made his whole body freeze and then his eyes flicked back to her.
Words were lodged in her throat. Shame made her cheeks burn. This was not how she’d wanted him to find out.
“I…that is…” Erin trailed off, her mind temporarily shutting down as she pleaded with Jaxor silently.
Please, please understand. I will tell you everything. I promise.
His expression was thunderous. He was angry. Rightfully so.
But then his gaze dropped down to the floor of the platform he was standing on, his neck craned, his shoulders tensed. Everything about his body language made her want to cry out to him, to explain.
“Answer the question for the recording,” the elder ordered.
Erin’s heart felt like it was lodged in her throat when she turned her head to look up at the dais.
“Yes,” she said.
“Tev, your pregnancy was a lie? Or tev, it was not a lie?”
“Yes, I am pregnant,” she amended, her voice rising. When she cast a glance over at Jaxor, she saw his jaw ticking even from ten feet away…and he still wasn’t looking at her.
“Who is the sire of the child?” the elder asked pointedly.
She was all too aware that she was in a domed room full of Luxirian males. The Ambassadors stood with Vaxa’an to her right, Jaxor was to her left, the elders were in front of her, and the two guards were behind her.
“Jaxor’an,” she said, a piercing anger jolting through her. She leveled a hard gaze at the elder. “My fated mate.”
“And was the conception willing?” the elder asked, his tone sterile and cold.
Erin’s breathing went rough. Privanax had asked her much the same thing and it infuriated her that the elder would ask something so personal and so insulting, especially in front of Jaxor.
“Of course it was,” she bit out.
“When were you first aware that you were with offspring?” he asked, ignoring her tone.
Her fists were clenched at her sides. “I began to suspect it when I was in the Mevirax’s dungeons. Humans can get morning sickness.”
“So, for the sake of the recording,” he repeated again and Erin’s lips pressed together, “you have not fabricated your pregnancy in order to make Jaxor’an’s trial seem more sympathetic to the public of the Golden City?”
“No!” Erin exclaimed, not sure whether to be insulted or horrified. “I would never make something like that up. I am pregnant. You can ask Privanax if you need it confirmed.”
Jaxor had been standing before the dais when she’d come in. Had they already questioned him? Had he already given his side of the story to the elders? If so, she could only imagine the grilling questions they’d had for him.
When she looked back at Jaxor, he was at least looking at her now, but his careful expression was back in place. He was numbing himself, wasn’t he? He’d just found out she was pregnant in the worst, most humiliating way possible, knowing that she’d had not one, but two opportunities to tell him in private…and he was probably already drawing his own conclusions as to why she hadn’t told him when she’d had the chance. Because she didn’t think he was a suitable enough partner? A suitable enough father?
“Very well,” the elder said. He jerked his head at the guards standing behind her and they stepped up beside her. “Please escort the female back to her dwelling. That will be all for her testimony.”
“Wait,” Erin breathed, her mind racing. “Wait, that can’t be it!”
The elder said, “That is all we needed to hear from you.”
“I need to talk with Jaxor—with Jaxor’an. Please. I haven’t been able to—”
“You cannot speak with him until the trial concludes and a decision is made, as the guard told you before.”
Erin swung her gaze over to Jaxor as the guards began to lead her away. There was so much that she needed to tell him. But there was too much and it got clogged in her throat. All she could do was helplessly stare, trying to think, as the guards guided her up the stairs.
All Jaxor did was incline his head at her. An acknowledgement? An acceptance? What did that mean?
“Wait, when will the decision be made?” she asked, fighting against the grip of the guard to swing her gaze back around at the elders.
But he didn’t answer her and the guards led her through the doors of the courtroom. They closed behind her almost immediately.
“Jaxor!” she called.
The guards kept her from going back inside and she struggled to keep her panic from rising. When she managed