Page 58 of Wicked Prince

"There's a reason it's called prevention," he says pointedly.

"Point taken," I mutter.

"I'm sorry. I'm not trying to lecture you, I'm just really good at it," he says with a small, apologetic smile. He's lucky I can't stay mad at him. Not that I would have the emotional bandwidth with all the panic coursing through me now that I've had no choice but to let these thoughts take hold.

"It was just one time," I say, as if pleading with the universe to see reason. "I didn’t want to ruin the mood, and I just… I don’t know what I was thinking. What are the odds?"

"There's only one way to find out," he says gently. "You need to take a test. And like you said, if it's negative, it's all a moot point and there's no sense in worrying. You can just chalk it up to a lesson learned."

"Yeah," I murmur. "Here's hoping."

ChapterTwenty-Three

AMELIA

As I lean against the bathroom counter, waiting for a plastic stick to determine the course of my life, I feel a thousand different emotions running through my head and even more questions.

What if it's positive?

How am I going to figure this out?

What the hell was I thinking?

How the fuck did I even get here in the first place?

They all swirl around in my mind, furious bees united in a massive swarm. Each one stings, and the cumulative effect is nothing short of maddening.

There's a soft knock at the door that draws me out of my downward spiral, at least for the moment.

"Well? Any luck?" Anthony asks through the door.

We went back to my dorm immediately after buying the test, and the fact that he was willing to go into the convenience store and buy it so I wouldn't be the source of even more gossip is just proof that he's a better friend than I deserve.

To be fair, he likes confusing people.

"It's not that kind of test," I say dryly, opening the door a crack. "And I don't know. I haven't looked yet."

"It's been ten minutes," he says. "I’m sure it’s ready by now."

"Yeah, but I'm not."

"I'll look for you."

Before I can protest, he pushes his way into the bathroom and peeks down at the test. His nose wrinkles a little as he squints like he's trying to make it out.

"What is it?" I ask impatiently, even though there's a part of me that wants to stick my fingers in my ears and run before I can hear anything. Like that would do any good when the problem I'm running from is theoretically inside me at this very moment.

"I can't tell, it's kind of faint, but... yeah, I'm pretty sure there's two lines," he says, picking up the directions. "That means it’s positive, right?"

My head spins. I've read those directions a hundred times over, and yeah, it means it’s positive. But just in case, I take the paper from him and scan over it furiously, like the answer will magically be something else.

My heart collapses into the pit of my stomach when I read the very same line I've already memorized.

Two blue lines is a positive test result.

"Fuck," I say, my throat tight to the point where I feel like I can barely even get the word out.

Anthony gives me a sympathetic grimace. "I take it that's a yes, then."

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