Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“Daphne, take a deep breath and calm down.”
I am out of control. I can feel it. But I don’t care anymore. My inner beast has been unleashed, and she is wounded and bloody and wants to flee. I have to protect myself. I’m not going to just let a Godwin kill me. I’m not going to just sit here as ready prey.
“My sister and I need to leave. I want to leave.”
“We’ll leave as soon as I can—”
“I’m no longer talking about going to town or even going back to Seattle. I mean, that my sister and I need to truly leave. Leave Seattle, maybe even leave the country. We need to go somewhere where your family can’t find us,” I say. This is the first time since Apollo kidnapped me and took me to Heathens Hollow, that I’m actually coming up with an escape plan. An escape plan that doesn’t involve… my husband.
“Absolutely not.” Apollo never raises his voice once.
“You know I have to. You know Troy will kill me.”
Apollo shakes his head. “No, he won’t.”
I smirk. “You’re right. He won’t. But Athena will. That’s why she’s flying here right now. She has her marching orders. She’s the new hitman now that Ares is dead.”
“Neither one of them are going to kill you because I have a plan,” he says.
“A plan? What?”
He takes my hand and brings me into the study. He then walks over to the desk and pulls out a thin box and hands it to me. “It may be too soon. And maybe it hasn’t happened yet. But there’s a chance. And even if it hasn’t happened yet, we’re going to stay here at Olympus until it does.”
I peer at the box, not understanding why he’s handing me it, although my gut starts churning as if in preparation for the hurricane coming.
“A pregnancy test?” I croak out.
“We haven’t been using protection, and we’ve definitely been trying.” He gives a smirk, but I’m not finding this funny in the slightest. “So go see if you are.”
“Why?” I’m staring at the man but not seeing him. My knees lock so they don’t completely buckle as they’re threatening to do.
“Because if you’re carrying my child—a Godwin child—neither my father nor my sister will harm a hair on that beautiful head of yours. They won’t allow a Godwin to grow up without a mother. They will want the best for that baby. For the heir.” He points to the door. “Go take the test.”
I don’t know how I am able to will my feet to walk, or how I can steady my hands enough to take the test, but I somehow do. And as I walk back into the study where Apollo is anxiously waiting, I extend my hand to him with the test.
“Well?” he says, rushing to me to take the test to see for himself.
I don’t say anything. I need to see him read the results to make sure what I saw was correct.
“Two lines! Two lines means pregnant right?” He looks at me with a wide grin that shows off every possible laugh line on his face. “You’re pregnant!”
Chapter
Thirty-Five
Apollo
Daphne doesn’t appear happy. She doesn’t appear upset. There’s zero emotion on her face. It’s as if she has stared at Medusa herself and turned to stone.
I lean forward and kiss her lips, noticing that she doesn’t kiss me back. She’s stunned, which I guess can be expected since she wasn’t in on my plan of trying to get her knocked up so my family will consider her off limits to murder. Having a child with Daphne is the only way to bind this family back together. It is also the only way to truly make her mine. She may have been Apollo’s wife, but she is now the mother of my child. My child. Not Apollo’s.
But we never used protection once. She had to know we were taking a chance. I already knew she wasn’t on birth control because I had her doctor records sent to me the minute we arrived at Olympus, and I began to put this plan in motion.
She shakes her head from side to side slowly. “No. I can’t be pregnant.”
I hold up the test. “It says different.” I give her a smile. “Which is great news. You’re going to be an amazing mother and—”
“It’s impossible.”
“I know this is shocking, but it’s fantastic news.”
Her eyes narrow. “You can’t have children, Apollo.”
“What?” I take a step back from her so I can get a clearer view of her entire body. “What are you talking about?”
“You can’t have children.” Her voice raises. “There’s no way that I can be pregnant. We went to doctors. We saw the best specialists. They couldn’t have all been wrong. And you aren’t standing here claiming it’s a miracle so…” Her eyes widen as she puts her shaky hand to her mouth. “You can’t have children. But… Oh my god. Apollo can’t have children…”