The next morning I woke up before Adrian, I got up carefully, so as not to wake him, and went downstairs, making him a pot of coffee. He came downstairs a few minutes later. He walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing my shoulder.
"Good morning, beautiful," he whispered.
"Morning," I smiled and turned around, kissing him properly. "I made you coffee."
"Thanks," He poured himself a mug then sat beside me at the island; I pulled out eggo's and made some for each of us. As we ate Adrian turned to me, "What do you want to do today?"
I shrugged and continued eating. He rolled his eyes at me and chuckled. I stuck my tongue out at him, making him lean over and bite it, then kiss me lovingly. As we were kissing, someone knocked on the door; I broke away and stood up. Adrian followed me to the door, his arm wrapped around my waist. When I opened the door, I wished I'd thrown on more than just Adrian's t-shirt. Outside stood two of the royal guard.
"Ms. Aldaine, the Queen demands your presence and yours alone," one commanded. I shared a look with Adrian, who immediately took over.
"Tell my aunt that she will be there in an hour and if she complains tell her I needed to get ready to take my very pregnant fiancée to the other side of court," he glared at them, clearly showing his authority. He knew as well as I did that something was up.
"Of course, Lord Ivashkov," the Dhampir said with a bow. Adrian shut the door, then without a word he led me upstairs. He dug through my clothes for a moment before pulling out an elegant, business-y white dress. It clung to my stomach, but in such a way that it still seemed quite classy. He then pulled out a black blazer and a necklace with stunning aquamarines that he'd gotten me a few weeks after we started dating. He helped me dress in them, his brow furrowed. He led me into the bathroom and helped me as I straightened then pulled the top half of my hair back and clipped it, leaving me looking amazing for someone who was eight months pregnant with triplets. I did my makeup, a light dusting of gold eye shadow and mascara and eyeliner, along with light red lips. When I turned to Adrian, he was holding beautiful diamond earrings. They were teardrop shaped, the insides were huge light blue diamonds surrounded by tiny black and blue ones. He smiled at me.
"I was going to give them to you after you had the triplets, but I think now is as good a time as any." I put my hands on the sides of his face and brought his lips roughly to mine, for a second he didn't react, and then he responded in kind, his hands gripping into my hair. We stood there in the bathroom kissing intently for a minute, before I remembered we still needed to make it to the other side of court. I put the earrings in, fixed my makeup, and we set off. As soon as we got to the castle/official building/bitch HQ Adrian turned me to face him, a hand on either shoulder. "Okay, I want you to be careful in there, she won't hurt you but she will try to bend you to her will. Just remember that you need to follow your heart. Don't let her change you, okay? I love you. Stay strong. Got it?"
I nodded and hugged him tightly, "I love you too, and nothing, not even your bitchy great aunt can change that, don't worry. I love you." He kissed me then turned me towards the door to her 'throne room'. I walked in confidently… or as confidently as I could waddle. I heard Adrian laughing at me, which just made me smile. It fell off my face as soon as I saw the icy glare that came from the Queen.
"Ms. Aldaine," she said the ice in her voice only matched by that in her eyes.
"Your majesty," I calmly replied, giving her a small bow.
She glared at me, then stood up and circled me like a vulture. I stood perfectly still as she examined me. "So," she began, her voice turned icier still. "You think it appropriate to give my grandnephew heirs, conceived and born out of wedlock?" She glared again, meeting my gaze, as if daring me to disagree. When I said nothing, she continued, "Well it's not." With that statement her voice lost the iciness, but it was replaced with red-hot fury. I continued to stand there, one hand on my back, the other rubbing my belly. "You will leave at once," she spat. "I will not have some human whore and her spawn taint my grandnephew any longer. I will arrange for transportation and will pay you a large sum, monthly, to keep you away, more than he would ever dream of having. You will not tell Adrian where you are going and you will not come back." As she talked she got increasingly closer to me, until she was right in my face, spitting out her words full of hate. I was trying to remain calm and professional, but it was getting increasingly harder. I felt the tears pricking my eyes. "You will not ruin my nephew. You don't deserve him, and he shouldn't have to put up with you because you didn't think to use protection," the word held so much venom in it; it could have killed a person with a single bite. "You and your children are nothing but a mistake Adrian's making."
I took a deep breath before I spoke; I blinked back the tears then calmly replied, "No." She looked at me confused for a moment; she obviously wasn't used to being denied anything. I continued on, before I lost my will. "You don't get to make decisions for me, my children, or my fiancé. I'm staying. I don't give a flying fuck about his money, him, however, I care a great deal about. The last time we were a part, it nearly killed us both. Even you can't deny that I've been good for him. He hasn't gotten drunk a single time since he came to L.A. and saw that I was pregnant. He has changed completely so that he can be a father. And not just a father, but a dad and a damn good one at that! I'm not going anywhere. You can threaten me all you want, but I'm staying. Now I have things I need to do. Goodbye." And with that, I left, moving at a much quicker pace then when I walked in. As soon as the doors shut behind me I ran into Adrian's arms, sobbing.
"Shh, baby, I'm here, it's okay. I'm right here. I got you honey. Everything's okay. I've got you. Shh, it's okay." He soothed, holding on tightly, rubbing my back. He picked me up bridal style, and carried me, my head burrowed into his shoulder, to Lissa's house.