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No answer needed.
“Cassie! How far along are you?”
She gives me a coy, but brimming with happiness, smile. “Eight months.”
My body slackens in disbelief, my hand dropping from hers. “Does anyone know?”
She frantically shakes her head.
“Does Dorrian know?” I ask cautiously.
Her eyes flit away from me, her hand absentmindedly skating down her stomach—not obvious enough for anyone else to notice, but I do.
“Cassie—”
She folds her arms. “Please don’t tell him,” she snaps, stepping into me. “Not yet at least—I don’t know how—”
“You’re eight months pregnant, and he still doesn’t know?”
“You know what our situation is like.” Her eyebrows scrunch in worry, her eyes lining with tears. “I don’t know what’s going to happen if I tell him, I—” She gnaws at her bottom lip, face dropping to the floor.
“How does he not know?”
“We’ve hardly seen each other, Jord. It’s like he’s MIA. I'll be lucky if I get a text from him.”
Even with my efforts to avoid everyone in the castle, I’ve barely seen Dorrian.
What if he does know, and now he’s avoiding her—
I sigh, pulling her in for a hug. “I won’t tell him,” I whisper. “I promise.” I wouldn’t dream of it, not when things in this town are much bigger than they seem. The words ‘get out, Cassie’ get stuck in my throat because they’re fruitless. She won’t listen. But even through all of this, my chest flutters with happiness for her all the same because this was clearly her choice, despite knowing what will happen to her if anyone found out.
Her body, her choice. Not anyone else’s. Not the clergy’s, not her parents.
“How did this happ—”
“Enjoying the party?” a deep voice snaps us out of our bubble, and my blood begins simmering all over again.
I turn, coming face to face with skull makeup and green eyes that look like black pits in here. This building really sucks the soul out of people—especially him.
“It would be better if you didn’t stick your nose where it’s not wanted,” I quip, grabbing a plastic martini glass from the side. For a second, I debate on whether to throw it at him, but I down it in one go, instead. Whatever alcohol is inside, burns my throat and I grimace because it’s more alcohol than fizzy. His eyes follow my hand as I place the empty glass down on the table and immediately reach for another.
But before I get anywhere, Kain lowers his head, making my heart jump in my chest. His eyes stay locked on mine as his mouth parts, then latches around my forgotten burger. His eyes roll back as he takes a bite and then straightens just enough so he’s eye level with me and that’s when my breath abandons me.
“I’ll stick my nose in everything where you’re concerned,” he murmurs around his food, gaze dipping to my parted lips. “Including the parts of you that have always been mine,” he finishes on a whisper. He smirks as his gaze trails down to my hips.
Everything he just did sends a flutter to the apex of my thighs, one that should definitely not be there. Forgotten memories begin flashing in my mind—him working his hips inside of me, his tongue swiping along my throat—
Fuck.
And I’m awake.
Maybe I shouldn’t have downed that drink. It’s got to be the full glass of alcohol swimming in my system and overtaking my senses that’s to blame for my chest heating in ways I don’t want it to.
Slowly, he pulls the glass out of my hand. “Don’t drink that.”
“Why not?” I snap as he pulls me out of my weird stupor.
“You don’t know what’s in it.”
