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“Hey!” The voice on the other side of the door was chipper and familiar. “It’s Kinley! We had a quick dress fitting this morning, remember?”
I scrunched my forehead, realizing how disoriented I was. I reached over to the nightstand next to the bed, grabbing my phone to see that it was a couple of minutes after nine and I’d slept in.
“Hold on!” I threw on a robe and stepped into some slippers before going to the door and opening it. Sure enough, Kinley was there, her dress rack next to her, an expression of concern on her face that suggested she knew something was wrong.
“Everything alright in here?” she asked.
“Yeah. I think. Come on in.”
With concern still on her face, she wheeled the rack into the room and pushed it to the side.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you seem a little under the weather.”
Part of me wanted to lie, to tell her that I was fine. Instead, I felt the urge to come clean with it all.
“I woke up feeling crappy,” I said, running my hand through my hair. “Kind of sick, but then it went away. And my head’s pounding.”
“Oh no! Do you think you might be coming down with something?”
“I’ve been feeling kind of off over the last few days.”
Kinley shut the door before taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “Offhow?”
“Like sick, but not in a way I’ve ever been sick before. Headaches, nausea, but not nearly as bad as this morning.”
Kinley smiled, as if she’d just thought of the answer. “I bet I know what it is… stress! You’re going through so much right now, you know? What, with the ball and naming ceremony approaching, and everything happening with your father—you ask me, it’s remarkable that you’ve held it together so well.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I don’t think that’s it.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’ve been having other symptoms. Like, these cramps that are letting me know my period’s starting, but it hasn’t yet.”
“Thatisstrange.” She placed her fingertip on her chin, cocking her head to the side as she thought it all over. “You know, it sounds like what was going on with Eliza on the cleaning staff.”
“Really? Like recently? A bug going around or something?”
She shook her head. “She was having nausea and headaches and strange cravings, you know, time of the month stuff.”
“And what did it end up being?”
Kinley smiled. “You’ll never guess—she was pregnant! Turns out that she’d been having liaisons with Marcus, one of the king’s drivers. He quit his job, of course, and they’re a month away from a little girl. So, any possibility that you could be…”
She stopped, realizing what she was about to say. My mouth was hanging open, my eyes wide as I processed what Kinley was telling me.
“No, it couldn’t be that” she said. “It could be that you’re, you know, simply sick. Yes, that’s most likely it.” She cleared her throat and stiffened her back, as if she could just put the matter back into the bottle.
I was too stunned to speak.
“Besides!” she plopped her hands onto her lap. “How could you even be pregnant without being involved with anyone?”
“Shit,” I said, the realization hitting me.
“What is it?” Kinley almost looked afraid of the answer.
“Well, do you remember when I brought up Luc a little while ago?”
“Yes…” Her eyes flashed as she put it all together. “No! I don’t believe it!” Then, as if in spite of herself, she smiled and leaned in. “The two of you have beentogether?”
