Page 16 of Fake Fae-Ancée

"I am, I totally am, I just found out," Lily continued. „I’ve been late for two weeks, but blamed it on all the stress lately, with the wedding coming up and my mother going ballistic about everything. And this morning I was super nauseous, so I sneaked off to the pharmacy at the crack of dawn before everyone showed up and the prep would start and…"

She gestured behind her. On the tiled floor, right next to the sink, lay three little plastic test sticks. I craned my arm to pick one up. I had little to no idea what they read — such problems would never affect me and I had never been concerned with the specifics of pregnancy tests — but they all had a thick red X on the test window. Apparently that meant something had worked.

"Holy shit, Lily," I muttered, test stick trembling in my hand. "But… that's no reason to cry, is it? You always wanted to have kids..."

She bore her gaze in mine, a frantic edge in her voice. "I can't tell him, can I? And I can't marry him without telling him! I can't do that!"

"Who, Claudio?" I tilted my head.

My best friend from childhood days was a bad-tempered bastard. But never with Lily. Those two made each other so happy it almost gave you diabetes.

"Why can't you just tell him?"

Lily sank against the bathtub. "I can’t. If I tell him, he'll turn pale and get that weird look, and then he'll turn on his heel and walk away and I'll be standing there in front of the altar in a horribly expensive dress, and everyone will be staring and feeling sorry for me and…"

"Hey, stop."

Lily blinked as I snapped her out of her panic trance.

"I promise you that none of this will happen. Just because some idiot left you at the altar years ago doesn't mean it will happen a second time around."

"But..."

"You're right that you should tell Claudio. If only because he’ll have to keep all the champagne glasses away from you until the day is over. But I promise you one thing: he'll be over the moon!"

She sniffed. "You think…?"

"He'll probably pass out first and need a schnapps or two," I said, putting Lily's hand in mine. "But of course he'll be happy. You’re going to be a mommy. And he’s… going to be a daddy!"

As I said it, it hit me like a punch in the stomach and tears stung my eyes. My best friends were going to be parents…

"You don't have to worry about any of that,"my aunt Gytha’s voice suddenly sneered in the back of my mind."The only good thing your useless parents ever did was making sure this curse ends with you."

I swatted her away, but my throat was a painful, thick rope all of a sudden.

"And you think he'll be happy?" whispered Lily.

I swallowed, forcing a smile. "Of course, silly! He’s a moron, but he loves you."

"I know, I know..."

I hugged her tightly and Lily cried some more, but then calmed down enough for me to help her up. However, my own eyes were prickling and the floor seemed to undulate beneath my feet. My throat was so tight I almost couldn’t breathe.

They don’t need you anymore.

Kai

The shaky bridetold her news, and while Sarah and Charly squealed with delight and Jennifer, to everyone's surprise, burst into tears, I slipped away and into my room, pulling the door shut behind me.

I fell face first onto my unmade bed. Despite the little drama I had just solved, my thoughts immediately took off in the direction of Kalinin like a herd of panic-stricken unicorns. What had he done to me? What had happened to my powers? What if they never came back?

Okay, okay, calm down.

I took a deep breath, held it while counting to ten and let it slowly out. My head throbbed but the surging panic faded into the background — at least for the moment.

I had to think. Analyze my situation. Check my resources. What was going on? What the hell were my freaking options?

I couldn’t think of any.

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