder.

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