The Invisible Planet

Part 52: Regret

Shay sat silently in the castle's hall, staring through the banister at the beautiful sunset. He had found Angel and Aster's clothes still sitting neatly in the bucket on the forest floor and returned them to her while she slept, taking with him the shirt he'd torn off her.

He lifted the fabric to his face, breathing in the smell of her. A lump rose in his throat, but he forced it down with a deep breath. There was a selfish part of him that wanted Angel's baby to be his, but he knew well the consequences. There had never been a human hybrid born, even in the days when they had been allowed to venture off planet.

Precautions were always taken, but human birth control methods were liable to fail from time to time. Takka had come to him in a panic. The woman he'd been casually seeing for the last two months was pregnant, despite their use of contraceptives.

Unsure of what to do, Shay had gone to Thalia, who went straight to Marius. He commanded the woman be brought to Serenia, but when she arrived, he cut her down immediately. To see her murdered just for the mistake of sleeping with one of them haunted Shay.

If that were to happen to Angel...

The sound of heels clicking against the crystal floor echoed down the hall, drawing him from his thoughts. He crumpled the shirt and tucked it into his cloak.

"I can feel your lamenting from the other end of the dining hall. What happened?" Takka asked.

"Nothing."

"Shay, I've known you over two hundred years. You can't hide anything from me at this point. What's wrong? How'd it go with miss trouble?"

He sighed. "She's pregnant."

Takka laughed. "You dog!"

"It's not mine."

He frowned in confusion. "What?"

"I'm not completely daft, I did give her Night Berries."

"And you're sure she ate them?"

Shay hesitated. She had sworn to him that she had, but he couldn't help noticing the flicker of guilt she immediately felt. Still, it didn't necessarily mean she had lied. Perhaps she merely felt she had hurt him by admitting it wasn't his child. "Yes," he said finally. "She swore it. It's Aster's."

"Interesting." He was grinning as though he knew something, and it made Shay want to smack him upside the head.

"What are you playing at?" he asked irritably.

"Is a week and a half really long enough to be showing symptoms? Most pregnancies aren't noticeable before two or three weeks."

"Night Berries work from the moment of conception," Shay argued. "And it has been two weeks."

Takka raised his hands in surrender. "No need to be defensive, if it's not yours."

"It can't be. Kita's magic isn't fallible the way human contraceptives are."

"Assuming she ate the berries."

"What makes you think she didn't?"

Takka shrugged with a smirk. "Call it a hunch. Maybe we should ask Thalia for a second opinion."

Shay bolted up from the ground and grabbed him by the throat, pushing him back against the column. "Don't you dare play with her life. So help me, if you get her killed, I will skin you alive every day for the rest of eternity."

He was still grinning, but it quickly faded into a cold stare. "Is that what I should've done to you?" he asked.

Shay loosened his grip and took a step back, lowering his gaze to the side as regret welled up from his gut. "You've had a century to get back at me for what happened, and it was an accident. I had no idea Marius could be that cruel. If you cause her death on purpose, you are lower than I could ever be."

Takka shrugged, regaining his nonchalant demeanor. "No matter. It's no fun if it's not even your child. Anyway, you don't have to worry. I'm invested, now. I'm dying to see how this all plays out." He offered another smirk before he stalked away, back down the hall from where he'd come.