Lycan's Affection

Conaan's eyes slowly left Eleanor, and he looked up to the physician. She still had a smile on her face, one that if she probably wasn't an elderly woman, he would have wiped off.

"Wait. Eleanor is pregnant? Could it be...could the child be that wolf's? Oh lord! This is an abomination!"

Conaan's eyes blinked rapidly, his chest heaving slightly. She couldn't be pregnant. He could accept her in whatever way she came but...

He looked down at her face again, his fingers gently caressing the side of her face. Esmeralda kept talking, but it all seemed to pass over him.

"What would the lycans say? Their king's mate is pregnant with the son of the enemy! This is terrible! What would happen if they find out? This is a disaster. Conaan, you can not marry Eleanor now. She is..."

Conaan chuckled darkly, then brought his hand to the headband on his forehead. He pulled it off violently, causing his hair to fall back.

"Look at me, woman."

The physician swallowed, the smile on her eyes melting away. "You..."

"Say it again."

She swallowed, turning to Esmeralda. The cold steel of his small pocket knife brought her face back to face him.

"Conaan, what are you doing?" Esmeralda said, but he raised a finger to stop her.

"Lie to me one more time. I want to hear it."

"This is...this is really what I felt, I was just..."

"Go on." He urged, his eyes thinning as the knife glided down to her throat.

"P...please. I...I..have children. Please don't..."

Conaan nodded, holding her eyes. "I could have saved you."

She swallowed, going silent as his eyes held hers in place, creating a small, unnoticeable link. He suddenly stood, bringing Eleanor into his arms. Without another word, he was gone, everything they had brought into the temple left behind.

Carol melted into the ground, her hand on her chest, her eyes filled with tears.

"He wouldn't do anything to you. I know that much," Esmeralda said, her lips curling into a smile.

"What are you going to do? He doesn't believe the pregnancy lie, obviously." Carol stood, her hand on the small cut just above her throat.

"I never needed him to believe it."

Carol swallowed, turning back in the direction Conaan had gone, her heart a little heavy. "Where...where is my money?"

Esmeralda turned to her with a small smile. "I did promise you money. It will be taken to your home."

Carol's brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I will deliver the money to your home. You will not be able to take it yourself."

Carol's eyes bulged as she took a frantic step backward, her breaths ceased in her throat. She didn't get too far, before two men from nowhere came over her, gagging her mouth.

Whatever she said was muffled and inaudible and they brought her to her knees, kicking her stomach when she wouldn't yield. Without as much as a glance, Esmeralda walked away, her eyes thinned.

Conaan laid Eleanor on his very own bed, his eyes low. She was still unconscious, and Brandon had immediately gone for the healer.

He sat beside her, his mind feeling blank. Not because he wanted it to be. But because it simply was.

He felt like there was too much to feel, and none at all. He blinked slowly.

What if she was really pregnant? What if she was really carrying Alexander's child? Would he really want to stand by her to watch her labour for a child that wasn't his?

He swallowed as the door behind him opened, and Brandon came in with the healer behind him.

Brandon came beside Conaan and leaned down to him. "Your highness. I found nothing at the temple. I will keep searching but..."

"Do not worry. The woman is dead."

Brandon's brows furrowed, his eyes momentarily flicking to what the healer was doing. "How do you know? Who killed her?"

"Probably Esmeralda. My mind link was cut off."

"She could have..."

"No. She is dead."

Brandon swallowed. "Why did you not try to save her?"

Conaan turned to Brandon, his eyebrows raised. "Why would I do that? When I would be having two birds kill themselves for me?"

"What do you mean?"

Conaan said nothing, then slowly stood up from the seat, his eyes set in determination. "Look after her. I will be going on the trip alone."

"But, Your highness....it is late. Also, the elders..."

"They can wait. Take care of Eleanor."

Brandon nodded slowly as Conaan walked away, his fists clenched beside him.

Eleanor woke up slowly with a mild headache. She couldn't quite figure out where she was or what had happened. The room was dark, and no one seemed to be there apart from her.

"Conaan?"

Her voice was fragile, and she tried to push herself to a sitting position.

"He is gone. He brought you back and left on that trip. He will be back in a week."

She turned to Brandon who had suddenly appeared beside her bed. "He left?"

Brandon nodded. "Yes. You need to rest more. We are not sure whst happened to you yet."

She swallowed, feeling a pang of hurt. Conaan had left even though she was sick. It felt almost like he did not see the point of staying.

She swallowed as Brandon helped her back into the sheets, then tucked her in.

"Was the trip urgent?"

He turned to her. "You mean where his highness went?"

She nodded. "Was it so urgent he could not wait for me to wake up?"

Brandon swallowed. He didn't know all the details either. All he had heard were confusing sentences from Conaan and not much of anything else. He wasn't sure what to say to her.

"Don't worry with an answer. I got one already."

Brandon swallowed. "His highness would do anything for you, Eleanor. You know that much."

She didn't reply, and Brandon gave a sigh.

"Even if you are carrying another man's child."

Eleanor turned sharply, her eyes wide. "What?"

"When Conaan took you to the temple, a physician checked you. She told him you were pregnant. It can't be Conaan's. We all know the only man it could have belonged to."

Eleanor felt the strings of her heart cut up one after the other, her chest heaving with pain she didn't know how to quantify.

"That is not true! I and Alexander..."

"How are you going to explain it to His Highness? Do you realize he stayed chaste for you even though he didn't even know if you were coming back? What do you want to tell him? That you feel angry he had to leave when he has gone through so much just for you? When he is still going through so much just for you?"

She swallowed, her chest heaving with tears. Her hands came up around her stomach, and he tightened it, like she wanted to spit out a baby if there was any.

"I am not pregnant..." she said, looking up to Brandon.

He swallowed. "I know."

Without another word, he left the room.