Free Claimed by the Elven King: Part Three by Cristina Rayne

CHAPTER ONE
     
     
    The three elven women found me sitting stiffly at my dressing table, a
brush in hand and staring off into space as though deep in thought when the
truth was my performance had already begun. It was only sheer will that was
keeping my nausea down to a manageable level at this point. I knew there was no
way I would be able to eat breakfast without puking right now, so rather than
force myself to try, I needed to show them my very real anxiety of meeting
Sethian again after such a long absence.
    The best lies were the half-truths we told.
    One of them placed a hesitant hand on my shoulder, and I purposely
jumped a little before slowly turning to face them.
    “Is everything all right, Emily?” Lariel asked, a slight frown already
beginning to stretch her lips.
    I nodded and gave her a tiny smile. “It’s nothing. I’m just being silly,
really.”
    “About…?” Rinwen prodded, her eyes briefly darting to first my hands,
then to my midsection.
    I cringed inside. She always did that whenever the subject of my
imminent pregnancy came up. It was like she expected me to inadvertently give
my pregnancy status away by cradling my belly or rubbing it or something. I was
beginning to suspect that she was even more excited about the prospect of a
royal baby than even the baby-obsessed Lariel.
    “About seeing my lord husband again,” I replied with a sheepish shrug.
“I haven’t seen him in so long, so…” I looked down with what I hoped was a shy
expression and shrugged again.
    “Ah,” Saeria said sagely. “It’s easy to forget that you are still very
young, even by human standards. Come. You will feel better after you have eaten
something.”
    The mere mention of food made my stomach turn, and I quickly shook my
head. “I tried eating some grapes earlier, but I really don’t have an appetite
this morning. Let’s just have some tea and chat out on the balcony. I could use
some fresh air.”
    “Are you sure you are all right?” Rinwen persisted. Was that suspicion
in her eyes? “Your face looks a little pale this morning…”
    My throat tightened briefly in panic. Why was it always the quiet ones
who caused all the trouble?
    “If you are not feeling well, just tell us,” Lariel added, a grin
suddenly threatening to split her face in two even as her eyes lit up as if the
sun had just risen within them. “Don’t feel as though you have to keep quiet
until you see His Majesty this evening. I promise we won’t tell him that you
told us first. He probably even expects it.”
    For a split-second, I stared back at Lariel in shock before I covered
my face in my hands with a groan and exclaimed through my fingers, “It’s not
what you think! I’m just—” My mind was suddenly coming up quite empty on
excuses, nearly causing me to have a full-blown anxiety attack right then and
there until one thankfully popped into my head before my pause could become too
awkward. “—just scared to see him again!”
    “Scared?” Lariel echoed, sounding utterly surprised as she gently, but
firmly pulled my hands away from my face. She kneeled down before me and
squeezed my hands between her own. “Whatever is there to be scared about?”
    “That he’s changed his mind about me,” I blurted out in my panic and
wished at once I could take it back. That was one truth I had never wanted
anyone to know, least of all the three women before me.
    Lariel sucked in a sharp breath. “Why would he do that?”
    “I’m just an ordinary human,” I answered miserably.
    If I was going to stick my foot in my mouth, might as well swallow the
whole leg and be done with it. The way my stomach was churning right now with
more than just morning sickness, I would probably just puke it up later,
anyway.
    “I can’t for the life of me understand why an elven king chose me out of billions of other human women to have his children. What if the reason
why he’s stayed away for so long is that he’s having second thoughts