Pregnant for the Alpha and Vampire

Chapter 12 The Two Kinds of Siblings

Furia startled so badly that she nearly cried out, but the hand over her mouth pressed harder and a familiar voice whispered in her ear, “It is me, be quiet.” She recognized Rhys immediately and stopped struggling, and he slowly removed his palm from her lips while pulling her deeper into the shadows between the buildings.

“What are you doing?” she hissed while turning to face him, but he pressed a finger to his own lips and pointed toward the street. She followed his gaze and saw a man in black clothing walking slowly along the edge of the road, his head turning from side to side as if he was looking for something. The man moved with a strange silence, and his face was hidden beneath a hood, so she could not tell if he was young or old or something else entirely.

Rhys and Furia looked at each other, and neither of them dared to speak or move because the man was too close and the shadows were too thin. The man stopped for a moment and tilted his head, and Furia felt the locket grow warm against her chest. Then, in the next second, the man was gone, not walking away but simply vanishing as if he had never been there at all.

Rhys exhaled slowly and stepped back from the wall, and he ran a hand through his hair while looking at the empty street. “I need to tell Father,” he said while turning toward the house. “He will take it to the Council, and they will send someone to search the area.”

Furia grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Why were we hiding from that man?” she asked while searching his face. “If he was a threat, why did we not run or call for help?”

Rhys went quiet and looked down at his boots, and his jaw tightened while he seemed to struggle with something he did not want to say. He finally looked up at her and spoke with his voice low. “Let us just go home,” he said, and he pulled her toward the gate without another word.

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They had barely stepped through the front door when a servant approached Furia and bowed his head. “My lord requests your presence in his study immediately,” the man said while gesturing toward the hallway.

Furia glanced at Rhys, but he only shook his head and looked away, so she walked down the corridor with her heart pounding and her hands clasped behind her back. She entered the study and found Celeste sitting in one of the chairs near the window, while the baker's daughter sat across from her with her eyes fixed on the floor. Lord Theron was behind his desk with his fingers steepled and his face carved from stone.

Celeste looked up and smiled, a sharp and satisfied smile. “There you are,” she said while crossing her legs. “I was just telling Father about your little adventure earlier this afternoon.”

Furia felt confusion wash over her because she had only gone to the market to fetch items for Lady Marguerite, and she had not been on any adventure. “What are you talking about?” she asked while keeping her voice steady. “I went to the market for thread and salt, and then I came straight home.”

Celeste laughed and shook her head. “Just admit it,” she said while looking at their father. “You were seen.”

“Seen doing what?” Furia asked, and her voice rose despite herself. “I have done nothing wrong.”

Lord Theron slammed his hand on the desk and the sound cracked through the room like thunder. “Enough,” he said while pointing at Furia. “Where were you this afternoon?”

Furia met his gaze and spoke clearly. “I was getting items for Lady Marguerite at the market. I went to Pell's stall for thread and to the merchant for salt, and then I walked home. That is all.”

Celeste leaned forward in her chair. “You could have used that time to go on your adventure,” she said while tilting her head. “The market is close to the old chapel, after all.”

Lord Theron ignored his daughter and turned to the baker's daughter. “Repeat what you told me,” he said while folding his arms across his chest.

The baker's daughter kept her eyes on the floor and spoke with her voice trembling. “I witnessed miss Furia at the old dilapidated chapel this afternoon, my lord. She was speaking to a man I could not recognize, and they appeared to exchange something. I could not see what it was.” She paused and swallowed. “Celeste was with me at the time, and she saw it too.”

Lord Theron waved his hand toward the door. “You may go,” he said, and the baker's daughter rose quickly and left without looking at Furia.

Furia stood in the center of the study with her hands shaking and her chest tight, and she knew that no one would believe her even though she had done nothing wrong because the implications of being seen with a man away from scrutiny before the Claiming Night were devastating. “That is a lie,” she said while looking at her father. “I was never near any chapel, and I spoke to no man.”

“Then where were you?” Celeste asked with her smile still in place.

“I told you,” Furia said. “I was at the market.”

Celeste shrugged. “That does not mean you did not go to the chapel first.”

Furia turned to her father. “Ask Rhys,” she said while spreading her hands. “He met me on my way home. He can tell you that I was coming straight from the market.”

Lord Theron called for Rhys, and her stepbrother entered the study a moment later with his face pale and his hands at his sides. “Did you see Furia this afternoon?” Lord Theron asked while looking at Rhys.

Rhys glanced at Furia and then back at their father. “I met her when she was done and almost on her way home,” he said while keeping his voice careful.

Lord Theron's jaw tightened, and he looked at Furia with cold eyes. “That does not help you,” he said while turning to the servants standing by the door. “Search her. If she is hiding something, I want to find it.”

Celeste sat back in her chair with her arms folded and a look of barely contained joy on her face because she had seen the locket on Furia's neck for weeks, and she knew that their father never paid enough attention to notice, and now Rhys's words could not save her. Rhys stepped forward and opened his mouth to protest, but Lord Theron raised a hand and silenced him. “Do not interfere,” he said while pointing at Rhys. “This does not concern you.”

The servants stepped forward and grabbed Furia's arms, and she did not resist because she knew that resisting would only make it worse. They pulled at her dress and turned out her pockets, and one of them reached for her neck and pulled the chain of the locket free from beneath her shift. He held it up, and the silver caught the candlelight, and the room went very still.

Lord Theron rose from his desk and took the locket from the servant's hand. He turned it over and looked at the back, then looked at Furia. “Where did you get this?” he asked while holding it up to the light.

Furia opened her mouth to answer, but the words would not come because she could not explain the locket properly without mentioning the chemist and the pregnancy and everything she had been trying to hide. “I found it,” she said, but her voice was weak and unconvincing.

Lord Theron's hand came across her face with a c***k that sent her stumbling back, and she pressed her palm against her burning cheek while her vision blurred with tears she refused to shed. “You will tell me the truth eventually,” he said while slipping the locket into his coat pocket. He turned to the servants and pointed toward the door. “Lock her in her room. She will stay there until tomorrow, when she goes to the Council headquarters. Then I will decide what to do with her.”

The servants took her arms and pulled her out of the study and up the stairs, and she heard the key turn in the lock behind her with a sound that was final in a way she had never heard anything be final before. She sat on her bed with her hand pressed against her cheek and her chest empty where the locket had been, and she did not know how she would survive what was coming next.

Lord Theron dismissed Celeste and Rhys and closed the door of his study behind them. He reached into his coat pocket to retrieve the locket, and his fingers felt nothing.