Free Kings: Chaos Book 5.5 by Claire Farrell Page A

should end the pregnancy, Sorcha.”
    “She’s wrong,” Sorcha said.
    He barely recognised her. Not because of her appearance, but because of how defensive she was of the pregnancy.
    “You don’t have anything to prove,” he said.
    “I’m not trying to. I just believe that the child will be born safely.”
    “At a cost to you.”
    “I don’t care. This child will be born.”
    “But it’s a risk to you,” he said. “Don’t you understand?”
    “You’ll be free of me then,” she said, pouting like a child.
    “Stop that.”
    “I don’t want to let go of this,” she admitted. “It’s a boy, Drake. A son. That’s why it’s so much trouble for me. Banshees only ever birth daughters.”
    A boy. What kind of son could he raise? “Then a daughter may come in the future. End this before it’s too late.”
    “No,” she said stubbornly.
    “I don’t understand why. Children are distasteful to you.”
    “Other people’s children are distasteful,” she said coldly. “I can feel this one, and it’s changing me. I don’t know why, but there’s something about being linked to another being by blood, a being who doesn’t know anything about power or loyalty. It just is . It’s alive. It’s… different. He’s ours .”
    “Would a sacrifice help you?” he asked.
    “I don’t want Death near him,” she said, sounding panicky.
    “I don’t understand you anymore,” he said. “Are you trying to be contrary?”
    She stared upward then finally nodded. “A sacrifice may help me. Death will boost me, but it may not last long.”
    “Good,” he said. “I need you back on your feet before Donella causes even more damage.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll leave you be.”
    She gripped his hand before he could walk away. “Can’t you love me? Even a little? Can’t you want me to live because you can’t bear the thought of me dead?”
    He flinched. She had never spoken those words before. He could even imagine that she still detested him. Not anymore. Not when she spoke like that.
    “Don’t,” he said. “You knew my heart was already taken when we made a deal to marry.”
    “Was it?” Her voice grew unsteady. “Or are you just saying that to give yourself an excuse to shut yourself off?”
    He met her gaze. “You understood how it had to be. Besides, husbands and wives who love one another don’t make good kings and queens. You’re the one who told me that.”
      “I didn’t force you to marry me,” she whispered.
    “You may as well have,” he said bitterly. “I warned you that I wouldn’t let you forget the things you had done.”
    “Accept your side,” she said. “I know you. I see through you. You sent Cara away because you feared you had already lost her to Brendan. You wanted him to lose, to punish them both because you saw how they were together. You knew you couldn’t compete.”
    “Stop it.”
    “We all saw her falling for him. You couldn’t bear to watch her love him, so you sent her from everything she wanted. I’m not the cruel one here. I’m not—”
    He made a sound of disgust and tried to leave, but she clung on to him, desperation in her eyes.
    “Drake, please . I’m the one who gave you everything I had. I haven’t given up on you once. I saw something in you, a strength Brendan didn’t possess, and I… And Cara … Everyone knows she’s moved on. Why can’t you?”
    “I said, stop!” he bellowed, his voice full of pain and rage.
    She shrank back against her pillow, dropping his hand. “All right.”
    He felt disgusting, like a monster, an animal, but he walked away and left her there anyway. “Get back inside,” he ordered the group who were waiting patiently beyond the door. “You,” he said, addressing his bodyguard. “It’s time for court. Be on your guard.”
    And as he walked away, he fervently prayed for his fingers to stop trembling.

    ***

    The court was full. It seemed as though everyone in the castle had bundled into that one,