Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 128413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“The fetus is fine.” The doctor’s voice was a scratch that disrupted the desperate stream of her thoughts. “All readings normal.”
“Excellent.”
“I’ll keep digging deep into the neural scans,” the doctor said as he showed her out of the examination room. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime project for any physician.”
Too bad Auden had no idea of the project’s aims. There were too many sentences spoken that had another layer of meaning, too much knowledge assumed by those working with a woman who had documented neural deficits, and too much attention on a baby who shouldn’t have been part of Auden’s life for many years yet.
“I assume you’d prefer to handle it yourself?” the doctor said after leading her to a small cupboard in his office and opening it to reveal what appeared to be a brand-new organizer. “My assistant touched it for a short period when she set it up, but otherwise it would’ve just been the manufacturers.”
“Do you have a disposable glove?” Auden’s voice was losing its ice, she realized, becoming softer. Driven by her protective instinct toward her child, she dug hard and deep to find it again. “I’d prefer not to chance a read.”
“A good precaution.” Dr. Verhoeven nodded. “Especially at your Gradient level. My assistant’s Silence is flawless, but you never know what she might have thought of when handling it. The dispenser is behind you. If you’ll let me—” He touched the pad that would extrude a glove. “There you go.”
The sterile glove itself was like most of its brethren. It had no imprint to speak of—created by machines before being packed into slabs of gloves by machines, which were then fed into a box by a machine, there wasn’t much chance of handling. Even putting them into the dispenser didn’t require contact—just pick up a slab, slot it in. The machines were designed to “eat” the plas wrap of the slab, storing the rubbish in a small section that could be emptied when full.
After retrieving the organizer with her gloved hand, she allowed the doctor to use voice activation to transfer ownership to her, with her voice and retinal scans the new passcodes. “Thank you, Doctor,” she said in a crisp tone. “You have far exceeded my expectations of you—and they were high to begin with.” Again, words with too much meaning, words she hadn’t thought about saying until they were out of her mouth.
“It is my greatest honor to assist you in this extraordinary endeavor.”
Heat rose in a scalding wave over Auden’s body, a burning warning from deep in her psyche. She was thankful her skin tone made it impossible for the doctor to pick up her involuntary reaction. Not saying another word, she left the medical suite to emerge into dazzling sunshine that was a welcome contrast to the swirling darkness inside her mind.
The warmth made her want to linger, drink it in, but Scotts didn’t do things like that, so she turned to head toward the house. Only to see her uncle striding toward her, his face a hard blank. “Auden,” Hayward Scott said when he met her. “Charisma tells me that you are now at full mental capacity and thus in charge as Shoshanna’s official heir.”
Well, that was fast.
“It is my legal and biological right,” she said, the words rote memory. Her parents had spoken them often enough.
“I would never argue with that.” Hayward inclined his head. “As Devlin no longer needs to learn operations, he’ll be moving out of the main house and into my residence in the compound.”
Auden went to say that was fine, but the words that emerged were, “I think it’s better that you and my cousin return to your estate in Surrey. We do not wish to foster any confusion in or out of the family about the line of succession.”
The tiniest tic at Hayward’s temple, a quiet sign that he’d had more ambitions for his son than he’d ever had for himself. “Surely that’s a farfetched concern?”
“That’s interesting phrasing on your part.” She found herself wondering how many other times he’d tried to subtly convince her that she was crazy; because Uncle Hayward was, after all, a Scott. “But no, it’s not farfetched. I will become far more visible once the child is born and I need to be known as the only viable heir to Shoshanna Scott. Devlin will be a distraction.”
He took a small step back. “Is that a threat?”
Auden belatedly realized it could be taken as that…and this was a game of power for her unborn child’s life. “Of course not, Uncle.” She held his gaze as she spoke in a voice so without emotion it chilled her from the inside out. “I am simply stating facts.”
“I must say I didn’t expect this of you, Auden, but well done.” His shoulders were stiff. “You learned well at Shoshanna’s knee. Devlin and I will be gone within the week.”