“I was trying to do the right thing,” I told him. “I was doing the right thing—”
“I stood there, trying to process that someone had almost killed you and my child,” he cut me off. “And in the midst of watching you nearly die and being unable to do a damn thing, I realized that the only reason Kalen knew to tell you not to drink any more of that soda was because he knew that you were pregnant.”
“I’m sorry. He wasn’t supposed to know. He overheard me telling Tink—”
“I know.” He faced me. “He knew. So did Tanner. So did Faye. Are there any more who are sworn to be loyal to me that knew you were carrying my child?”
“No. They weren’t supposed to know. I told Tink because I had to tell someone—”
“You should’ve told me, Brighton.”
“I wanted to. I did. But I thought that if you knew, it would be harder for us to do the right thing—”
“Doing the right thing never should’ve included you keeping the fact that you were pregnant with my child from me.” His eyes weren’t cool then. They burned with anger. “I get what you were trying to do. Your desire to protect my Court and others is something that I love about you, but this is different.”
“How is it different?” I tried to sit up but found it was harder than expected. Caden snatched a pillow from the counter and shoved it behind my back. “Thank you.”
“That is our child, Brighton. Not just yours. Ours.” After ensuring that I was sitting up easily, he stepped back from the bed. “And our child should matter more than everything else. That’s why it’s different.”
“I agree, Caden, that’s why I needed you to choose a Queen because I didn’t want our child to grow up in a world that was being overrun by Winter fae,” I reasoned, trying to keep my voice calm.
“I chose you as my Queen.”
“But I didn’t know that!” The heart monitor beeped loudly, earning a dangerous look from Caden. I forced myself to calm down. “I didn’t know, and I planned to tell you tonight—”
“You mean last night. You’ve been out for almost twelve hours.”
“Oh,” I whispered.
He shoved a hand through his hair again. “This isn’t the time for this conversation. You need to take it easy—”
“I am taking it easy, and there is no other time we should be having this conversation. I’m sorry, Caden. You have to believe that. I wanted to tell you. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Tink. You can even ask Tanner. I wanted—”
“Then why didn’t you tell me the moment you realized we could be together?” he asked.
“I was just overcome. I knew I should have, but my head was all over the place,” I admitted. “I thought we had time.”
“You thought wrong,” he said, and my gaze flew to his. “If I had known, I could’ve stopped what happened.”
“How?” I asked. “How could you have stopped this? If someone wants me dead, whether or not I’m pregnant won’t change that. You said this flower or whatever would’ve most likely killed me if I hadn’t been given the Summer Kiss.”
“If I had known, I would’ve made sure you weren’t given something that could’ve killed our child.”
“How? Are you going to taste everything I eat and drink?”
“Fuck, yes!” he shouted. “I would taste everything that wasn’t prepared by my hands.”
“And if I wasn’t pregnant, you would’ve been like YOLO then? Let me drink whatever?”
His eyes narrowed. “It would’ve taken a lot more than that to kill you. And no, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t or wouldn’t be worried about someone targeting you, but at least I know that you wouldn’t be easy to kill. Our child is a whole different story.”
I dragged my hand over my face, realizing then that he was a hundred percent serious about tasting my food and drink. “I…I don’t know what to say other than I understand why you’re upset. I do. And I hope you understand why I didn’t say anything. But I’m sorry, Caden. I don’t know what to say to make this better.”
Jaw working, he looked away. “Neither do I.”
My chest squeezed. “What…what does that mean?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t,” he said, and my chest clenched. “If I hadn’t told you that you being with me wouldn’t be a risk, when were you going to tell me?”
“I planned on telling you as soon as you were married—”
“So, you were going to wait until I did what? Moved on from you? Picked a fae?” He took a step toward the bed. “Did you really believe that I would just choose to be with someone else when I knew that you love me? That I would’ve just walked away?”
“Before I knew that I could be with you, that’s what I’d hoped you would do,” I admitted. “I wouldn’t have liked it. I would’ve hated it—loathed every second of it—but it was the right—”
“You can believe all you want that it was the right thing to do. Maybe on a superficial level, it was, but our child changes that. Keeping that knowledge from me was never the right thing. Not when you love me. Not when you know I love you.” He turned, his body stiff. “And the worst part of this is the fact that you really believed I would move on. That I could just happily go and marry someone else.”
“I didn’t think you’d do that happily.”
“But you told Tanner to do whatever was necessary to make sure I married a fae,” he shot back, and I stiffened. “Yes, he told me how the woman I love conspired with others to make sure I ended up with someone else while she was carrying my child.”
It felt like my heart had stopped. “I didn’t conspire. It wasn’t like that. I couldn’t risk the whole world. Not when our child would have to grow up in it.” My hand went to my stomach. “What I was trying to do doesn’t change that I love you, Caden.”
“But you didn’t love me enough to fight for me, did you? You didn’t love me enough to trust that things would be okay.” His jaw hardened. “And you sure as fuck didn’t respect me enough to tell me about our child.”
“Caden—” I started, but the door opened then, revealing Luce. “Can you give us a moment?”
“I don’t think so.” Luce was rocking one hell of a no-nonsense tone and expression. “I’ve been monitoring Brighton’s heart rate and blood pressure remotely, and I apologize, my King. I know you two have a lot to discuss, but we need to keep her heart rate and pressure stable.”
“I’m fine.”
“This is not keeping her stable,” Luce continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “And so soon after everything, this could threaten the pregnancy.”
“You’re right.” Caden folded his arms. “When do you think it will be safe to move her?”
“I think tomorrow will be fine, as long as her stats remain stable, and she’s kept as…” She glanced over at me. “Stress-free as possible.”