Page 47 of Gambling with Time

“But–”

“We’ve known about Nyx’s children’s prophecy for some time. Once it was set in motion, there was little we could do to stop it. Believe me, I tried.” My father smiled lovingly at my mother when she smacked him.

“He did try. Meddling more than my own mother.”

“Who do you think I learned it from?” he replied. I observed as he tangled his fingers with hers. They still acted like newlyweds on their honeymoon sometimes.

The confession should make me angry. Not that he knew of the prophecy but that he meddled, because I already knew the first and had pieced together the latter. But it didn’t. I understood my father in a way I hadn’t before.

“You didn’t want me to be the ruler?”

“It is a heavy responsibility. I wanted you to live your life,” he sighed.

“He will have his chosen family with him. And with the little one on the way, it will grow to be a big happy family.”

The blood drained from my head, leaving me lightheaded and dizzy. Little one? “What?” I croaked.

The smile dropped from my mom’s face as she realized she had overshared. But it was too late, I heard her. Samantha was going to have a baby.

“My dear boy,” she started.

“I–I have to go–” I said. The chair almost tipped backward with the force of my shooting to my feet. I ignored her calls behind me, the single-minded thought pushing me back to the others.

Cerberus trotted along beside me, his tongues hanging out happily. Flowers trailed behind us as my power spiraled. How could I protect her and have a new life inside of her? She would need to stay here. We would fight the battle.

The thoughts didn’t feel right. Still, they flooded my head. I slipped soundlessly into the bedroom, Cer by my side this time. He settled on the rug next to the bed as I stared down at the four of them sleeping peacefully without the knowledge I had.

Instead of joining them in the large bed, I sank to the couch, my gaze fixed on the blank TV. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, but the darkness fled and the sun started to rise before they started to stir. Samantha was the first out of the pile of bodies, and she padded over to the bathroom on bare feet.

When she emerged, she sat down next to me. “Are you okay?” She sat facing me, her knee drawn up between us, and concern marred her beautiful face.

I reached out, smoothing her brow. “I’m fine. I couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to disturb you.”

The ever-slight tightness around her mouth and the narrowing of her eyes said she would have wanted to be disturbed.

“You need your rest.”

I wasn’t sure how to proceed. There were so many questions and no answers. Did she already know? Or would I be revealing something she didn’t know? And if she did know…why was it kept from us?

“You do too. What is bothering you?”

“At first it was my powers, they are strong, stronger even than my father.”

“But now?” She tangled her fingers with mine and pressed a soft kiss to my knuckles.

“Something my mother said.” I dragged in a deep breath, it filled my lungs and gave me the resolve I needed to continue. “She said my future with my chosen family was going to be happy.”

“That sounds like a good thing,” she laughed.

“It is. But she also said–” I swallowed hard. “She said–”

It caught in my throat. I wouldn’t be the one to tell her that our lives were going to change.

Bellamy dropped down next to Sam; he leaned forward and whispered something into the shell of her ear. Her hand dropped to her stomach, and her eyes went wide as they snapped to mine. Her lips parted on an inhale.

A smile played over her face, not quite taking hold, as if she was unsure if it was the time to smile or not. “She isn’t wrong.”

My chest constricted the same it had the night before. With added weight, because she knew and hadn’t told me, but Bellamy knew.

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