Royal Redemption

4. Atonement

Chase had lost all interest in the world around him. He hadn’t gone to school since his brother had denounced them and honestly hadn’t left his room since the overwhelming sadness in the palace was stifling.

He was under no illusion that his brother had been the favorite in the palace, since he had been the most grounded and trustworthy, whereas he was the flippant, selfish and excitable brother. Everyone had known that his brother was the better choice for king and he had never questioned it. His twin had been born before him and stood first in line if his parents didn’t go with tradition and put both of them on the throne as twins.

Perhaps he had used that knowledge to give himself the freedom to become what he had. He had seen her reaction when he had sent her the flowers; he had been waiting in the hallway in disguise to see how she would react. Her words had not painted a pretty picture of him and when he really thought about it; he had become exactly what she had called him, a ‘selfish, egotistical bastard’.

It was true. His parents had tried everything to find his brother; they’d sent out search parties and sent investigators to try and find any sign of him, but he had gone to try and patch things up with his mate despite feeling the pain of his twin denouncing him. He had gone on to the worst loss he felt; that of his mate, instead of trying to find his brother and patch things up with him first. He had tried sending her flowers with a card promising to do better, but she had seen it as intimidation.

How could she think anything different than what he had shown her? He had screwed up everything with his mate when he looked back on what he had done to her. Not only had he taken her against her will; he had called her a nice f**k that wasn’t worth his time and then left her in the middle of nowhere, bleeding out from what he had done to her.

He still didn’t know who had found her and brought her to the hospital that night; no one did. But he had to find some way to earn her forgiveness and trust so he could have his mate. His beast had blocked him out and taken most of his extra strength with him; he had looked down on his mate because she couldn’t shift and now he was no better, except that his beast had willingly left him after what he had done to their mate.

In a sense that made him even less than he had thought of her.

What was he supposed to do? How could he rule the feline kingdom if his panther wouldn’t even give him the time of day? Suddenly, he had a perspective on what he had become, and it wasn’t a pretty picture.

There was a knock on his room door and he considered ignoring it for a moment, but finally sighed and stood where he had lain on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. He opened the door and came face to face with his father’s male secretary, who obviously never liked him from the blank expression he always had in his presence compared to his expression of pride when he had looked at his brother. Obviously, he couldn’t outright show disrespect, but it was glaringly palpable.

“Your father has requested your presence in his office.” The man spoke without greeting.

“Thank you, Mister Grayson.” He answered and reached back for a shirt.

Quickly pulling the T-shirt over his head, he followed the man in the gray suit. His father had not spoken to him since that day that his brother had denounced them; that was three days ago. So this could not be good.

When they entered the office, his mother was sitting silently and pale next to his father on the couch in the large office. His father dismissed Mister Grayson and silently waited for him to find his seat across from them. His mother seemed completely lost to the world, simply leaning against his father in a manner that proved that she needed some reassurance from their mate bond. She was pale with dark circles under her eyes; she seemed lost.

Absently he wondered if she would have looked the same if he had gone missing instead.

His father cleared his throat, drawing his intent gaze to him instead of his mother. His father didn’t look much better, but at least he seemed to be present in this conversation.

“We still can’t find your brother; it’s like he disappeared off the face of the earth. Do you have any idea where we can look for him? Anything he’d mentioned to you in passing?”

Chase became thoughtful, trying to think of anything his brother might have mentioned to him in passing, but looking back he realized he’d been a horribly selfish brother as well. He knew very little of his brother aside from the obvious. He couldn’t even answer what his favorite pastime was these days. Finally, he shook his head; the added weight of his selfishness weighing heavily on his shoulders.

He had been so wrapped up in himself that he didn’t even know his own twin brother anymore. It was practically impossible to be a bad sibling when you were part of a set and yet he had managed that. It was a scathing review of him as a person. He would have to do better; he would have to be less self-centered.

“No, father. I’m sorry; I can’t think of anything, but I’ll help with anything you need me to help with.” He finally answered and he did not miss the shock in his father’s eyes at his comment before he managed to mask it.

Even his parents knew he was a miserable man.

“Alright…” His father answered absently after clearing his throat, as if he was having a hard time believing his sentiment. “I have information regarding your mate. I know about your attempt with the flowers, but I don’t think flowers will fix this. My sources have found out why she fainted.”

“Is there something wrong with her?” He asked with concern, sitting up straight as if he was ready to jump up and run to her. He couldn’t lose her; he had to make things right and win her over to being his mate.

His father rubbed his fingers against his forehead. “Apparently your mate, Tallula Kasey, is pregnant from the incident.”

The incident…was that what they called it? Wait…she was pregnant? “She’s pregnant with my child?” He asked suddenly, coming to his feet in a mixture of excitement and fear.

“It would appear so, but the hospital has no records of what she decided to do with the child. The men set on protection duty had reported that she had not left the house after she came back from the hospital. We don’t know what she intends to do about it, considering the circumstances. But I have sent out Blakely to invite her to the palace tomorrow for consideration; with the child being of our lineage, she needs to be brought into the fold for protection of both her and the child she carries. We cannot give the enemy a chance to hurt the throne any further.”

“Do you think she would agree to the living arrangements of having her in the palace? It would give me a chance to see if I can mend what I broke with her.” He asked hopefully.

His father frowned. “She has agreed to our previous suggestions; I don’t see why not. Why now, do you want to mend things with her?”

He glanced between his father and mother, who still seemed catatonic, at best. “She’s made me see what I lack as a person, Father. If she can show me my faults, she can help me be a better man.” He finally said; it wasn’t the whole truth, because he couldn’t confess to his father that even his panther wanted nothing to do with him.

His father stared at him long and hard for a moment, before he nodded once. “Alright, let’s first see how she reacts to being invited to the palace for lunch tomorrow.”

He smiled gratefully and was so excited he wanted to take his panther for a run, but then he remembered that he wouldn’t be able to shift. “Is there anything you need me to assist with, Father?”

His father stared at him in open shock this time. He had never offered to do anything that had not been in his own interest; this was entirely new to the royal family. But he wanted to be a better person so he could prove it to his mate and win her over. Show her that he could be what she wanted and needed in her life. He wanted to be a good father to his child.

He hadn’t expected to become a father at eighteen, but he would do his best to be a good father to his child and a good mate and husband to his Lula and, someday, maybe even strive to be a good king. For now, he would just work on being a better man for his mate.

***

The house had been deathly quiet in a state of complete shock since they returned from the hospital. No one knew how to handle the news. It had been a surprise to all of them, since they had never expected to have pregnancy on the cards of things they had to deal with along with everything else.

But it was at breakfast that the bomb finally exploded. Her mother had quietly passed her where she was trying to choke down cereal when nothing else seemed to stay down. The table was still silent aside from the clinking of cutlery against glass. The house had never been so silent before and it was unnerving.

Honestly, she was only vaguely aware of it, since she was still trying to decide what to do about her circumstances. Suddenly, her mother came to her feet from the table and left the room quietly, no one really paying her any mind until she came back and decisively set the pamphlet for abortions in front of Tallula before going to sit down next to her husband and mate.

Lula stared at the pamphlet in shock for a long moment. Did that mean her mother wanted her to get an abortion? Her emotions were in turmoil at that realization.

“You want me to get an abortion?” She asked in a haze of confusion and suddenly the table was enveloped in complete silence as everyone turned wide eyes to her mother.

“I can’t watch you carry that thing full term for adoption.” Her mother spoke harshly, which sent her emotions into overdrive.

“This thing is an innocent baby that had nothing to do with how it was conceived. You want me to murder an innocent that has no means to protect itself?” Well, at least she now knew that abortion was not on the cards for her; obviously she was against it, even if it was her rapist’s child. How could she take a choice from the child when her choices had been removed from her?

“It can’t be anything good considering who its father is.” Her mother retorted and her father growled in anger at her words. “I don’t want you to have that fetus.”

“What about what I want?” Lula asked in anger. “Does my opinion on my body not count?”

“You’re not having that monstrosity while living in my house!” Her mother snarled and both her father and brother made a snarling growl in answer, glaring at her mother for her angry words.

“So you’re saying that you’ll throw me out if I don’t have an abortion.” Lula answered incredulously. Well, she didn’t see that coming. She’d thought her mother would support her through what she was dealing with; guess that wasn’t the case.

“I’m saying I won’t have any part in raising the consequences of the worst day of my life.” Her mother snapped; her father tried to speak up but he was silenced with a glare from both females.

*TW: Graphic description of the s****l assault*

“Well, Mother, you should try it from my position.” She snapped in answer and came to her feet. “I’m so glad you consider it as your worst day, because it was probably the best for me; having to feel like my insides were being ripped apart while I tried to struggle against a man that was much stronger and heavier than myself; and then having him call me a ‘great f**k’ and saying that I was expecting too much of him to take me to a hospital in his car that would get stained with my blood before he left me alone in the middle of nowhere to bleed out. So tell me again how horrible it was for you.”

*End of TW*

This had been the first time she spoke about what had happened and her words stunned everyone around the table before she turned and stalked out of the room, leaving the table in complete dazed silence. It was amazing that she wasn’t a sobbing mess at that moment. Perhaps she had just cried enough over things that she couldn’t change. She had never intended to tell them everything that had happened, but when her mother called it the worst day of her life, she just snapped.

The doorbell rang when she went into the hallway and when there was still complete stunned silence from the kitchen, she sighed and went to the front door. Flinging the door open, she came face to face with the guy that made her sign the non-disclosure agreement in the hospital. What did they want now? It wasn’t like she had talked to anyone.

“What do you want?” She snapped in a tone that had his eyes widen in surprise. Well, he could just get in line with the rest of the people on her s**t-list today.

“Good afternoon, Miss Kasey. I am here with an invitation from the Royal Family Warren to invite you to luncheon tomorrow afternoon.” He greeted her regally and held out an invitation printed on expensive stationery, bearing the royal seal.

“Royal Warren family…are you kidding me? My rapist is the crown prince Chase? Well, that just makes my life so much f*****g better now.” She snarled sarcastically in a good imitation of a cat. “And you want me to have lunch with them after having him defile me, insult me, leave me to die and then make me sign a non-disclosure!” She snapped in indignation while she snatched the invitation from his hands to glance down at the offending piece of card before tossing it on the hallway table in disgust.

“They did reimburse you handsomely.” He answered indignantly.

How dare he think money could fix what she went through? His words fueled the rage she was already feeling after her conversation with her mother and she reacted without thinking. Her hand shot out and the sound of a slap echoed around them when she landed her hand on his face so hard that her fingers burned and left an angry red handprint on his cheek. His eyes widened in surprise and then his features twisted into a scowl as a growl escaped his lips.

“Here’s twenty bucks; that’ll fix the humiliation of walking around with a handprint for the rest of the day.” She snarled at him while she took the money her father always left on the counter by the door and she was sure she heard one of the men with him choke on his spit before she slammed the door in their faces and stalked up the stairs to her room.

It seemed her choices had already been made for her. Her mother didn’t want her here and she was certainly not having lunch with the royal family – and apparently she was going to have this baby because she couldn’t even consider killing such a tiny, helpless baby because of what had happened to her.

Slamming her bedroom door behind her, she leaned against it and touched her stomach. “Well, Peabody; seems it’s just you and me now.” She muttered while staring down at her hand holding her stomach. Well, she already gave the baby a name; so she can’t leave the little munchkin anymore. It seemed it would be the two of them from now on.

Deciding that rage was a good emotion to work with, she started packing her clothes and personal items she wanted to take with her. She had no idea where she was going, but she also knew that she couldn’t stay there. She hid her packed things in her closet and then sat down to write the letters to her family.

She wasn’t about to walk out of the door in broad daylight, because she knew she was being watched. She had to come up with a plan, because she knew the men would not allow her to leave the territory with the future of the kingdom growing inside her. But she didn’t owe this kingdom anything after what she’d been through.

She just wasn’t sure where she would go or what she would do, but she knew getting out of here was important. She was definitely not going to become all cozy with them after what she had been through and, obviously, her mother wanted the child dead and that was non-negotiable on her terms.

Lula quietly folded the letters and left them on her desk to put on her bed later. Then she put all her cash into her wallet and added necessities to her favorite handbag. She would get the rest of the money as she needed it from her account. Luckily, her car was in the garage, so she could wait until everyone was asleep and load her things before she left.

She already had a plan in mind to get away from the guys following her and that meant calling in a favor with her friend at the carwash. She sent her a message and asked her if she was working that night. When she confirmed that she was, she told her she was going to come visit her tonight.

She would explain things shortly so she could ask her for help. Thankfully, that specific friend was one of the conspiracy theorists and she would be able to get some pointers from her at the very least. It was her best chance at getting out of her messed-up situation.