Readers, I'm sorry that I haven't been updating as usual. I've just been very busy with three core classes in college. I can't promise that I'll be able to update as usual until the middle of December.
After the hidden attack by Comtesse Nanette and her three children, Adam and Sagittarius had been taking extra special care for Belle and Sapphire, especially now that they found out that their brides are pregnant. Besides Adam, Sagittarius, Belle and Sapphire, the only other person who knows about the girls being pregnant is Henrietta. They didn't want to spread the news because they didn't want that information to reach Nanette and have her start accusing Belle and Sapphire of being with other men. They just wanted to keep that secret between the five of them until after the wedding. Also because Adam was focusing his time with Belle, he really didn't deal with anything else with his kingdom, but the other ranks that were invited understood his situation and decided to help him with that part.
To prove how much of time Adam and Sagittarius were with their brides, they just wouldn't let Belle and Sapphire out of their sight. The girls didn't mind, they didn't want Sagittarius and Adam to leave them alone, at least for a while. They didn't want to admit it, but they were scared of being left alone. They didn't know what Henrietta did to Nanette and her three kids, but they didn't want to take a chance of running into them again. If Adam or Sagittarius ever really had to leave Sapphire or Belle, they would lock the doors to their rooms, take the keys with them, and let Belle and Sapphire be in charge of who to let in.
One night, Sagittarius came back into his room after he and Adam had to deal with very important wedding issues. He knocked on the bedroom door five times, letting Sapphire know that it was him coming back into the room. Sagittarius unlocked the door and walked in to see Sapphire out of the bed and sitting over at a small table.
"Sapphire, you should be back in bed." Sagittarius pushed as he closed the door behind him.
"I'm still living, I don't have to be in bed if I don't want to." Sapphire said with her back still towards him; then Sagittarius saw a needle come up in her hand and go back down. He walked over to his bride to see what she might possibly be working on, he was still a little concerned because of what happened to her left eye.
"Sweetheart, you can't blame me for feeling this way with you." He said as he walked up next to Sapphire. That's when he saw what Sapphire was working on, it was her silver dress that Nanette's son ripped apart. "My dear, I can get someone at our castle to fix your dress."
"I know you're looking out for me, Sagittarius." Sapphire said, "I don't blame you for what you're feeling, but I can't let anyone else put their hands on this dress. You understand the importance, don't you?" Sagittarius sighed as he put his arms around his bride.
"I absolutely do." He answered as he remembered when Sapphire first wore the silver dress. She wore it at the New Year's Eve party after his curse was broken...and when she gave her life to save her cousin, Stephanie, which caused her family curse to break.
"I plan to make it looser when I'm done with it," Sapphire said, "I know I'm going to gain more weight in the next few months."
"Sapphire...I don't mean to be pushy or anything of the sort, but...why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?" Sagittarius asked.
"Because...despite how many times we fooled in the bed, I wasn't completely sure if I was or not." She answered, "Even I'm not sure about my own body, despite the symptoms I've been having: nausea, fatigue, back pain...and strange food cravings." Just then, Sapphire's stomach rumbled and she bent over.
"Are you okay?" Sagittarius asked as he went over to Sapphire's front.
"Yes...the baby just kicked me in my stomach...and we're hungry."
"I'll go and get you something to eat." Sagittarius quickly offered, "Is there something specific you want?"
"I know it sounds silly...but can you bring me a side of beef with a big bowl of milk and honey?"
"Of course, I'll be back." Sagittarius said as he left the room. He locked the door and went to the kitchen.
As Sagittarius reached the kitchen, he did his own work to cook for Sapphire. While he was cooking the meat, he heard a voice.
"I knew I smelled something cooking." Sagittarius turned around and saw Adam closing the kitchen door behind him.
"What brings you down here, cousin?" Sagittarius asked.
"Belle's got a bad craving for a salad covered in olive oil with a side of boiled eggs." Adam said, "I still can't believe she's pregnant."
"I knew you had it in you to do that with her." Sagittarius added with a smile. "Before I get ahead of myself, I'll cook the eggs if you want. Sapphire has a bad food craving as well."
"To be honest, I'm surprised that you know how to cook." Adam said.
"Well, my father wanted me to include cooking lessons in my learning." Sagittarius said as he removed the beef of the stove and set it on a plate. "So...how do you think we'll be able to do our weddings?"
"I'm...not sure." Adam answered as he prepared the salad. "Aunt Henrietta went through great lengths to bring all these royals here and the Comtesse decided to ruin it for everyone, not just the five of us."
"True," Sagittarius said as he put some eggs in a pot of water. "I really want the four of us to go through with our weddings, but...I don't want to push the girls if they're not feeling better."
"Now you know how I feel." Adam said, "Belle keeps having nightmares about what Karlitis had done to her and Sapphire. It's hard for her to go to sleep."
"I'm surprised that you're able to concentrate during the day if Belle keeps waking you up."
"I'm just barely able to concentrate, if anyone needs me." Adam added as he grabbed silverware, "Belle knows that her nightmares wakes both of us up so she lets me sleep during the day, but I can't help but be worried. I don't know if the baby inside her is still alive after what Karlitis did to her."
"Try not to think about that, cousin." Sagittarius added, "I understand you're worried about what will happen, but you can't focus your energy on that. You just need to focus on what's going on now...and that is our soon-to-be wives are pregnant and we have to help take care of themselves." Adam knew that his cousin was trying to help, but he couldn't help but worry. "Well, your eggs are done." Sagittarius added as he put the boiled eggs in a bowl. "I need to head back to Sapphire before she starts eating the bed frame." Sagittarius took the side of beef and the bowl of milk and honey on a platter and left the kitchen. Adam put the salad and the bowl of eggs on a platter and also left the kitchen.
When Adam approached his bedroom door, he knocked on the door four times to let Belle know that it was him. He then took a key out to unlock the door; he walked to see Belle on within his sight.
"Belle?" Adam called out, he then heard groaning coming from his bathroom. Adam put the platter on a small table and went over to the bathroom door, he didn't knock on it, but he put his ear against the door to hear what was going on.
"I know you're there, Adam." He heard from behind the door.
"I didn't mean to intrude or disturb you, Belle." Adam said, "I was just wondering what you were doing."
"I decided to take a bath, to help the nausea and my back pain." Belle answered, "It also something to do while I waited on you."
"I didn't mean to take so long," he said as leaned against the wall next to the door, "I ran into Sagittarius, it turns out Sapphire had food cravings like you."
"Pregnancy is very strange." Belle said as she came out of the bathroom. "I sometimes wonder how our mothers dealt with theirs."
"I put your salad and eggs on the small table over there." Adam said not looking at Belle, he just wanted to give Belle her privacy in case she wasn't dressed.
"Thank you." Belle said as she put her nightgown on. "You can turn back around now." Adam turned his head back and saw Belle go over to the table.
"I do have a question to ask you." He said.
"What's that?" She asked as she sprinkled salt and pepper over a boiled egg.
"Should we tell our mothers that you're pregnant?" He asked.
"I...really haven't thought about how they would react to news like that." Belle answered, "I really don't know on how we could tell them...especially when we're so close to being married...and the two of us being half-human and half-sorceress."
"That shouldn't mean anything." A female voice spoke up, it startled Belle so much that when she went to stand up, she knocked her knees to the table legs.
"Ouch!" Belle shouted as she sat back down.
"Are you okay?" Adam asked going over to her.
"I'll live, but who said that?" She asked.
"It must be Chaux." Adam said, but then he remembered that it was nighttime and Chaux sleeps at night. "Wait a minute, Chaux doesn't come out at night."
"Forgive me for intruding, master." The female voice spoke again.
"There's only one person that I know who calls me that who isn't human...and that's Citron." Adam spoke as he raised his head to the ceiling. That's when he saw Chaux's moth sister, Citron. She flew down to the table that Belle knocked her knees against.
"It's been quite sometime since I last saw you, master." Citron said, but then out of nowhere, Belle raised her hand and was going to squash Citron. Citron quickly flew out of the way before Belle's hand crushed her.
"Come back here!" Belle shouted as she chased Citron all over the room.
"What did I do?" Citron shouted; dodging Belle's hands. Just then, Adam caught Citron by her wings. When Adam caught her, Belle stopped running, but she was still very upset.
"Citron, are you that oblivious?" Adam asked calmly.
"To what?" Citron asked again, "What did I do?"
"You told my mother that Adam and I were in the same bed!" Belle almost shouted.
"That's it?" Citron asked, but all that did was make Belle even more mad, "I just thought you would want her to know."
"Absolutely not!" Belle pushed, "I don't care what your job is for us, you should have never done that!"
"I am sorry." Citron finally said, "I won't tell Veronica anything you don't want her to know."
"I'll forgive you...this time." Belle groaned.
"But Citron, why are you here?" Adam asked.
"Lady Temps sent me to tell you some important and good news." Citron answered, "She said it herself that she would've sent my sister, but my sister sleeps at night and can't see at night."
"What news is it?" Belle asked.
"Lady Temps wanted me to tell you two that you no longer have to worry about...a man named 'Anton'." Citron answered, as usual, when Belle heard his name, she almost lost her appetite and got sick.
"Be careful when you say that name." Adam warned as Belle held onto her stomach. "So what good news do you have about...him?"
"Lady Temps says you no longer have to worry about him, she took it upon herself to deal with him." Citron answered, "Not only did she place a spell on him to turn in into an animal, she erased his memory about human and everything he did or knew about being human." When Belle heard that, she felt so relieved that she no longer had to be so afraid.
"Thank you heaven." Belle said with such relief. When Adam saw how relieved Belle was, he felt very happy. In fact, he decided to release Citron's wings.
"There is one little thing." Citron spoke up.
"What?" Belle quickly asked.
"Because Anton is in the forest as well, there's a sorceress out there that is going to make sure that he doesn't come near the castle, even though his mind of being human and everyone he met is erased."
"Well, that's good to know." Belle said, "Citron, if you heard anything before you spoke up, don't tell my mother or Lady Lydia!"
"I promise." She answered, "May I ask...one thing? I won't let your mother know."
"What?" Belle asked.
"You're...pregnant?"
"At least a month along." Belle answered.
"Well, I guess I'll leave now." Citron said as she went to one of the open windows.
"Citron, wait." Adam quickly said, Citron stopped and looked back at him.
"Yes, master?"
"First off, don't call me 'master'. Second, I need a favor." He asked, he didn't want Belle to know at the moment so he took Citron outside on the balcony.
"Is something wrong, sire?" Citron asked.
"Possibly, I want you to see Lady Temps and let her know I need to meet with her." Adam answered.
"Very well, sire." Citron said, she then flew off as Adam walked back to the bedroom.