“It was interesting,” I hedge. “Your packing and planning were perfect.”
“Of course it was,” she says with all seriousness in her tone of voice. “But tell me more.”
I can’t help but laugh a little before sobering when I realize what I need to ask of her. Suddenly I’m extremely nervous because what if I’m not pregnant? Will Rhys be upset that it might take a while? Or worse… what if I am? Will I be a good mother? And what if the Serpents manage to kill me? What will happen to my baby.
I realize I’m starting to hyperventilate when Dahlia grabs me by the arm and asks, “What is it? You’re worrying me.”
“I need you to do something for me,” I tell her. “But you can’t tell anyone.”
“Anything,” she replies. “I’d do anything for you after all you’ve done for me. I love you. You’re my sister in all but blood. So whatever it is, my answer is yes.”
“I need you to get me a pregnancy test.” Immediately, I have to curb her excited screaming. “Shushhhhh! You can’t say anything. This is a secret and… probably I’m worrying over nothing.”
“Right, right,” she says. “Secret. I’ll get right on that.”
“Thank you.”
“Always,” she says, hugging me again, only much gentler this time.
I roll my eyes as she begins to pull away, but stop her before she heads out on her errand. “Wait, where are my pets?”
“Oh,” she laughs. “Rhys took them to the office with him.”
“Okay. Thanks for everything,” I tell her. “I’ll be in the library. Come find me when you source it, please.”
“Of course. I’m dying to know.”
“Shush. Off with you,” I laugh and make my way to the library.
• ••
There is not one book in this vast library that can hold my attention. Belle would be so disappointed in me. It’s been an hour and a half and I can’t focus to save my life. I want to cry and scream because this is not like me. Old me would have been over the moon with a quiet rainy day alone in the massive library of a castle where no one would bother me. But new me is currently losing her mind waiting to find out if she’s pregnant or not.
There’s a knock at the door and I jump, knocking my book off of the side table, not that I was reading it anyway. Dahlia pushes open the door with wide eyes and nods her head to the side in a not-so-subtle way of telling me to follow her.
We walk down the hall to my rooms and push open the door heading straight for the bathroom. She begins unloading the plain paper bag from the chemist. I wonder how she got there and back so fast.
“I got you three different brands and one bottle of water in case you canno’ wee,” she says, her brogue thickening with excitement.
“I don’t even know how you got it done so fast,” I tell her with wide eyes.
“I paid my favorite maid to run down and get me them,” she says. “With my misspent youth not so far in the past, I’m afraid half the household staff with think I’ve fallen off the wagon again.”
“Jesus. Dahlia, I’m so sorry,” I tell her. “I would never want you to tarnish your hard-fought reputation for me. Not after how hard you’ve worked to get better.”
“Oh, hush you,” she says with a smile, taking my hand in hers and giving it a squeeze. “This intrigue is the most fun I’ve had in ages. Now go piss on some sticks, will ya?”
“Fine, fine,” I laugh and grab the boxes. I go in and do my thing and when I’m done, we set them on the counter all lined up like little soldiers ready to make all my dreams come true or hurt my feelings. I have no idea which at the moment.
Dahlia sets a three-minute timer on her phone, and we go and sit in the sitting room, just staring at each other like serial killers probably do. Ohmigod, I need to stop with the true crime documentaries while my life is mimicking one.
When the timer sounds, we jump up and race back to the bathroom, stopping at the counter. Neither of us are looking at the tests, neither of us are reaching for them either. Our eyes lock in the mirror and I tell her, “Whatever it says, we’re happy.”
“Right,” she whispers.
“I can do this.”
“You can do this,” she repeats.