Chapter 20
“I wish I could tell you, but I didn’t see anything last night or this morning,” Maggie replies.
“It’s okay, Thank you.”
“Of course.”
I stare pensively at the bouquet flowers.
But if they were from him, how could he have come in here without me sensing his pheromones?
Something Maggie said crosses my mind.
‘He apparently had a strange look on his face and made an even stranger request of a vial of musk to mask his natural scent.’
A smile pours on my face. There is no doubt in my mind that the flowers are from Ansel. No one else knows that they are my favorite flower because he always mentioned when we were younger how much I smelled like them. He always had a way of finding them even when they were out of season just to surprise me.
The gesture left me both happy and confused. After what happened between us last night, I was certain that I would receive notice this morning that I was to pack my bags and leave immediately. I gently pluck a flower and take it into the bathroom to put in my hair after I bathe and get myself ready for the day. Much like the meaning of its name, knowing that it was from Ansel made my happiness return.
A Few Days Later
“So how have things been?” the doctor asks me as he continues to poke and prod me.
I shrug. “The same as they were the last time you were here.” He raises his eyebrow at me, and I give him a sheepish smile. “Sorry, what I mean is that he is still gone on his mission, and we still haven’t had sex, so I guess we’re in the same boat as we have been. I know that you’re just doing your job, but would you be able to tell that if I’m pregnant this early, anyway?”
“No, but that isn’t all these check-ups are for. We have a brief window for conception each month, so the more I run tests and keep records on your results, the easier it is for me to narrow down your conception time frame and help overall. Then, of course, you have your shots, making sure that you’re maintaining your diet, and that overall, both you and your wolf remain fit to handle this pregnancy.”
“I understand,” I reply. “Thank you for explaining. It put me a little more at ease. With everything that is and isn’t going on with me and the Second Prince, I feel like I’m letting everyone down.”
“You can only do what you can do, Lady Karin. Remember, you are not all in this alone. It takes two to tango. I’m sure things will work out the way they should.” Feeling more relaxed in his presence, we continue to chat about more casual, less important topics. I want to tell him about the flowers, but I decided to keep it to myself until Ansel returns so I can thank him personally.
As the doctor finishes his examination, the door of my villa swings open. My heart jumps a little at the hope that it was Ansel, but instead a woman I’ve never seen before storms in. Accompanied by a small group of gammas, she peers around the villa in disgust.
“I can’t believe he had the nerve to place her in a villa instead of squalor like she deserves,” she says. Spotting me, she stalks over to me, and I immediately stand. The resemblance between us is uncanny, and I can tell she’s just as surprised as me. Though her similar colored raven hair is pulled tightly in a bun, I can tell it is almost as long as mine. The brown of her eyes matches mine, and her button nose and pout of her lips could almost make us twin.
The further I inspect her, though, the more I can see the cracks behind the mask. Her eyes may have been the same color but were not as deep-set or contained golden fleck that many said made mine unique. Her nose was tilted upward and had a small crook in the bridge. And the pout of her lips lacked a softness because of the deeply etched snarl on them that probably never left. We weren’t the same, and the negative aura the entered when she did somehow told me that like the most beautiful apple, the inside was rotten.
“My name is Cherry, and I am the princess of Moon Shadow. Do you know who I am?”
“Yes. I do.”
“Then you knew before our meeting that I’m the Second prince's fiancée which means you are the whore that I heard you to be.” She looked me over and her disgust turned to repulsion. “Women like you disgust me. You know he’s taken and still you trail behind him like a puppy.” She points to the ground in front of her. “Kneel.”
“No,” I say, and shock momentarily plasters itself on her face again. “You do not have the authority to force me to kneel to you.”
“Lady Karin…” the doctor whispers, but I shake my head and smile softly.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be okay,” I say to both him and Ada, who I can feel pacing inside of me.
Cherry’s face turns as red as her lipstick. “What the hell did you just say?! I have no authority over you?! You are less than something on the bottom of my heel!” She raises her hand and slaps me hard across the face. “Make her kneel,” she commands her gammas.
Swiftly they surround me, locking me in the middle. Two pounce on me and pin me to the ground. “Let me go!” I scream, but Cherry only laughs. She leans over me, bringing her face inches from mine. “Where is all of that defiance now?” she says before she strikes me several times. Blood trickles from my nose, and she smiles. “You’re nothing but a cheap knockoff; a defective version of me. A stand in plaything for the real thing.”
I breathe in deep, feeling a fire burn inside of me as Ada rages in my chest.
“Let me out!” she shouts at me, but I refuse.
My face tingles from the brunt of Cherry’s hand, but I still look up at her. “Your eyes may look like mine, but the ugly behind them makes them soulless. We may have similar features, but we are nothing alike. You can paint your face up, and try your best, but the poison behind the mask still shows. Are you sure, Lady Cherry, that I’m the stand in or is it possible that it is your jealousy that truly makes you the defective one?”
Fury sets into her eyes, and she bares her claws. “How dare you, you little bitch?!” she yells, and strikes me hard across the face. I cry out in pain as warm blood from the claw marks left behind pools from my face and patters on the wood of the floor. She grabs my neck with one and squeezes hard. The room spins, and she raises her clawed hand again. I close my eyes and prepare for the blow. “You mouthy little whore! I’m going to rip your fucking head off!”
