Chapter Eleven: Nicolai - The Truth in Her Blood

Chapter Eleven: Nicolai – The Truth in Her Blood

Nicolai

Drumming his pen against the clipboard, Dr. Nicolai reviewed Pilar's chart, noting the timeline for her hormone stimulation protocol. They'd completed her mock embryo transfer earlier that morning, and now the sun blazed high in the sky—mocking the rain forecast that had convinced him to take the jeep instead of his motorcycle.

He’d planned to be out of Wintergate by noon. Back to the cold sterility of the Genetics Engineering Program, where data sets and impossible probabilities waited for him. But Pilar, an old friend from their childhood days and his orphanage days had asked him for a favor.

Could he see her sister-in-law, Daelyn?

Fatigue. Nausea. Loss of appetite. A general practitioner’s territory. He’d almost refused—until he passed the palace’s physician slumped asleep in the staff lounge, upright and ghost-pale from exhaustion. Nicolai let the man sleep. Burnout had consumed the medical field long ago.

Doctors were rare. Female doctors are rarer still. Most were funneled into early marriages or domestic service roles. Research, diagnostics, decisions? Those positions were held by men.

He didn’t ask why Daelyn hadn’t been seen sooner. He simply ordered labs and returned to his notes.

That is, until he was handed the results.

"Are you sure these are Daelyn's?" Nicolai asked, eyes pinned to the page.

The nurse blushed. "Positive. I picked them up myself."

She retreated, but Nicolai didn’t move. He stared at the numbers again.

Only two blood draws that morning—Pilar’s, for her scheduled retrieval cycle. And Daelyn’s.

He dumped the rest of his coffee and walked out.

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Pilar was waiting in the garden, tucked beneath the canopy of a sun-dappled tree. A breeze played with the edges of her shawl

as she looked up from her book.

She smiled—until she saw his face.

"What is it?"

"I need to speak to Daelyn privately. After that, we’ll need Lucas."

Her brow furrowed. "Is it serious?"

"I want to rule out a few things first. Has she seen anyone else recently? Dr. Tate? Anyone from the GEP?"

Pilar shook her head. "No. She hasn’t left the grounds in weeks."

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Nicolai nodded, jaw tight. “Wait here. I’ll let you know once I can confirm my suspicions.”

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Two sharp knocks.

“Come in,” Daelyn called.

She sat on the edge of the exam table, gown tied half-heartedly at the waist, eyes sharp beneath dark circles. Pale. Withdrawn. Her knuckles were white around the table’s edge.

"Did you figure out what's wrong with me so I can get back to my life?" she asked.

Nicolai didn’t humor her.

He pulled the stool closer and met her gaze directly. "Your bloodwork revealed something highly unusual. I need to ask you a few questions before we continue."

She shrugged, defensive. “Go ahead.”

"Have you seen another physician recently? Worked with someone at the Genetics Engineering Program?"

She blinked. “What? No. I haven’t left the palace.”

"Have you undergone any fertility treatments?"

Her face twisted. “Are you joking? I just came of age. I’m not married. I haven’t even had a suitor, let alone permission.”

“I believe you,” he said carefully. “But your results suggest otherwise. I need to do an ultrasound.”

She scowled. “To prove I’m not lying?”

“To understand what’s happening.”

A beat passed. Then she nodded. “Fine.”

He nodded once, wheeled the scanner into place, and powered it on.

“There will be pressure. Breathe evenly.”

She shifted into position without a word, her forearm over her eyes.

A flicker. A sac. A single, undeniable pulse.

He adjusted the probe slightly. There was no mistaking it.

"You see this black circle?" he asked quietly, tapping the screen.

She peeked between her fingers. “Yes.”

“That’s the gestational sac. And the flicker just there—that’s the embryo.”

Her voice cracked. “You're saying… what...I’m pregnant!?”

Nicolai removed the probe and moved to wash his hands. “Yes. You are.”

Tears spilled silently down her cheeks.

“I didn’t do anything,” she said. “I didn’t—there was no treatment.”

He handed her a tissue. “Get dressed. I’ll return shortly.”

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Outside, Nicolai leaned against the cool stone wall, every breath harder than the last.

This wasn’t just unexpected. It was unprecedented.

He returned to find Daelyn dressed, seated stiffly with the printed image clutched in her hands like a relic.

Her voice was quiet. “How is this possible?”

“There’s only one explanation,” Nicolai said, watching her face carefully. “You had sex with Andrik, correct?”

Her face drained of color. She looked down.

"Yes," she whispered.

Everything clicked.

The mission. The contact exposure. The failed cure that was thought to have been lost—apparently—wasn’t.

In a palace still whispering from the storm that had nearly destroyed it, Daelyn—princess, political prisoner, and pawn—had somehow become the carrier of their world’s first natural conception in decades.

And whether she knew it or not…

That baby changed everything.