Chapter 28Tiernan took the news of his impending fatherhood badly. As soon as the doctor left his office, he threw the crystal glass against the wall and cursed loudly. Seven weeks ago, he’d been practically raping her after chasing Madison through the wilderness to get her back. No wonder she hated him enough to betray him to the rebels and plot to kill him.It made a terrible sort of sense that she had gotten pregnant then. As messed up as their relationship was, with him holding her against her will in the beginning, and her planning to kill him, it was horribly right that their child had been conceived that fateful night.There was no question about her facing the tribunal now. He would make the journal disappear, along with the allegations against her. If anyone dared mention a word of her suspected treasonous activities, he’d make sure they weren’t in the Federation long enough to share more gossip. Tiernan would ensure Aidan circulated among the troops that any acknowledgement
Chapter 29Madison appeared to have gotten her wish. She spent endless days in the cupola without seeing Tiernan, or much of anyone else, for that matter. A rotating cabal of maids brought her meals and restocked toiletries and towels as needed. Dr. Oritz came to see her once per week, and she quickly grew to hate the sight of him. He wasn’t a mean man, but he was just another reminder of Tiernan’s cruelty and lack of trust.Other than when she saw the doctor, which always stirred her ire, she tried to dwell in an emotionless state. Madison focused on nothing, finding it easier to lie in bed and let a void of no thoughts fill her mind as the days progressed. She ate mechanically, but only for the baby, and often couldn’t finish the trays brought to her.What did it matter? What did anything matter? For a time, she was hopeless and depressed, but as the days passed, she became numb. Even losing Tiernan didn’t hurt that much now. Nothing hurt, and she preferred it that way. It was bette
Chapter 30Madison had taken an herbal drink Susan gave her, which knocked her out for several hours. When she woke, dismay spread through her to find herself back in Tiernan’s suite, in his bed. Well, dismay and a tiny surge of pleasure that emanated from a traitorous part of her that still hadn’t accepted he was the enemy, not someone she should love and miss.Cautiously, she sat up as her pelvis twinged, and nausea surged up her throat. A deep breath helped her keep from vomiting, but the bile crept higher when she saw Tiernan sitting at the dining table with enough food to feed an army spread before him. Last night was a bit of a haze, but she remembered the pain and Susan’s visit. Gingerly, she touched her stomach, amazed she was still pregnant after the pain she’d had yesterday.“Susan will be by later to see you,” said Tiernan, his expression neutral and his tone polite.Madison nodded, sliding from the bed carefully. Her head spun, and she had to remain still for a moment as s
Chapter 31Susan brought someone with her when she came to check on Madison. “This is Joan.” She patted the older woman on the shoulder. “She’s the best midwife I know, and used to be one of my professors when I was in medical school.”Madison shook her leathery hand, impressed by the strength remaining in the deceptively fragile fingers. “How do you do, Joan?”Joan tipped her head. “More importantly, how are you, miss?”“I managed to eat some breakfast.”“And you’ve had a change of accommodations,” noted Susan, clearly pleased. “I’m glad for that.”“I’m not,” said Madison with a rueful twist of her lips. “I’ve just traded one prison for another.” And the man who had put her in that tower to start with inhabited this cell.Susan squeezed her shoulders in a one-armed hug. “He’ll come around.”Madison shook her head. “I don’t want him to, Susan. I just want to get through this, have the baby, and be allowed some freedom. The last thing I want is to reunite with Tiernan.”Joan cleared he
Chapter 32Madison was unsurprised to see Tiernan at dinnertime, though she’d half-hoped he would stay away. What little appetite she had seemed to disappear when he sat down beside her. Blood on the cuff of his white shirt caught her attention, and she almost reached out to touch him as she asked, “Are you hurt?” Only knowing how ruthlessly he would rebuff her held the impulse in check.He glanced at the shirt, grimaced, and began unbuttoning it to toss it over his shoulder. “It’s not mine,” he said with a haunted expression.If things had been different between them, she might have probed gently for an explanation. In their new reality, she was no confidante, and she shouldn’t care about him appearing to be upset. It wasn’t her place to get him to talk. Let whoever was warming his bed now deal with his tender emotions. With that in mind, she didn’t try to make conversation, and dinner passed in silence.Sheer stubbornness helped her overcome nausea, and she managed to choke down a d
Chapter 33As she had feared, her body had betrayed her, and she woke lying against him for the fourth morning in a row. He was hard with desire, and his erection against her hip felt so right that she almost forgot everything that had happened. Almost. It was a daily struggle to pull out of his arms and pretend as if she hadn’t been sleeping in his arms just as intimately as she had once done, without the sex.Madison wiggled to put some room between them and started to slide from the bed. She froze when he grasped her wrist, slowly stroking his thumb across the underside of her arm. “Stop that.” She tried to tug away, but he held fast, though his grip wasn’t painful. “Let go. I need to use the facilities.” That was no lie, but it was a good excuse to slip away too.He let go of her hand with obvious reluctance. “Go and get ready then. I have a surprise for you.”She arched a brow. “Oh? I don’t care what it is. I don’t want anything from you.”With a long sigh, he rolled out of his s
Chapter 34He woke her early on punishment day, not giving her the option of refusing to attend. Madison was undecided if she wanted to be there, and perhaps he’d picked up on her indecision, leading him to choose for her. Or maybe he was just an overbearing tyrant. Perhaps both.Grumbling in protest, she washed and dressed before following Tiernan. When they turned to go upstairs instead of down to the main floor, her heart leapt into her throat. As they climbed the stairs, she couldn’t help remembering how awful it was to be confined to the cupola. Had her continued insistence that their relationship was over made him so angry that he was going to imprison her in the tower again? Did he somehow envision that would make her realize she still wanted to be with him? In fact, it would certainly be the death knell of their affair—which was already over anyway, she hastened to assure herself.As they walked up the stairs to the fourth floor, she strove to control her panic and asked in wh
Chapter 35God, he was stubborn, and she was getting frustrated. They had been engaged in a battle-of-wills for five weeks now. She hadn’t given an inch in her determination to make him accept she no longer loved him, and he hadn’t surrendered at all in his quest to regain her trust and love. Every night, she fell asleep in his bed, oftentimes waking pressed against him in a parody of a loving embrace. Each time, she had found the strength to pull away and go on as though nothing had happened.If only she could convince her damned hormones that nothing was happening and wouldn’t ever again, at least not with Tiernan. It was getting incredibly frustrating to have him so near, but not able to reach out and touch. Oh, she knew he would readily accept any overtures she made, but that was tantamount to giving in. She couldn’t do that.Not that she was certain why at this point. Was she still so hurt and angry that she couldn’t believe he was contrite? Was it just too unbelievable to imagin