Tie It With a Ribbon

“What are we going to do?” I whispered, afraid someone would overhear.

He shook his head, the color finally starting to return to his face. “What choice do we have, Alena?”

“I don’t know, but you know this won’t end well! Too much is happening all at once, and how do you think everyone will take this?”

“Obviously the Leonians will be easier to get on our side. The Aquilans, well…”

“No one knows about my real father, Zanzibar. They think it’s a fifty-fifty split. And no one has to know if that doctor keeps his mouth shut. Gossip isn’t so popular anyway.”

“I think they’ll notice eventually. It’s only been a few months, but they’ll find out. And how do we know what to expect of this baby?”

“How are you two doing in there?” Cadence called, knocking gently on the door.

“The door’s not locked,” Zanzibar muttered.

“In that case, I suppose I’ll just come on in,” she told us, smiling brilliantly. When we did not return the favor, she frowned. “Well, what’s wrong?”

Zanzibar glanced to me, but I felt like I was going to be sick.

“Alena’s pregnant.”

She smiled. “And, what? It’s not yours?”

He didn’t laugh.

“I don’t understand. I thought you would be ecstatic, sweetheart?”

“That was until the thought of us having children drove someone to attempt murder.”

She jumped in her skin. “Oh, Alena! Are you alright?”

I shook my head slowly, twiddling my thumbs in my lap. “What are we supposed to do? No one is going to accept this, and I don’t want our child growing up in a world that has already condemned him! And how will the Aquilan court feel once they discover his blood? He’s more Leonian!”

“It’s a boy, then?” I frowned. “I’m sorry, I’m trying to lighten this subject.” She sat down on the edge of the bed beside me. “Sometimes the world throws us something we think we cannot handle, but Fate would not give us something It does not believe we can deal with. I know this is going to be hard, but this is a joyous occasion. A baby, darlings—you are going to have a baby.” She patted my leg gently, standing up and striding out of the room.

I noticed that a small smile crept onto Zanzibar’s face, and I could not deny him as he reached for my stomach, biting his lip as his shaky hand snaked under my shirt to touch the skin. The hesitance vanished as the small smile broadened.

“That’s mine,” he murmured, dropping onto his knees in front of me and placing a gentle kiss on my stomach, staring blissfully at the very slightly swollen sight.

“Zanzibar, how am I supposed to protect two of us?” I whispered, my voice breaking.

“I’m the one who will protect the two of you, so don’t even worry about that,” my husband insisted, catching my hand. “We don’t have to tell anyone just yet. We have time, Alena, and we don’t have to rush into this just yet. We have time.”

“We cannot control time, remember?”

He sighed and tried to speak, but I do not think he could think of the words. He stood, helping me onto my feet and guiding me to the bed, pulling down the sheets.

“How about we take a little nap, hmm? A lot has happened, and I think we need rest.”

“You won’t leave?”

He shook his head. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

Nearly the second my head hit the pillow, my mind was free to wander.

I was at the table again, but my fallen family only sat motionless, their empty stares looking right through me. It was almost as though they no longer could see me, as if I was no longer part of them…and I suppose I wasn’t. I was only a half-sister, an adopted daughter, and a suitor’s charge.

Tears spilled down my cheeks, and I collapsed into my chair, pushing my hands through my hair. But…

I pulled my hands back down…and they were coated in blood! My body trembled as I tried to form words, looking for anyone to explain this to me. What was happening?

“Zanzibar! Zanzibar, please!” I called, searching desperately for him.

The table crumbled before me, and I hurried out of the room and down the halls of my home. One-by-one the bedroom doors slammed shut, until I came to mine. I hurried inside, shrieking as it slammed behind me.

“What’s the matter, my Queen?” Alexandros asked, staring at me from the balcony. “Can I not have one last dance?”

He held out a bloody hand, waiting patiently. But he had no eyes! And his skin vanished in that instant!

“Your husband loves to torment those below him, doesn’t he? He stripped me of my lion form, but I did not mind. But then he stripped me of my own skin!”

“You’re not dead!”

“How do you know?” he whispered.

Wind whipped in through my open window, and his ashes scattered in the breeze. I ran to the balcony, looking over my burning kingdom. The buildings crumbled to ashes below me.

I jumped off the balcony, gliding down to the burnt grass. My feet carried me through the forest and past Zanzibar’s stone. I did not dare look at the ruins that remained as I hurried to the Den.

Only pale bodies remained, and Zanzibar’s brothers and sisters watched me as I hurried through the aisle they had created. Alec, Camden, Talon, and Carmen and every other nameless soldier stood perfectly still, the silence penetrating into the very air around me. It was suffocating!

And Camille… She met me as I entered the lobby, but…

“You broke your promise!” I screamed, shaking her lifeless corpse. “You promised you would return perfectly unharmed! You promised!”

“Queen of the Damned,” she whispered.

I pushed her from me, stumbling through the halls. I did not dare look at the body on the floor—the body of a young girl who so much resembled Zanzibar!

“Oh, Salina,” I sobbed, throwing my hands over my eyes as I continued to run blindly.

“Our Queen…” Grayson chanted after me, though I did not dare look at him.

“Our only hope,” Cadence breathed, no emotion whatsoever.

“Zanzibar! Please be okay!” I begged, breathless as I rushed to the coronation room.

He was sitting on his throne, and the empty chair beside him all but beckoned to me.

He looked up, his eyes full of hopelessness as he stared right through me.

“My love,” he breathed, though there was no love in his voice.

“I don’t understand! What is happening?” I panted, striding up to him.

“You mean you don’t know?”

I shook my head. “Everyone is dying!”

“Alena, you’re not making any sense. Would seeing our child make you feel better?”

“Child?” I asked, smiling. “Our child?”

He nodded, a slight smile warming his lips. He gestured to the door, and I followed his gaze.

“Damn the Heavens!” I screamed, rushing up to the bundle lying lifelessly on the floor, his blanket absorbing the blood from his tiny body. “My baby!”

I fumbled to pull him into my arms, but he simply would not stay in my embrace. I sobbed soundlessly as he slipped through my fingers yet again.

“What happened?”

He was beside me suddenly, and he grabbed my hand to pull me up. I swallowed a final sob as I looked to our entwined fingers.

“You truly are the Queen of the Damned, Alena. Didn’t we know this would happen?”

I looked up to him, and I was not affected by the blood on his face and the dagger in his chest.

He pointed to me, and I followed his direction until I was looking at my stomach. I stared hopelessly at the blade lodged in my swollen belly, and I looked up at him again.

“One was enough, they all decided. They could not have half-breed heirs, they could not have us, and they could not have you.”

“What have we done?” I asked. “What can we do?”

I gulped as a dagger pressed to my throat, and the cold steel pierced the skin.

“We can die with our country. That’s all we can do.”