Page 82 of Bred

“Your position will change, of course, but Tannyl will be assigned as your doctor.”

I looked up in surprise. “He will?”

Artin’s lips pressed into a thin line.

“And what will happen to me after?”

“After? After what?”

“After the child is born.”

Artin’s bitter laughter filled the room. “The child will be well cared for. It will be a ruler of this great kingdom. That is the price.”

“And what about me?”

“You?”

My fingers twisted in my lap. “Me. What happens to me? There is a harem for the royal surrogates, isn’t there? Somewhere for them to live out their days in luxury and comfort?”

“Is that what you believe?”

My throat was tight.

“Is it not true?”

Artin came closer, and I could smell the richness of her perfume. “There is no such place. Could you imagine the cost of such a thing? The kingdom would never allow it. No surrogate survives the birth of a royal child.”

Her voice was a hiss, and every word chilled me to the bone.

“You’re lying,” I whispered.

“Am I?” she said. “Do you love the king?”

“I—”

Venali fucked me like he loved me… and my heart had betrayed me on far too many occasions to deny that I loved him. The way I felt around him was inescapable. It could be nothing else but love.

“Consider it carefully,” Artin said. “Perhaps there is a way that your life might be spared.”

I swallowed hard. “What do you mean?”

“I will say no more of it now,” she replied. “But you would be well advised to forget your ridiculous dreams. Your life matters only as long as you carry that child in your belly. Afterward—”

Her voice trailed away and left an ominous silence in its wake. She was threatening me, but at the same time warning me. I didn’t know what it meant, only that everything had changed. The only security I had ever known had been ripped out from under me, and I was adrift.

Artin straightened and brushed her hands over her watersilk bodice. “The servants will come to take you to your new chambers,” she said. “Keep your worries to yourself. Tannyl and I will work on your behalf.”

“And I am to trust that you will?”

Artin’s smile was as cold and empty as her eyes. “Of course,” she said. “You are our responsibility. Where would you be if it were not for us?”

As she swept from the room, I couldn’t decide if her words were a threat or a promise, or a mixture of both. Whatever the truth was, I was in danger.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Inasecludedwingof the citadel just below the royal quarters, the first months of my pregnancy passed in relative solitude. My only visitors, aside from the constant stream of servants who granted my every request without question, were Tannyl and the king. Artin did not visit or check on my progress herself, and I was grateful for it. I didn’t think I could look at her face or listen to her smugly cold voice without reacting ever again.

I was surprised that the frequency of Venali’s visits did not change, but I didn’t know what I should have expected. Perhaps Artin’s words had done their work, and I was surprised when he did not forsake my bed or his interest in my changing body.