Apollo

Chapter Twenty-Three

A/N Hey guys!!! Yay for semi-punctual updates? Sorry this is a day or so late! I hope you enjoy this one – no cliffhanger this time 😉 Before I jump into the chapter, though, I'd like to take a moment to say a huge THANK YOU for 1k reads on Apollo and 6k reads on Artemis! It's honestly crazy that people read this stuff. I'm super honoured and I hope you guys enjoy reading the rest of the story as I enjoy writing it! x Leanne

EMMETT LOCKHART AND VICTORIA ARDEN SAT IN SILENCE, NEITHER SURE of what to say to the other.

He closed his eyes and took a breath. He could still feel the sting of his sister's palm meeting his face; but more than that he could feel, acutely, the pain she had left in his heart. "How could you?" she'd spat at him with tears brimming in her eyes; then she'd fled the room with Prince Alexander running after her, and his heart had shattered. He hadn't meant to upset her so...he hadn't meant to do anything, really, he hadn't been thinking very much at all as he declared that the child was his.

Georgeanne Arden had, of course, demanded that he take responsibility for his supposed child. He agreed to marry Victoria within the month.

The look of disappointment on his father's face had crushed him. Duke Westchester had seemed equally dismayed. He'd responded to William's profuse apologies with a resigned smile, saying that this was, in a way, what they'd wanted all along; he only wished that his daughter would have been more discerning and honest. William said the same of his son. Both men had then left the room, looking rather heavyhearted, with the duchess in tow.

"I'm sorry," Emmett blurted out presently.

"You were trying to save my skin," she said, wiping the silent tears off her cheeks. Everyone hated her now, she knew it. Her father had looked particularly disconcerted as he spoke with Duke Mayfair, and perhaps it was not her mother's fury that upset her most but the sadness she had spied in her beloved Papa's eyes. "You made a sacrifice for me. I should be thanking you."

There was a yet another drawn-out silence between them before he spoke again, his question spoken quietly but jarring to both their ears.

"Who is the father?"

She sighed. "I suppose I must tell you now, mustn't I?"

"It would be preferable to know whose child I am taking responsibility for, yes." He had meant to jest, to lighten the mood for both their sakes, but the words left his mouth sad and lifeless, and sounded like more of a lament than anything.

"The baby...It is Prince Javier's," she admitted softly. She was almost ashamed to say his name, for more reasons than one.

"You love him." It was more of a statement than anything; she had mentioned her lover to him before, not by name, but she had spoken of her affections for him once, during one of their campus conversations.

She confirmed it anyway – they both needed to hear it come from her mouth.

"Yes."

"You said he will not see you."

"No, he will not. He had a broken heart already, and now I have broken it beyond repair...and my baby will pay the price." She swallowed. "I did not know about the child yet when I last spoke to him, but he said that, should there be one, he would finance it. That I would have use of the palace doctors."

"I suppose it may at least be said that he is better than some men." He shook his head sadly. "I really am sorry, Lady Victoria, for everything that has happened to you."

"You can be blamed for none of it," she said. "It is quite the opposite, actually. I...I only fail to understand why you would do such a thing for me. The baby, it is not yours...You did not have to say it was. Now you will have to face my parents, and your sister is clearly upset with you...None of this is your responsibility."