He picked up his phone, and made a call. “I must arrange for a paternity test to be done at the palace. In utero… Yes… Thank you.”
He hung the phone up and she simply sat there, looking straight ahead, refusing to meet his eye.
For all that she felt powered by her anger now, she also felt so sorry for herself. And pity wasn’t usually an emotion that she let herself feel. But this could’ve been different. And it was a mystery to her why nobody in her life treated her like she mattered, treated her like she could be trusted. There was nothing she could do about it. She couldn’t make people care about her. She couldn’t make…
He wasn’t different. He was the same. It was a short drive to the palace, and one she knew well. But she didn’t typically get delivered right to the front doors, and she was never ushered through them. She went through the servants’ entrance. And as they went through those doors, she was stunned when they were rushed by Elizabeth, and by Princess Emerald.
“Onyx, what are you doing?”
“Your Highness, I beg of you.”
Onyx stopped, and looked at both his servant and his sister. “This is none of either of your business.” His gaze landed on Elizabeth especially hard. “You are speaking out of turn.”
“I’ve known you since you were a child,” she said. “And I believed a certain thing about you. About your honor. You have disgraced it with Birdie. She is a lovely girl. And I’ve watched over her since she first came to the palace, as I watched over you. I’m not speaking out of turn. I’m speaking as someone who watched you grow into the man you are. And I’m uncertain how you became this version of yourself.”
“You are dismissed,” Onyx said.
Elizabeth held his gaze, then turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Birdie standing there, her heart pounding. “She cares for me,” Birdie said. “I don’t want her to face any consequences for—”
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
“But I am,” Emerald said, moving to Birdie’s side. She never had much interaction with Princess Emerald, and was surprised that she was taking up her cause now. “What exactly are you doing?”
“This is something I have to figure out myself,” Onyx said.
“You’re unraveling,” Emerald said. “Storming some woman’s house and dragging her back here? She’s not a prisoner.”
“For all intents and purposes at the moment, she is. And when I need your input, I’ll ask for it.”
“I am furious at you,” Emerald said.
“I’ll survive,” Onyx responded.
And with that, swept Birdie through the entry, and up the stairs toward his study. It didn’t take long for clinicians to arrive after that. There was an explanation of how the fetal DNA would be collected, and Birdie felt a rush of anxiety as she was prepped for the procedure.
She had agreed to this. In fact, it had been her idea. Because she wasn’t going to argue with him. She wasn’t going to justify herself. She certainly wasn’t going to admit that she had been a trembling virgin when he had taken her. Because it said too much about her own feelings for him, and while she hadn’t been embarrassed about them before, she was now. Because he had taken something lovely and turned it into something vile. She didn’t care for it in the least.
Once the procedure was done, neither of them spoke.
“It will take a few hours to process the results.”
“As soon as they’re ready, let me know.”
And then they were left there, just the two of them, in the study where she normally served him.
“There is nothing to do but wait,” he said. “You will be shown to your bedroom.”
“What’s the point of giving me a bedroom? Why don’t you just throw me in the dungeon?”
“It’s a possibility.”
“Do you know what I’m looking forward to?” she asked. “It’s you finding out the results of the test. Because I already know what they are. And here is a fun bit of information for you. What you’re going to discover is that I didn’t do anything to you. You have fashioned me into an adversary because you find the truth of what you did to be inconvenient. You’re the villain. I’m not. I was a servant who walked into your library after your wife’s funeral. I offered you comfort. You wanted sex. I gave it to you. I’m a servant, and you’re a king, could I have denied you? I made no move to hide my identity. You simply didn’t recognize me. And now you’re treating me like I set out to trick you. This is a betrayal of your own making. But yes. I’m happy to be shown to my room now.”
He waved a hand, and then went and opened up his study door. “Will you please show the lady to her quarters.”
Andrei was standing outside looking stone-faced. And he led her out of the study, up the stairs, and she said nothing as he held the door open for her, and ushered her into a lushly appointed bedroom. “I hope your wife doesn’t make you sleep on the couch tonight,” Birdie said.
Andrei lifted a brow. “You have quite the attitude.”
