Chapter 7

I quickly lower my head and avert my eyes.

Nice going Karin.

I scold myself. It had taken me less than five minutes to destroy the only positive interaction we’d had since reconnecting.

You have to st­­—oh…

I purse my lips, noticing the growing bulge protruding through the towel. I look up at Ansel, and his eyebrows are knitted into a deep line. He looks like he wants to say something, but when he parts his lips, the growl of my stomach beats him to the punch.

My cheeks redden and I cover my stomach out of embarrassment. “Sorry. I guess I’m a little hungry,” I say with a chuckle. He doesn’t laugh, and I rub my hand up and down my arm. “Can I have something to eat? Maybe salmon…and I don’t know…a strawberry milkshake?” The thought of a delicious meal makes me lick my lips. Ansel’s eyes darken slightly, and the redness of my cheeks increase.

“Let me get dressed,” he says and retreats to the bathroom. After a bit of commotion, he reappears in a relaxed silk robe set. Parts of his brawny chest peek from it, and I stare. “Let’s go,” he says with a small smirk on his face.

“O-okay,” I reply, my embarrassment at an all-time high. Quietly, I follow behind him through the doors. Candelabras light the otherwise darkened halls that never seem to end. They leave me wondering where we’re going, and with each twist and turn we take, I find myself more entranced by the size of the enormous structure.

“We’re here,” Ansel says as he pushes open two large ivory and gold doors. My mouth drops at the sight of what is on the other side.

The room is beautiful. There is a fireplace matching the one in Ansel’s study, and a large canopy bed that I’m certain will take me days to climb. Ansel points to a table and chair that is near the fireplace, and I take a seat. Within seconds, two women and a man in professional uniforms come inside the room carrying endless amounts of trays. They cart in the other, and the smell of all the food makes my mouth water. The lids are lifted off the trays and there are much more than just salmon and strawberry shakes in front of me. In fact, the closer I inspect, the more I see secret delicacies that I once loved and that only Ansel knew about.

“He still loves us,” Ada says with hope in her voice.

I roll my eyes. “Do not over think the gesture. It is just food.”

I can feel her irritation with me, but I ignore it, and take a large serving of food. I eat without restraint, not caring that Ansel could see me. The heat of his gaze is fixated on me, but that doesn’t stop me from eating to my heart’s content.

“Are you…enjoying the food?” Ansel asks from above me and I nod, taking another helping. I glance up briefly at the servants and the look of horror on their faces match his. Ansel leaves and Ada growls inside of me. I stifle my laugh when her growl turns into a full sulk.

“I know what you’re doing.”

“I’m not doing anything but eating.”

“Yes, like a little piggy. Why can’t you just accept that no matter how far you try to push him, he still loves you. You saw how he reacted. He got an erection twice. That wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t love you.”

I laugh out loud much to the confusion of the servants.

“Don’t be so naïve, Ada. Multiple men in the bidding circle grew erect when they saw me, too. Are you suggesting they’re in love with me as well?”

She doesn’t respond, leaving me feeling vindicated in my win. The sooner she gets the silly notion of Ansel loving us out of her head, the better. It’s a dangerous notion, one that is sure to leave us in more damage than we were the first time we had to leave him.

The growls in my stomach cease, and without realizing it, I place my head on the arm of the chair. Exhaustion hits me like a truck. I can hardly keep my eyes open, but each time I manage to open them, the plates and trays around me grow smaller as well as the surrounding staff.

I can feel someone pick me up. It must be one of the servants. I refuse to open my eyes even when they place me in a tub of warm water. They gently wash my hair and body, causing me to fall deeper into sleep.

My dream takes me to a moment I’ve dreamed about millions of times since it happened in real life.

It was the day when I first met Ansel. He was beautiful that day. Kind, brilliant, and completely enamored with me. The feeling was mutual. To others, he was a sick boy who had an illness that threatened to take everything from him, but to me, he was just a boy who deserved to be loved like anyone else.

I knew he was my mate the moment that I laid eyes on him, and his scent was like an aphrodisiac even back then. It was calming and comforting and sent me to a place where we would be together forever. The warmth and happiness that I felt clued me into that it was just a dream, and I fought to keep it going. Can’t I just stay in this world forever?

“Miss, you need to wake up. You have a meeting with the Second Prince.”

I can hear a sharp voice drawing me from sleep, and I slowly open my eyes. There is a portly woman in my vision wearing a uniform that matches the other servants in the manor. She pokes me on the shoulder. “Wake up, please. I have a job to do.”

“I’m up,” I say, and sit up in the bed. She nods at me, but her face contains little emotion. “We are here to dress you and to clean the room.” I rise from the bed and retreat to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. When I return, there is a hurricane of fabric surrounding me. They dressed me in the most gorgeous and expensive dress that I’ve ever seen and put rose-colored lipstick on me that highlights the small amount of blush they put on my cheeks.

“All done,” the woman says. “My name is Meredith, and I am the head maid here. The Second Prince has sent me to dress and retrieve you.” She shoos the others away and then grabs my arm. “Let’s go. We don’t want to be late.” As we walk through the halls, she runs down a list of all the rules that I need to follow. “You need to make sure that you are attentive to the words of the Second Prince. He should never need to repeat himself. Be obedient and submissive and never displease him. You don’t want to be on the receiving end of his punishments.”

She’s afraid of him.

It seems to be the running theme of all those who work for Ansel, leaving me to believe even more that his claims to not be a brute are false. She leads me back to the doors of his massive study and gently knocks before disappearing.

“Come in,” Ansel says through the doors from the other side. Cautiously, I entered, not sure what to expect. Ansel sits at a huge desk and doesn’t look at me. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did. Thank you.” He looks up and a lump forms in my throat. His gaze is cold once again.

“I requested your presence so that you can sign this.”

He tosses a slew of papers my way and leans back in his chair. I pick them up and scan them. “A surrogate contract?”

He nods. “Yes. You want one hundred thousand dollars for your body, fine. Produce me an heir within six months and the money is yours when the baby is born.”

The coldness in his voice sends a shiver up my spine.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“B-but what about the other part of my request?” I stammer out.

“What other part?” he asks with his eyebrow raised.

I clutch the contract close to my chest. “The part where I get to leave. If I have your baby, Ansel, can I take the money and walk away?”