Whitney's POV
But David cut me off coldly.
“Oh,” he said with a chilling smile. “Then you’d better choose the right eggs. I’d hate to crack one open and find some weird organs or lumps of flesh inside.”
He glanced down at the girl in his arms and continued, “Besides, Andrea just returned to secular life. She’s not used to eating raw embryos.”
Suddenly, I doubled over and violently threw up, the pain in my stomach twisting like a knife. I could barely breathe.
He had no idea what I’d done for him.
Night after night, I’d put him into a deep sleep, dragging my sore, exhausted body through the motions just to help him heal. I endured it all, forcing myself to accept him completely, hoping it would strengthen the effect of my gift.
I even forgot to take precautions, so I ended up pregnant with three children.
To hatch them properly, I gave up my ability to shift into my serpent form. Now, I couldn’t even prove who I really was.
“Hey! Whitney! The game’s starting! Where do you think you’re going?!”
I snapped. I tore away from the crowd like a madwoman and ran to the open courtyard. Kneeling on the cold ground, I tried to form a spiritual link with the Eirian clan.
I begged for someone from my bloodline to sense where I was. To come and save my children. They were innocent. They didn’t deserve this.
“There she is! Get her!”
“Don’t let that fraud escape!”
Before I could even whisper a spell, they tackled me to the ground.
Without my scales to protect me, my head, my most vulnerable spot, was slammed against the rough pavement over and over, leaving streaks of blood. I writhed in pain.
“Enough. Don’t kill her for real,” someone muttered.
David tossed a bag of painkillers at me like it meant something.
Then the guests around him howled with laughter.
“Wow, look at her panic. What, was she about to run because her lies are catching up to her?”
“Her precious little eggs are still on the table! Guess they weren’t so precious after all!”
“She always acted like no one could even touch those eggs, and now she just leaves them? What a joke!”
I struggled to lift my head.
A massive screen now showed a live stream of the party. Over 200,000 people were watching online, waiting for the drama to unfold.
Then David spoke, his voice low and demonic, like something straight out of hell.
“Whitney, finish this game with my sister, and I’ll let you leave with whatever eggs remain. Deal?”
I had no way out. Nowhere to run.
I swallowed the blood in my mouth. “Fine. Let’s start.”
All one hundred eggs were lined up neatly along a wall of foam.
The Elledges' butler stepped forward and laid out the rules. “Miss Miller, please choose a number. If you identify an egg correctly, it will be safely returned to you. But if you guess wrong, today’s first dish will be steamed.”
A ripple of conversation spread through the guests.
“Look at her face—pale as a ghost. What if those eggs really have babies inside?”
“What? Steamed human babies? Damn, David isn’t holding back.”
“You don’t get it. Andrea’s a vegetarian since she came back from the monastery. David remembered every detail of her diet. Now that’s love.”
Across the room, Andrea was resting against David’s chest, gently stroking the rosary in her hand.
Just then, the butler reminded me, “Miss Miller, you have thirty seconds to make your selection.”
I locked eyes on the wall of eggs, desperately trying to find the ones that belonged to me.
Eirian clan children are born with a red tint in their hair, and sometimes, that same coloring appears on the shell.
But…
The lights in the room kept changing color, almost like someone had done it on purpose. I couldn’t distinguish anything with just my eyes.
“Miss Miller, ten seconds left.”
“Wait… wait just a moment…”
“Five seconds. If no number is selected, it counts as a failed round.”
“Stop! I choose number 66!”
It was a gamble. Nothing more. Nothing less.
