The Edge (Book 5 of The Claiming Series)

Chapter Two

I look up when I hear a soft knock on the bedroom door. I close my book on my thumb. "Come in."

Oliver pokes his head in, his red hair falling over his eyes. "Your Highness. I didn't think you'd be awake."

"And you came to wake me up anyway?"

He smiles in that way he does—a half-tilt of his lips that disrupts his usual stoicism. He never fools me, though. I know there's a lighthearted side to him. It's in his eyes.

"I apologize."

I glance at the clock on my bedside table. Four-thirty-five in the morning. I did it again. "Quit with the formalities. Is there something you need?"

Oliver's hint of a smile vanishes. "Oh, um. I was notified that the last search group you sent out has found some of our people."

"They find another search group?"

He shakes his head. "I think they found... I think it's them."

The book flies from my hand in a jerking motion, skidding across the wooden floor and hitting the wall. "What?"

"They're coming through the main gate now. I got a call in with names I recognize from the roster of those who left for the battle."

I throw the covers off of me and slide off the bed. When I land on feet, I stumble into the nightstand. "Did they say if Eli's with them?"

Oliver has turned around now, and I realize it's because I'm wearing my sheer nightgown. To be honest, it's the only thing that's comfortable right now while it's warming up and I feel the effects of growing a person. I stopped caring long ago, probably about a month after Eli left and I found out I was pregnant and everything felt like it was falling apart.

My guard rubs the back of his head. "I didn't hear his name, but it's very well possible..."

"They're coming here first, right? I want them to report to me directly. And I want to account for every person."

"Yes, of course. I'll double-check and make sure they know this." Oliver pulls out his phone and, I assume, begins to send a message.

I take a couple of gliding steps to the walk-in closet beside the attached bathroom. I keep the door cracked as I change into a loose-fitting dress that brushes my knees. "Do you know what shape they're in?"

"It varies. All I know is that not everyone is accounted for. We're missing quite a number."

My chest tightens, but I try not to think so hard. Try not to get my hopes up.

***

I'm delayed getting downstairs because I suddenly had a fun episode of raging nausea. I was bent over the toilet for thirty minutes while poor Oliver knelt beside me and held my hair back. I don't know how I'd get through a day without him.

Oliver drapes a shawl around my shoulders as he follows me down the hallway to the top of the stairs. "Slow down, Your Highness. You're pushing yourself too hard."

"I'll be fine," I say, clutching my stomach. It burns, but I can't tell my feet to slow just yet. I already received word from Ruth on her way down that the group had arrived.

I hear voices in the entrance hall, echoing off the towering ornate walls connecting to the upper level. Oliver comes over to my side and takes my arm. "You could fall."

"I won't," I say.

Still, he escorts me down the stairs, one hand on my arm, the other on my shoulder. About halfway down, I freeze.