Page 32 of Stealing the Star Stone
“What will you do if she is, Frederik?”She summoned Thorne’s signature smirk.“You’re not the type to stage a mutiny.”
“Just answer the damn question,” the man gritted out.
She shrugged.“How would I know if—”
“She’s your wife.”
Oh, that.Well, she couldn’t blame him for thinking ‘Thorne’ would know if his wife was pregnant when she’d been the one to announce their fake relationship.But if she told Frederik the truth, he wouldn’t help.
“This way, please, Mr.Thorne.”A young woman in a lab coat blushed and semi-curtseyed.
Nova blinked at her, not sure what she was seeing.Was this the type of treatment he received?No wonder he had a god complex.She’d quip about not being royalty, but Thorne would milk it.Damn idiot had to be a narcissist.
She flashed a smile.“My thanks,” she drawled, then for good measure, added a wink.The poor girl blushed to her hairline.“Where do you want me?”Nova strolled into the lab and eyed the counters.No bed was a good sign.
“Samples of blood, hair, and skin.Then a trip to be X-rayed.”A man with gray at his temples and a receding hairline offered a tight smile, but his focus shifted to Orien studying a selection of what looked like pottery shards.
“All right.”She thrust out an arm, but when no one approached, syringe in hand, she frowned.
“We’re just going to prick your fingertips.”Doukas, according to his badge, raised a pin.The girl trailed him, slides in hand.Another technician snipped a few strands of hair, plucking more with extreme gentleness.
“No healing, Lord Orien,” Doukas said, raising Nova’s hand to show the blood droplets on the tips of her fingers.“Should I make the incision along his forearm?”
“No need.Eli’s not to be harmed.”Orien waved at Frederik.“Escort our guest to the cargo hold.”
“That’s it?”Nova whispered to the mountain once they were alone and on their way to what had to be an X-ray machine.
“For now, I guess,” Frederik said.
“Any idea what Orien’s hoping the X-rays will reveal?”
“I’ll tell you if you tell me.”He raised his chin in defiance.“Is Ms.Blake pregnant?”
She grinned.Nice try.“I can be patient.I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough.”
He harumphed.“X-ray fluorescence and diffraction is usually what they use the machine for.”
She sighed.Not that she knew what either would determine.“No.Nova’s not pregnant.Yet.”Let the idiot stew over that.
What she did like was the route they were taking, passing what looked like a new shuttle—Viator IVemblazoned on its flank.She hoped she could fly it.With the speed at which tech was advancing, she’d need a few minutes to acquaint herself with the controls.
“That’s solid, right?”She pointed at the bay door.“What’s the odds of being sucked into space?”
He chuckled.“None, unless you hit the emergency override.”He nudged his chin at a massive red button to the right of the door.“You can’t do thatandpilot the shuttle.How stupid do you think I am?”He arched a brow.“Pretending to be scared when you’ve done most of your own stunts?Pathetic.”
She shrugged.“Worth a try.”
She hadn’t heard that about Thorne.Said much about a man who could outrun, outride, and outjump anyone, that is if she could trust the footage in his movie trailers.She’d stopped ‘watching’ him after her gullible phase.
What followed were hours of shifting position, standing still, then moving again until they’d scanned everything.Baseline was all she could think was the reason behind this effort.It had been a day.No way would the stone have affected them in that short a time.Ifit did, at all.
“I could eat,” she said when Frederik escorted her back to the cabin.
“I will inform the kitchen.Any preferences?”
“No dairy,” she said, rubbing her bloated stomach.“A tea station and bottles of water would be appreciated.”
“Very well,” he said, waiting for her to enter.
