Chapter 124: A Plan To Take The Baby Away.

"So, what are you planning? What exactly are you supposed to be doing here?" Vincent asked as they began undressing, preparing to change into the royal clothes, after Vincent had sent away the personal servant who had been assigned to help Bryce dress.

"Agatha said that tomorrow night, during the full moon, the goddess is going to release her wrath. You already know. People have been doing crazy things, and no one was willing to listen to what the goddess had to say. They just kept living however they wanted. The disease can kill, and, apparently, I’m the only one who can decide whether a person leaves or dies. Honestly, it’s crazy."

Bryce finally pulled his T-shirt over his head and discarded it, leaving his upper body bare.

Vincent stared at him as though he were seeing him for the first time all over again.

He stepped closer, hesitantly, as though some instinct within him was drawing him forward even while another part of him was trying to hold him back.

His hand eventually lifted and settled against Bryce’s chest, his palm warm against his skin. Under the brilliant light filling the room, the gold and white surroundings seemed to blend strangely with the warmth of Bryce’s skin, making the contrast between them almost impossible to ignore.

"So you’re going to decide if I die or not?" Vincent asked, leaning closer. His voice had lowered. "I know I’m not an exception. I did and planned to do horrible things."

"It depends. Do you genuinely regret what you did and know that you would never think about doing such a thing again?" Bryce asked.

He leaned toward Vincent as well, drawn closer by something he could not seem to resist.

"I have no words to express how deeply I actually regret it," Vincent murmured.

He moved closer still, until the warmth of his breath brushed against Bryce’s neck.

The instant those words left Vincent’s mouth, something strange stirred inside Bryce.

At first, it was only a clear impression entering his consciousness, so immediate and undeniable that Bryce did not have time to question it- Vincent genuinely regretted everything he had ever done.

There was not a single thing he had done, said, or thought that he did not now regret.

Bryce’s eyes closed involuntarily.

Then Vincent appeared inside his mind.

Not as a distant image or a vague recollection, but with such vivid clarity that Bryce could almost have believed he was witnessing everything in reality.

Everything Vincent had ever said that could be considered wrong began unfolding before him. Everything he had done. Everything he had thought.

Things from his past that Bryce had never known about came rushing into his consciousness one after another, carrying with them fragments of Vincent’s memories.

Then there were the things that had happened after they met.

Bryce saw moments he remembered himself, only now from Vincent’s perspective. He saw thoughts Vincent had never voiced, feelings he had concealed, and reactions Bryce had never realized were taking place beneath the surface.

He saw the moments when Vincent had cursed the fact that his mate was a man.

He saw the anger with which Vincent had once thought of being given a male mate as punishment.

He saw Vincent cursing the bond itself, resenting what it had forced upon him, and becoming so consumed by that anger that he had even condemned the goddess.

Bryce saw how much Vincent had hated him during those moments.

He saw the resentment, the frustration, the refusal to accept what had happened to him. He saw the time Vincent had lied about the bond breaking, only to continue provoking Bryce and deliberately pushing him toward a sexual reaction.

One memory followed another with no space between them.

The sheer force of it struck Bryce so suddenly that his balance faltered.

His mind felt as though it had been thrown into the middle of chaos, unable to separate one memory from another or determine where one ended and the next began.

He could feel Vincent holding him.

He could still feel the warmth of Vincent’s body and the breath against his neck.

He could hear Vincent calling his name, but his voice sounded impossibly distant, as though it were coming from somewhere far beyond the chaos swallowing Bryce’s consciousness.

The sound could not reach him properly, could not pull him back from everything unfolding inside his mind.

The moments when he and Vincent had begun growing closer were already unfolding before him.

And Bryce could not help wondering what Vincent might have done recently that was considered wrong enough to be recorded.

The thought had barely formed when he heard it.

Just recently.

The first time the three of them had slept together.

For one fleeting moment, Vincent had thought about letting Bryce go.

He had considered leaving Bryce with Dave, but not until after the baby was born. Vincent had thought that he could take the baby afterward and raise it alone, while Bryce remained with Dave, since that was clearly what Bryce wanted.

The thought meant that Bryce would no longer be part of their lives, and neither would Vincent. He would simply take the baby and disappear from both of their lives.

For that brief moment, Vincent had actually considered it.

But the instant the reality of living without Bryce registered in his mind, the thought had become unbearable.

Vincent could not stand the idea of a life without Bryce in it. The realization had overwhelmed the thought so completely that it had dissolved almost immediately.

Bryce saw all of it.

And that thought was enough to break him.

His consciousness seemed to reach its limit.

The last thing that dragged him under was the fact that, even for that single second, Vincent had actually considered taking the baby from him.

That had always been what Bryce feared most.

From the very beginning, when Vincent and Leah had spoken about expecting Vincent’s mate to be a female so they could take an ovum from her, the possibility had frightened Bryce.

He had hated even imagining what might have happened if he had actually been a woman.

Then Bryce had discovered that he was actually pregnant.

The fear had only grown stronger.

He had been terrified that Vincent might take the baby from him, especially when the child was still little more than a zygote beginning to grow inside him. The thought of losing his baby had frightened him in a way nothing else could.

And now he had discovered that Vincent had, in fact, thought about doing exactly that.

He had considered taking the baby from Bryce and raising it alone, as though Bryce could simply be removed from the child’s life, as though the baby didn’t belong to him too.

As though Bryce himself meant nothing.

And as if that were not enough, Vincent had not even seemed to care about losing him.

He could leave Bryce with Dave.

As long as he had the baby.

That realization struck with a force Bryce had not been prepared for.

It was not only the thought itself that hurt. It was everything surrounding it. Vincent had once hated him. Vincent had resented their bond. Vincent had cursed the goddess because she had given him a male mate.

Bryce had accepted all of that because Vincent had changed. Because, over time, Vincent had shown him that the person he had once been was not the person standing before him now.

Bryce had trusted that change.

He had trusted Vincent.

He had given him access to parts of himself that he had never intended to surrender so easily. He had allowed Vincent to become someone he relied upon, someone whose presence had become intertwined with his own life, his future, and his family.

He had trusted him with everything he had.

And now, buried among all the things Vincent regretted, Bryce had found the one thought that touched the deepest fear he had carried from the beginning.

The effect of that realization was amplified by the trust he had already placed in Vincent.

His body finally gave out.

Bryce collapsed, losing consciousness on the spot.

"Bryce?" Vincent called several times, but there was still no response.

The silence made the panic already building inside him surge completely out of control. Bryce remained motionless in his arms, utterly unresponsive, and when Vincent checked again, he found nothing. No heartbeat. No pulse. Nothing.

"What the heck..." he muttered frantically.

His hands moved almost without thought as he lowered Bryce onto the bed, making sure he was lying properly before he turned and rushed out of the room.

His speed carried him down the stairs so quickly that he was at the bottom almost before the servants had time to notice him.

"Where’s Agatha?" he demanded, his voice strained with urgency.

He barely managed to get the question out before Agatha appeared from one of the corridors.

Vincent did not stop to explain. He simply reached for her hand, took it, and immediately pulled her toward the stairs.

"What’s going on?" Agatha asked as she hurried after him, struggling to keep pace with his speed.

"I don’t know. He suddenly just collapsed, and there’s no pulse or any heartbeat," Vincent explained, his voice carrying the same panic that had taken hold of his entire body.