For about five seconds before she abruptly recalled the interlude with Hauk. Then guilt set in.
Either he didn’t notice or he thought it was just discomfort from a reminder of the disaster their liaison had resulted in. He left off playing with Nye, handed him over to his sister and crossed to meet her.
As thrilled as she was to go to breakfast with Gaelen, she was uneasy about running into Hauk and Kadin—especially Hauk. She tried to tell herself that she was just having breakfast with him and there was no reason for hard feeling on any side, but she wasn’t terribly successful. She was, therefore, tied in nervous knots when they got to the banquet hall where everyone seemed to have gathered for breakfast and she discovered they were sharing a table with Hauk and Kadin.
She’d never expected to find herself in such an uncomfortable position—being in the same room, much less at the same table, with three men she’d slept with!
It went beyond awkward.
Particularly since she was pregnant with one of them and had chosen to sleep with Hauk just the night before.
She thought she would have been uncomfortable anyway, even though the sex she’d had with Kadin and Gaelen had left her with deniability because the Sheloni had orchestrated it—for the simple reason that she hadn’t been against having sex with either one of them.
But there was no glossing over having sex with Hauk directly afterward, and when she was carrying someone else’s baby.
Of course, he’d said that the baby was theirs, plural, that the Sheloni had artificially inseminated her with a genetic cocktail that had combined the DNA of all three, but if they had, why throw her into the breeding pen? To stack the odds that she’d conceive if the implant didn’t take? To see if the men would fight over her?
She didn’t know what sort of things motivated the Sheloni. They seemed pretty coldblooded, but maybe purely for entertainment?
Maybe they’d just lied about it because they felt like it?
Meaning Hauk was wrong and she’d gotten pregnant in the breeding pen—which meant the baby belonged to Kadin or Gaelen—not Hauk.
Gaelen squeezed her hand as they sat. “Is ok, Emma.”
Emma felt her face heat up with discomfort. What was ok?Washe a mind reader?
Meant sarcastically, the thought jolted her that he might well be. He was alien. She didn’t know what he might be able to do—especially considering what she’d seen.
And he had ‘spoken’ to her in the ship.
She could feel a head ache coming on. Thankfully a server brought around plates of food and mugs of beverage. The ‘beverage’ smelled like something fermented—as in alcohol—which disappointed her. “I shouldn’t drink that. I wonder if I could get water?” Coffee would have been wonderful, but that was a luxury of the past.
Kadin flagged the server down and asked him to bring water for her.
Afraid to try to eat with her dry mouth until she had something to wash it down, Emma merely nibbled at the food, but it was enough to determine that, whatever it was, it was really good.
“Should eat for bebe,” Gaelen said disapprovingly.
Emma was disconcerted since she hadn’t told him she was pregnant—because she was still trying to figure out who the father was before she made an announcement! But she assumed Hauk had told. “I need to eat for me, but I don’t want to choke,” she said a little testily.
Kadin nodded. “Definitely breeding.”
She sent him a look and he laughed instead of looking quelled.
“Extenuating circumstances,” Hauk murmured.
She frowned. “What?”
“The beach thing,” he reminded her.
She gaped at him in dismay. “But … I didn’t do anything! I really didn’t.”
Gaelen patted her hand and she had to resist the urge to swat him.
“We know that, Emma,” Kadin said gently. “He was just pointing out that it explained the supposed animosity Valee is claiming.”
Emma didn’t like that worth a damn either. To her mind Valee was the one that felt animus and had provoked her—deliberately. She bit her tongue, though, instead of trying to argue her case with people that were already on her side. Especially since it sounded like they were working on her ‘defense’.
She’d hardly gotten any sleep. She was worried and she was scared. That wasn’t enough reason to be testy? Shewaspregnant. She was almost positive—both because she’d seen some signs and also because the Sheloni had removed her from the breeding pens.
But she didn’t see that it had had any effect on her personality, damn it!
And she hadn’t done anything to that hateful woman even though she’d wanted to.
The ‘devil’ arrived just about the time Emma’s water finally did, plunked the baby down on her lap and strolled off.
It was hard not to be annoyed.
Emma perched him on one knee, though, and ate what she managed to get to her mouth with Nye making a grab for every spoonful she scooped up.
Thankfully, Kadin came to her rescue, grabbing the baby and planting him on his own lap and holding his hands when he tried to grab his spoon.
Nye whined, but he didn’t scream like he was prone to when she thwarted him.
Another ‘not good at’ in her negative box she thought morosely.
Even if they didn’t behead her for encouraging Nye to try to kill his Hirachi nursemaid they would probably dismiss her for not being able to make him behave.
She was going to make a terrible mother—was already.
Before she could talk herself into crying, the guys got up and escorted her out although she wasn’t sure if it was because they saw tears were imminent or because Valee had made it back to the table with her plate.
Taking turns carrying the baby and entertaining him, they explored the castle/residence of the High King and the small village attached via tunnels and covered, ‘glassed in’ walkways that allowed views. It was enough of a distraction to divert Emma from her worries and she was so exhausted when they finally took her back to the King’s Suite that she could hardly hold
