The Goblin's Crown

Chapter Sixty Five: It's Only a Little Blackmail

Tova backed away until her backside hit the bed. She clung to it, wrapping a long arm around one of its four pollsters. "You knew?" She accused me, her eyes narrowing. "For how long?"

"It doesn't matter." I hissed through my teeth.

"For how long, Matilda?" She demanded. "How long have you known?"

I wiped the wetness from my face, my cheeks searing. I was ashamed to be seen crying like that. "Just a few days. Athane told me." I answered, swallowing a lump in my throat.

"There's life forming within you, taking shape in the forge of your womb. A life sparked in the Hollow's Boughs among smiling elves in flower crowns." Athane had whispered, her breath as cold as Mab's terrible power.

I hadn't wanted to believe it, hadn't wanted it to be true, but even as I'd accused her of spewing falsehoods, I knew that the only one lying to me was me. Tova herself had once said that The Hollow would give me my children when it saw fit. Well, it had chosen the worst possible time. A child was on its way whether I liked it or not.

Tova clenched her hand over her chest, her large eyes falling to my lower belly. "Do you know how far along you are?"

"A little over two months, I think," I replied, wondering if she would put two and two together and realize I'd conceived during her niece's binding ceremony. The Hollow's flowers really were potent.

"And you hadn't noticed signs before then?"

I shook my head, fisting my ashen skirt in my hands. Looking back, there had been signs, signs I'd either been too ignorant to notice or had ignored. With everything that had been going on with the war, I hadn't even realized how late my bleeding was. I felt like a stupid child beneath Tova's scrutinizing questioning.

"This is what I meant about you not being ready for what Knut wanted of you. You didn't even know what to expect." She muttered, shaking her head at me. "You shouldn't have come here in your condition. It's irresponsible." She snatched my wrist and drug me towards the door.

"What are you doing?" I dragged my feet, trying to pull free.

"I'm taking you to Stellan. You must be taken somewhere safe and hidden away until after the baby's born."

"I'm not going anywhere!" Stomping on her foot, she squealed in pain and released me.I whirled around on her and snatched her throat with the hand that bore the demon ring. I squeezed until both the ring and my fingers were dug into her flesh. "If you breathe one word of this to anyone, I will kill you, Tova. Do not make me kill you."

She scowled down at me. Her hands gripped my arm but made no attempt to pull my hand away. "What are you planning to do? You cannot continue fighting a war with a babe in your belly. You are being a selfish child."

"Selfish?" I spat, squeezing a little tighter. Selfish was the farthest thing from what I was being.

Her grip on my arm tightened. She spoke through gritted teeth, spittle forming at the corners of her mouth. " You don't understand. If you were to get hurt...if you but overexert yourself you could lose the baby."

"You don't think I know that!" I snarled, shoving her harder. Her head smacked hard against the wall and she winced. Part of what had horrified me so when Athane had whispered this truth to me, besides the fact of my child's very existence, was knowing that he was already inside of me when I fell into The City of Thorns and hit every thorny vine on the way down. It was a miracle he'd survived it, let alone through all the fighting I'd done since. Not even born yet and already so strong.

"If you do, it doesn't seem like it." She said. "I beg you, Matilda, put away your own ambitions and think of your son."

"I am thinking of him!" My voice cracked tellingly. With one more halfhearted shove, I released her. I backed away, wrapping my arms around myself as I watched her warily through my lashes. She stayed where she was, gingerly touching her offended neck where my hand had wrapped around it. "What would you have me do, Tova? Abandon Knut? Let him die?" I asked, my voice trembling with a mixture of rage and terror.