Chapter 23: Partial Elimination

A Prince of the Nobillo

Chapter 23: Partial Elimination

It felt like she'd been lying naked on the cold metal examining table for hours as the royal physician poked and prodded and scanned her stomach. "Could you at least get me a blanket or something?" she finally said. Sure, she didn't mind Carak and Rivuk seeing her naked, but she'd met this doctor maybe twice.

"I'm sorry, standard procedure for prisoners," the doctor said.

"But I'm freezing!" she complained.

"Can we please get her something?" Rivuk said with as dashing a smile as he could muster. He hadn't been able to sleep long, but the little he'd had seemed to have helped. At least he wasn't an emotional disco ball of chaos anymore.

"I can raise the temperature, if that would help?" the doctor said.

"Lindsay?" Rivuk asked.

"Fine." she answered bitterly, crossing her arms over her exposed breasts.

"Let's try these," the doctor said, placing two weird, white, boxy things with blinking lights that looked like they had come straight out of a 70's scifi show on either side of her stomach. He pulled up a screen into the air. He frowned as he punched some buttons on a keypad. He adjusted the white boxes, looked at the screen and frowned again. "How deep do humans carry their babies?" he finally asked.

Lindsay groaned. He had no idea what he was doing! "In the middle of our bodies."

"Oh. That would explain it. These probes are only meant to scan an inch below the surface. Perhaps if it was inserted into her-"

"I will murder you twice if you even try."

The doctor gave Rivuk a look that seemed to convey that this was precisely why they didn't give prisoners blankets. "I will need to contact The Temple of the Immortal. They are more equipped to handle these types of things." He walked out of the room, leaving the trio behind.

"No! Those creepy mad scientists are the last people I want near my baby," she cried.

"Lindsay, we need to know," Rivuk said, soothingly. "If you're pregnant, you can't stay in this jail any longer."

"I'd rather stay here all nine months than see a Korsuch ever again."

"But if Boz hears of this, and he certainly will, he'll use the life of the baby to his advantage. We can't stop him unless we know for sure."

Lindsay was defeated. "The worst part of you saying that is I know he would. Fine. But not that psycho, Lucian."

Rivuk sighed.

"Really?! I don't even have a choice on that?"

"We'll be with you the entire time," Rivuk said.

Carak took her hand in his. "I will protect you."

Lindsay knew he meant it; she also knew she'd seen Rivuk wince as he'd said it. She wanted to comfort Rivuk, but what could she say? He'd cut her off. And, if she was honest with herself, she'd rather he go and leave her back in her cell with Carak. He'd interrupted a fantastic orgasm that she really wanted to get back to. Looking in Carak's eyes, feeling his protective grip on her hand, she really wanted it.

Of course, it would be nice to have him in a bed, not just on a cheap mat on the floor.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out to both of them, to neither of them - she wasn't even sure.

"For what?" Rivuk asked, taking her other hand. "You're pregnant. This is a good thing."

"But we don't know who the father is. Doesn't that bother you?"

"I don't care who the father is. Search me and you'll see. You own no responsibility in this confusion. As long as the baby is healthy, I'll be happy." God. That must've been one helluva nap if he was able to be this calm about it. Or he was just that well trained to put his emotions below his duty.

"But what if it's not yours?" she pressed.

"Then it will be the child of the man who has been a truer father to me than my own. How can I not rejoice in that? Carak would be an excellent father and he deserves the chance to raise his own child, not just watch it be starved and murdered in a pointless war." She could tell he meant that. She couldn't understand how, but he did. It was too logical, it didn't feel entirely real, like he was somehow choosing how he felt. Rivuk of two hours ago wouldn't've said that.

"But what about you, your grace?" Carak said. "You deserve a son."

"I already have a daughter; I don't need another child. Deneta has always been enough. Though, I will certainly welcome it if is mine. But, selfish truth be told, this couldn't have happened at a better time. I don't know if you've heard the news lately?"

Ah, so there was a reason. Something big enough he could put away his jealousy and be magnanimous in the face of possible cuckoldry.

Both of them shook their heads.

"No, of course not. Not that we've allowed it to be broadcast, but these stories do tend to slip out. There's been unrest ever since Lindsay's punishment. The people were horrified. They've been having public protests. I've even joined a few."

Fear flashed across Carak's face.

"Secretly, of course."

Carak nodded.

"The Children of the Immortal are furious."

"The Children of the Immortal?" Carak asked, clearly not sure if he'd heard correctly.

"The idea that sex with them would be seen as the most degrading of tortures and the fact that you, who still is so admired by them, was clearly forced to act against your will, has not set well with them. There are meetings in the barracks, secret ones. The outrage goes all the way to the top. Even to Julanty. They consider it a rape of you as well." He looked to Carak.

"But the law explicitly states-"

"It seems they're tired of laws that force them to have sex and produce children against their will. To know that you were forced and then that a child resulted from it..."

"But I was not forced."

"Don't lie to yourself. What would you have done had she not consented? Had she not been in love with you? Had you not felt the same?"

Carak thought for a moment. His shoulders slumped. "I don't know. I was prepared to die." He turned to Lindsay. "I guess that was why I went to see you before, I hoped you would have an answer for me. Something. If you'd have agreed to escape, I might have been able to make that an order in my own mind. I don't know why I so firmly believed you'd sacrifice me for a chance at freedom. I see now how stupid that was."

Carak looked at her, sadly. "I'd like to think I would have let them kill me. But then I wonder if I would have rationalized that it was better it be me who cared for you, than risk the slim chance they would not catch you and subject you to another who didn't. I cut off my wings to survive once, I don't know how far I would go to stay alive when truly tested. I can only hope not that far."

"I'm glad we didn't have to find out," Lindsay said, taking his hand.

After almost half an hour, Lucian arrived, flanked by that horrible blonde woman, Diana, and another woman Lindsay had never met wheeling in a strange looking piece of equipment.

"Your highness, it is lovely to see you again," Lucian began.

"You can quit with trying to make nice. I know what you are. Just tell me what that machine is," Lindsay said.

"Well, that does make it easier. This machine is used to process blood samples to determine the existence of pregnancy hormones in Children of the Immortal."

"It's been two months; don't you have a sonogram or something?"

Lucian tilted his head slightly. "I'm not sure what a sonogram is."

"They use it to look at the babies in the womb. You have to have something like that, I mean you're practically humans."

"In the womb?" Lucian looked at Diana and they chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry," Diana said. "It just sounded like you thought... Korsuch women don't carry their children. It's dangerous, unpredictable, and permanently disfigures the body. Our children develop safely in the natal hospital in our capital city of Carpathia. The idea that any Korsuch woman would risk the health and safety of her child and herself by carrying it internally? It's unheard of! Not that we would shame those races that prefer to." She looked pointedly at Rivuk.

Lindsay had the sense this was not the first time the conversation had occurred between the Korsuch and the Nobillo, though, given their envy of those with mental powers, she had little doubt why the Nobillo would refuse the offer. Another thing to steal.

"Now, just hold still, this won't hurt at all." The third woman said as she pressed a small vial against Lindsay's arm. Immediately it filled with blood. She took it off and placed it in the machine. It whirred to life.

"Good to see the nanobots are still responding," Lucian said with a smile. "Poking holes in people is so barbaric."

Lindsay rubbed her arm where the vial had been. The spot where the vial had been looked like a small, perfectly round hickey.

The machine slowed to a stop and projected a series of charts. Lucian stared at them with a slight frown, then he swiped to the next set and delight lit up his squarish face. "Well, your highness, you are unquestionably pregnant. But you seem to be suffering a number of vitamin deficiencies that could harm the baby. Will you be wanting to keep the child, your grace?"

"Why are you asking him? It's my baby!" Lindsay said.

Lucian continued, ignoring her. "Now would be the easiest time to be rid of it, if that is your wish. Given what it will be..."

"We intend to keep the child, thank you," Rivuk said, coolly. "Is there any way to determine its paternity?"

Lucian's brow furrowed, then he looked to Carak and the delight returned two-fold to his features. "Of course, your highness. If we compared samples of your DNA and that of the other potential father to the baby's we could find out for certain. But it might compromise the amniotic sac..."

"Would that be dangerous?"

Lucian smiled in a way he must have thought was reassuring but gave Lindsay chills. "Most likely not, but these human pregnancies are nothing if not extremely fragile."

Lindsay really didn't want to know what they had done to learn that.

"So, she could lose the baby?" Carak said.

Lucian raised his eyebrows, then turned to Rivuk, obviously unwilling to lower himself to addressing Carak directly. "Yes, it would be a possibility. Especially for a Child of the Immortal, since they grow quite large."

"Don't do it, then." Rivuk said. "We'll know when it's born, won't we?"

"I suppose, though we've never heard of a case where a Child of the Immortal interbred with a human, so I cannot say what the results will be. We, at the Temple, will, of course, look forward to assisting you in all stages of your pregnancy."

"Go to Hell," Lindsay said.

"I'm sorry, I've not heard of the place. Is it nice?"

"It's very warm and full of people like you."

"Thank you, then." Lucian said. He followed his two assistants out. "What an odd Earth custom of appreciation," he whispered to Diana. "Oh yes!" He turned to Rivuk and bowed. "It has been an honor, your grace."

* * *

That night, as Lindsay tucked Deneta into bed, Deneta sprang up and gave her a hug. Lindsay fought not to wince from the lashes of the morning as little arms fell hard onto them. She gripped Deneta tightly.

"I love you, Mommy Lindsay," Deneta whispered.

Lindsay's hug grew even tighter. Those words she'd wanted to hear for so long! She let Deneta down onto the pillow, pulled up her blanket to her chin, and kissed her forehead. "I love you, too, my little chickadee."

"Goodnight, Daddy," she said.

Lindsay turned to see Rivuk in the doorway, leaning causally with his shoulder against the door frame, smiling in that gentle way of his. Her heart skipped a beat. Damn. He knew how sexy he looked like that.

"Goodnight, chickadee," he said. "May your dreams take flight."

Deneta nestled into her bed, snuggled up under her wings like a little bird in a nest. She gazed at her daughter for another minute, then she stood and walked over to Rivuk.

"We need to talk," Lindsay said as she brushed by him.

Rivuk nodded, following behind her out the door.

It felt awkward. She could make it feel less awkward by jumping his bones, and maybe she would've a few years ago so they could avoid the uncomfortable conversation and just move on and pretend none of it ever happened.

But she didn't want to. Sure, she could do it, it was just sex afterall. She could even have fun with it. But she didn't want to. At least, not with him. Not right now. No matter how sexy he looked, it didn't feel right. She fixed him with a warning look. "Just talk."

"I know," he said.

"You hate it."

"I do. But there's nothing for it."

She spun on him, causing him to nearly crash into her. "I wish you'd stop doing that."

"Tell me what it is I'm doing and I'll stop," he said.

"That. In the prison you were thinking to have Carak and I beheaded and now you're just ok with all of this?" She folded her arms over her chest.

Rivuk turned away, shaking his head. He sat in one of the chairs at the dining table. "No, and I doubt I ever shall be. But what can I do? I saw your face when you stepped between my claws and Carak -- you were ready to die for him. I felt that through my very bones. And I see the way you look at him. What point is there to trying to fight it? I do not reside in your heart anymore as your lover and it is my own fault."

She made no attempt to object. It was his own fault. Good that he realized it.

"In the end, losing your love is a fitting punishment for my failures," he said. "I was a coward. I should have stood up to Boz and my father. I'm sure there was a legal argument I could have made -- your pregnancy makes that obvious to me. I could have just objected on the grounds you were my wife. But I didn't. And I can blame it on the plan. I've been doing that for an iuna. But it wasn't the plan. The plan didn't need this. It's been helpful, of course, but it wasn't required. I just didn't want to stand against them. After all these years, I still fear them."

She nodded. Some part of her wanted to contradict him and tell him that it was all ok. But it wasn't ok. It was remotely ok. And she wasn't going to pretend it was to spare him.

He continued, "Truth be told, I wanted to punish you. The plan was hanging by a thread because you didn't trust me. But that was my fault, too. I kept far too many secrets from you. I gave you reasons not to trust me. So, in the end, it is the result of my actions you ended up in the arms of my hest."

"You're not angry?" Lindsay asked, a little incredulous.

"Oh, I am angry. I'm furious. I'm burning with jealousy of my own hest."

She saw the fire in his eyes as he loosed those emotions in his heart. She stepped back in sudden fear of what she felt, eyeing the door to the guest room where Carak was now residing. Her frantic gaze fell on a knife still on the counter.

The fount of rage was tamped back down. "Would you kill me in front of my own daughter's doorway?" he asked. "To save him?"

"I wouldn't want to," she said. "But if that's what it took..."

"You'd stop me." He let out a sorrowful sigh. "I know. I wish I'd been the same for you. How much more would it have meant to my people if they'd seen their prince fly down and rescue his beloved princess from that terrible fate? Instead, they saw her beloved husband watch as she stood in the arena alone and betrayed by all who loved her. Now, to them, we have shown who we truly are, the corruption at the heart of the royal family. And many of them do not want us anymore. So I will keep my personal feelings in check, for the sake of the plan and..." he swallowed hard, "and for the sake of our marriage."

"Our marriage?" she repeated in utter disbelief. She could understand his meaning from their link to be more than just the legal papers. "I mean, I know for appearances sake and all we have to keep it, but... it'll never just be you and me here, again. I'm not leaving Carak," she explained.

"I know that. And I know your feelings aren't what they were but," he granted her a slight smile, "I have always suffered from an excess of optimism. And I promise, if you ever do decide to give me another chance, I will give you my whole heart. But that will not be tonight, I know. I pray you sleep well." His hand made a stuttering motion toward her belly. She took it in both of hers and pressed it to the slight rounding of flesh. He looked up, into her eyes. She could feel his questions.

"I don't know what's going to happen," she said. "And I don't know if I'll ever feel anything for you again like I did. But I want you and Deneta in its life, no matter who the father actually is."

He nodded. His hand caressed her almost non-existent belly. "Tomorrow I will face my family and fight for ours."

* * *

Lindsay woke up with a start wrapped in Carak's arms in the giant round bed of Rivuk's guest bedroom. Another nightmare, Boz with his needles, injecting who-knew-what into her as she screamed in pain. She nuzzled into Carak's chest, it was still dark outside. His grey arms squeezed her tighter. She let out a long sigh. It was nice to finally be able to rest like this for a while after the whirlwind of the past few skell.

When Rivuk delivered the news of her pregnancy to the royal family, they demanded a paternity test, but when Lucian testified it could kill the baby and pointed out it was a capital crime to harm a child of the royal family, they found themselves mired in impotent rage, demanding that the pregnancy not be made public.

Naturally, it leaked to the news within the hour.

She could remember watching Rivuk as Yasolina interviewed him.

"I've been told there's a possibility the child might not be yours? That it may be the child of your hest?" she asked.

"I must commend your sources. Yes, there is a possibility I am not the father. As to the identity of the other man, I am not at liberty to say except that I bear him no ill feelings."

"And if it is yours and is a Child of the Immortal? Will you acknowledge it?"

"If the child is mine, I will keep and acknowledge it as my own regardless of if it is a Child of the Immortal. I only care that it is healthy, not what it looks like."

When she'd seen his face, she knew he truly meant it, it'd been the first moment she'd fallen in love with him again. If only just for a moment. But there were many moments since. Especially now that she'd been ordered to live in Rivuk's tower under full house arrest.

Deneta was overjoyed, of course. For six years she'd only had her father and her nanny, and now she had two parents and a tutor thanks to Boz's firm insistence that Carak should remain as Lindsay's guard. He probably thought it was a way to remind her of his power, Lindsay thought. She couldn't help but marvel at how stupid he was.

She remembered how stupid he was every time she looked in the mirror and saw the scars around her lips.

Since they'd moved in, Lindsay had become a full-time mother to Deneta. It was fun and rewarding and utterly exhausting caring for a six-year-old, especially one who could fly. They were hard enough in two-dimensions, let alone three! But she was happy.

Deneta gave her a sense of peace about her own coming baby. Maybe she really could handle being a mother. At least, she thought that most of the time. Except when she couldn't get Deneta to come down and she'd counted to two and four fifths and thought she might cry or scream or tear her hair out and couldn't imagine what it was going to be like to have two of them flying around!

Rivuk reminded her that they didn't start really flying until they were in their second lanc. Deneta wouldn't require quite so much attention by then. And Lindsay was starting to see the possibility of happy years ahead of them, making a life as a family here.

Rivuk suggested Carak take over the tutoring duties and seemed especially eager to let go of the nanny. He made the excuse that with the new baby in her ever growing brood, Nylest could use her services, but Lindsay didn't believe it.