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She doesn’t let him answer. She spins in his arms and kisses him again, pressing her body against him. He moans into the kiss and it’s one that I feel in my bones because I’ve heard him make that sound while making love to me, and this all feels too, too real. When she breaks it off again, she turns to look at me, her eyes blazing with lust and triumph.
Ellie doesn’t look at Essos. She just keeps her eyes on me. I’m not prepared when she pulls her hand back and punches me in the jaw so hard the chair rocks to the side. I don’t fall, and I’m glad. There is a binding circle on the floor around me so I can’t jump from the space we’re in. It’s to sell that I’m here against my will, but I need her to step into it. We’ve made the space around me the Hotel California; you can drop in, but you can never leave, at least, not magically. The flick of her blood onto the border of it coded it specially to her.
“She finally let a healer come to look at the baby and I realized I’ve been had.” Essos’s hard tone holds accusation as he glares at me. He moves toward me, pulling the crown from my head. I’m already seeing stars from the punch, so his pulling a few strands of hair barely registers. He holds the tiara out to her almost reverently.
“You’ve learned what a whore she is? I told the Council the truth. She and Galen slept together and she just tried to cover it up.” Ellie sounds meek and apologetic, but vengeance dances in her eyes as she takes the crown, setting it on her head without hesitation. I’m glad it’s one of my least favorite crowns because I’m not sure I can ever wear it again.
“It would seem that the bastard that grows in her womb is not mine.”
I hate the layer of pain in his voice when he says this. The baby kicks furiously at this, like she can hear and objects to what he’s saying. We’re both trying to convince ourselves that this isn’t an act to sell this to Ellie, and I can only hope we can escape this unscathed. Just hearing him talk like this is dragging up a lot of bad feelings, and we’ve crossed the line where my tears are not just for show. His hand fists in my hair and he tugs my head back, exposing my throat. Other than the initial tug, he’s barely pulling.
“Do it,” she urges when she spies the dagger in his hands.
Essos presses the flat side against my throat, and I want to cough. Ellie is so focused on me, she doesn’t feel the bindings that are growing up her legs, ready to encase her.
“I want to hear her plead for mercy,” Essos taunts viciously, and I feel the blade between my cheek and the gag. The fabric tears easily, but the zing of pain tells me he’s nicked me.
Ellie takes a step closer. If he were actually going to slit my throat, she would be coated in my blood, and I think that’s what she wants.
“Fuck you both,” I snarl. Since I can’t see it, I don’t know that he has the blade to my throat again, so when I struggle, I feel it slice my skin. It’s not deep, I can feel that much, but the blood there only serves to rile Ellie up. And then she’s in my circle, and it’s too late for her now.
I feel the chair being dragged back as soon as she’s fully in and I tighten my fist so the bindings lock around her. Essos drops the fake dagger and kicks it away immediately before kneeling in front of me.
“Are you all right?” he demands, cupping my face, checking my chin and my neck. The wounds are superficial, already healing. Ellie, confused, tries to take a step forward, only to find that she’s trapped.
“What the fuck?” she screeches, but we both ignore her.
Essos works first on my hands so we can both untie my ankles. When I’m completely free, his lips crash into mine for an all-consuming kiss. I start crying in earnest while holding him to my face, and it’s not cute, but I’m like an exposed nerve. I’m hurting all over and not in a physical way. I need Essos to hold me, and rock me, and soothe me. I knew going into this that it would be difficult, but I never expected to feel like this, so worthless.
I melt into him, ignoring the tantrum Ellie is throwing from her new cage. When we come up for air, I rise on shaky legs.
“I’m all right,” I assure him.
“You fat fucking slut!” Ellie screams at me, and I can only snort at her.
“I’m pregnant, you asshole.” It is taking all my strength to not to scream at her or attack her, though I would be in my right to. Essos pulls me to his chest, his hand cupping the back of my neck.
“Yeah, with Galen’s baby. She’s a fucking liar. Galen told me that even before he killed her, they were sleeping together. He told me he only did it because she wouldn’t leave you. They had a plan to try to get pregnant and pass the kid off as yours. That’s all this is! An extension of that plan.” Ellie is coming undone as she rants at us. She’s moments away from actually pulling her hair out because there is nothing she can do to escape.
“Shut your mouth or I’ll shut it for you… Again,” I sneer.
The doors open and in comes the cavalry. Xavier has his hands shoved in his pockets, and Cat’s dress looks mildly askew, but now isn’t the time for questions. We agreed that it’s in everyone’s best interest if Tink and Callie remain our ace in the hole, so they are out of sight.
Galen, however, strolls in like he’s on our side, copying his older brother with his hands in his pockets as well. When Ellie turns and sees him, she lets out an ear-splitting scream.
“What are you doing here?” Ellie demands, slamming her tiny, ineffectual fists on the invisible force around her.
“I’m choosing the winning side,” he says pointedly.
Ellie turns around the room, glancing from person to person before she turns to Essos, a mixture of disappointment and hope on her face. Even after everything, she thinks he will pick her.
“That’s not your baby,” she warns him before placing a flat palm on the invisible barrier. “It’s not too late for us. Let me show you what a true queen can be.”
Essos glances up at her long enough to call my tiara to him, off her head. “I know what a true queen is. I’m married to one.” He presses a kiss to the crown of my head before smoothing the tiara back where it belongs. I guess I will be wearing it one more time before I cast it into the surface of the sun.
“I can guarantee this child is my husband’s.” I smooth my hand with my rings over my stomach, not just because I need the calming reassurance of her presence, but because I need to settle my nerves. The adrenaline dump in my stomach makes me want to vomit, but I refuse to show that weakness in front of Ellie.
Essos places his hand over mine, and it does just enough to soothe my ragged emotions.
