The Alpha King's Surrogate

Chapter 10: Keeping My Distance

Kyra's POV

The nausea hit without warning.

One second I was sitting on the edge of the bed trying to lace my boots. The next my stomach turned so hard I barely made it to the bathroom before everything came up. All the bile, water, the little I’d forced down at dawn. My knees hit the cold tile. My fingers gripped the edge of the toilet like it was the only solid thing left in the room.

This was the third time. I was sick again, the same way I'd been sick yesterday morning, and the morning before that, my whole body turning around nothing until there was nothing left to bring up and I was just shaking, gripping the edge of the basin, sweat cold on the back of my neck.

"Kyra?" Jazmine's voice, from the other room, followed fast by a soft knock. "I heard you moving. You alright in there?"

"Am fine," I managed, which came out more like a choke.

She didn't believe me, obviously, because the door opened a moment later and she was crouching beside me before I could even wave her off, one hand gathering my hair back, the other rubbing slow circles against my spine like she'd done this a hundred times before.

"That's twice this week," she said quietly, once I'd stopped heaving long enough to breathe properly. "Third time, actually, counting Tuesday."

"I'm fine." I said again.

"You look don't look fine," She reached for a cloth, wet it at the basin, pressed it gently to the back of my neck. "You look like you've been hit by a cart, Kyra."

"It's just the morning sickness," I said. "Dr. Alyssa said it's normal this early."

"Normal doesn't mean easy." She helped me up slowly, one arm under mine, steadying me as my legs remembered how to hold weight. "Come on, sit. I'll get you something."

I sank into the chair by the window, the same one I'd been avoiding most of the morning because sitting upright too fast made the room tilt. Jazmine disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a small covered pot, steam curling from under the lid, and the smell that hit me when she lifted it was warm, broth, herbs, something that smelled like someone's grandmother's kitchen rather than palace cooking.

"I made this myself," she said, setting it down carefully in front of me. "It's not the palace kitchen's usual stuff. It's ginger, bone broth, a little mint. It settles the stomach better than anything the physicians usually prescribe. My mother swore by it."

"You didn't have to do that." I said quietly.

"I know I didn't have to." She pulled the other chair around, sitting across from me, watching me carefully as I lifted the spoon with hands that weren't entirely steady. "Small sips, don't rush it, or it'll just come right back up."

I did as she said. The broth was warm going down, gentler than I expected, and for the first time all morning my stomach didn't immediately revolt against the idea of food existing.

"Thank you," I said, once I'd managed a few spoonfuls.

"How long has this been going on?" She asked.

"Two days now, before it was manageable. Now it's..." I gestured at myself, at the washroom door still standing open behind me. "Every morning and sometimes evenings too."

"You need to tell someone," Jazmine's brow furrowed. "Have you told Dr. Alyssa it's gotten worse?"

"She checks in tomorrow." My voice cracked slightly. "I'll mention it then."

"You should have mentioned it sooner," She said."I could send word to the King, have him ask her to come earlier if you-"

"No." The word came out faster and sharper than I meant it to, and Jazmine blinked, clearly caught off guard by how quickly I'd cut her off. "No,that's...it's fine. I don't need him involved. It's just sickness, it's not an emergency."

"Kyra, you're shaking." She said.

"I'm always shaking a little after being sick, it's not..." I stopped, trying to calm myself. "I don't want to bother him over morning sickness. He's got a kingdom to run. I'm sure the last thing he needs is being pulled away from Council business because his surrogate can't keep breakfast down."

Jazmine studied me a long moment, clearly unconvinced by the explanation.

"That's not really how the King works, from what I've seen." She said. "He takes the pregnancy seriously. I'd be surprised if he minded being told."

"I mind," I said, quieter now. "I'd rather he wasn't involved. At all, if I can help it."

Something in my tone must have given away more than I meant it to, because Jazmine tilted her head slightly, studying my face.

"You've barely mentioned him since you got here." She said carefully. "Most surrogates I've looked after, they ask about the King constantly,what he's like, whether he'll visit, whether he's pleased with them. You haven't asked me a single thing."

"I don't need to know what he's like." I kept my eyes on the broth, focusing hard on the spoon, on anything that wasn't the memory of standing in that room two days ago with his eyes locked on mine and my whole body reacting like something had been struck loose inside it. "I'm here to carry the child, that's all."

"That's a very rehearsed answer." Her voice came out flat.

"It's the truth." I said quickly. “I don’t want more attention, the less they fuss, the better. I’m already the temporary problem everyone has to tiptoe around.”

“You’re the one carrying the heir." She said. "That makes you the opposite of temporary right now and throwing up until you can’t stand isn’t helping the baby either.”

"I still don't want him to know," I said. "Dr Alyssa is going to come to tomorrow and take a look at me. That's enough."

Jazmine didn't argue, though I could tell she wasn't buying it, not entirely. She let it go anyway, which I was grateful for, because I didn't have an explanation I was willing to give out loud,not for the tightness in my chest every time someone mentioned him, not for the way I'd spent two days deliberately keeping my schedule as far from his as I could manage, not for whatever had happened in that room that neither of us had spoken of since.

He wants distance and so did I. That's the entire arrangement, whether either of us says it out loud.

"You should wait a bit before taking the next one," Jazmine spoke. "I'll fold the clothes."

I nodded and she got up, we stayed like that for a few minutes. Me forcing tiny sips, while she was folding the used cloths with neat, practiced hands. The suite felt less cold with another person in it who wasn’t writing notes about my hormone levels. Jazmine reached for the empty water glass to refill it and her sleeve slipped back. A thin pink bracelet caught the light on her left wrist,delicate, with a tiny charm shaped like a baby’s footprint dangling from it.

I stared. She noticed the direction of my gaze and paused, glass halfway to the pitcher.

I looked from the charm to her face. “You have a daughter?”