80. Megan's Choice.

[Liam]
I felt bad that we had to do this now when the King was sick but we couldn't hide what had happened, it was better to let Luke know about the pregnancy now before the media came to know of it.
"What?" Luke's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in his surprise.
"Yes, she's expecting my child." I told him.
"Now, isn't this something?" He straightened up and I didn't know how to react because he was surprisingly cool about this.
"Congratulations to you both." He smiled weakly and turned to leave.
"Wait." I stopped him and he turned back. "What are you going to do?" I asked him.
"Nothing Liam, nothing, I have my own problems, this is up to you both to find a solution and soon seeing as the situation is like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode in all our faces."
"You're not mad about this, are you?" Megan asked cautiously.
"Mad?" He frowned. "Why would I be, this calls for celebration." He smirked.
"Luke, I really need you right now, I need your support." I pleaded with him. "Megan and I are about to go public with our relationship, we're planning to get married."
"Liam, you have my full support, honestly but when I said I had my own problems, I wasn't saying that lightly, the King is indisposed and till he recovers his health, I have to take over his responsibilities." He sighed. "So I'm not mad or being indifferent, I'm just—"
"I understand, thank you very much, Luke, I want you to know that you have our support too, for anything." I said.
"Yes, I'm going to need a lot of it now, speaking of support, I'll need you to clear out your desk first thing Monday morning."
"What, you can't do that to him, Luke, he worked so hard for that position." Megan cried.
"No, Megan, it's alright, I totally understand him, if I were in his shoes, I wouldn't want another scandal to erupt when we—"
"Will you two just let me finish?" He cut me off.
"I'mma need you to clear out your desk so that you can take up a new position with me."
"New position?" I asked and my face brightened.
"Yes, it's temporary though, I'm going to need you to be my chief of affairs and confidant just like Sir Thomas is to the King."
"Luke." My eyes watered and I had to clear my throat before I spoke as emotion overwhelmed me. "
This was a great opportunity especially with a child on the way but I had to be practical, I didn't know yet how the news would affect both Megan's career and the royal family but I knew that it wouldn't be any better with me as the Prince's right hand man.
They would speculate a lot of rubbish in the tabloids, they would say I stole my best friend's bride or that his bride seduced me, or they might even bring up Luke's scandal with the American woman and that would just escalate the whole issue.
"I'm sorry but I cannot accept your offer."
"Why not?" He frowned. "You said you were willing to support me."
"And I wasn't lying but I don't think that's a good idea for either of us, if Megan leaves you for some random dude then it might not be too much of an issue but if that guy is me then—"
"I don't care about that, Liam, one way or another the truth will eventually come out, I'm tired of all of that bullshit and trying to please people all the time." He retorted, vexed.
"I am tired of all that too." Megan said quietly.
"Fine."
"It's time to leave, Prince Luke." Sir Thomas walked up to Luke and curtsied.
"You'll look after him, yeah." Luke struggled to keep a straight face.
"Of course." Sir Thomas pulled Luke into a hug and whispered something in his ear, when he pulled back, Luke was looking better.
"You've been with him through the crazy but I hope you're ready for what's coming because he's going to need your help a lot." Sir Thomas said to me and then nodded at Megan.
"We should tell him." Megan mouthed to me but I shook my head.
Sir Thomas was just as scary as the King to me.
.
.
[Megan]
"Nana, we already told the Prince." I beamed as I walked into my room.
Nana was there waiting for me and she had a look of horror on her face.
"What did he say?" She asked worriedly.
"He was okay about it, he even supported the both of us." I explained happily.
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, Nana, you're aware that the Prince never loved me." I said and she nodded.
"What are you going to do now?" She asked.
"We're going to get married." I told her.
"Married?" She gasped in horror. "Your mother would bury you alive before she allows that, she has been looking forward to your marriage to the Prince for years now."
"I know, that is the major challenge we have to overcome." I sighed as I remembered the lie I had told to Liam.
I'd lied to him that I'd spoken with my mother when in actual fact I hadn't done that, I couldn't even bring myself to do that, I just wanted her to find out after everything had been done.
"I'm afraid for you, my dear, you don't know what your mother is capable of." She said and I frowned when I noticed her shivering.
"You're shaking, Nana, what is wrong?" I asked.
I knew my mother was a very strict and difficult person, I feared her as well as the staff and even Nana but Nana had never responded to my mother this way before.
"Nothing, but just promise me you'll be careful." She grabbed my hands and I could see the fear clearly in her eyes.
"Why can't you both just run away together, far away from here."
"Nana, please calm down, I promise I'll be careful, we can't run away, our life is here and most especially we intend to raise our child here." I said and rubbed my belly affectionately.
"What are you saying?" Nana's mouth hung open as she watched the movement of my hands.
"Yes, I'm pregnant, Nana." I announced.
"Oh my world, are you really sure about this?"
"Yes."
"Megan my dear, I would have been the happiest person if the situation was not this grave, your mother will not take this lightly."
"What the fuck did I just hear." My worst nightmare came to fruition as my mother pushed open my room door forcefully and shouted loudly.
"Um… ma… mother… you see the… thing is."
"Oh how precious Megan." My mother smiled and I froze, what was she planning this time. "I thought that you would be too naive to keep the Prince but clearly I underestimated you, you went and got pregnant for him, bravo." My mother beamed.
Oh my God.
Nana and I exchanged looks as my heart began to beat faster, she'd found out the truth but I couldn't let her believe tat the child was Luke's when it wasn't.
"Come on, did I give you both too much of a fright?" She chuckled. "This calls for celebration, now the Prince will have no choice but to marry you and he would have to do it soon." She laughed loudly.
"Mother." I started, I decided to be courageous, Nana kept pleading with me with her eyes nut I ignored the look, this time was as good as ever.
"What do you want to say, let it be for now, I have to go and inform the king, the preparations must go on, I cannot wait to be the mother of the Princess, soon to be Queen."
Shit, she wasn't even aware of the King's condition.
"The Prince and I have never slept together." I blurted out, my blood turned cold when my mother turned to me with a scary look on her face.
"What is that supposed to mean, how are you pregnant then?"
"It does not belong to the Prince." Tears pooled in my eyes as I awaited her reaction.
"Are you saying that you spread your legs for another man, knowing fully well that you're engaged to the Prince?"
"Mother, I can explain, I—" She slapped me hard across the face and I stumbled to the floor.
"Ma'am please have mercy." Nana begged as she rushed to me on the floor.
"You can explain." My mother sneered. "What exactly do you want to explain, that you have brought shame to this family, your late father's name or that you have wasted all of my efforts."
"I never asked for any of these." I cried out, the side of my mouth split open and it was bleeding.
"What did you say? you ungrateful child." My mother went crazy and she picked up a curtain rod from the back of my door.
"I will beat that child out of you."