CHAPTER 817: 817-LIKE SHE NEVER EXISTED

Norman:

"You’re making me anxious. Tell me what it is," I asked Emmet on the phone. My heart was pounding hard. Earlier, Helanie had done some tests, and one of them was a gender reveal. But instead of us being surprised, we decided to surprise Helanie. Now Emmet had called to tell me the results.

"Are you ready for it?" he asked, chuckling.

"Oh my Goddess, tell me, Emmet. You’ve been teasing me for a while," I complained.

I was sitting right next to Helanie in bed while she slept. It broke me when she passed out after Lucy woke up. She couldn’t even cherish her time with her. But I knew when she woke, she’d be equally happy. At the same time, my brother wouldn’t stop messing with me. Sometimes Emmet could be really playful, and those were the worst times, because no one could make him stop.

"Okay, I just want to ask you one question, the same I asked the others. What did you want the baby to be? Your baby?" Emmet asked, his voice playful.

I stared at Helanie’s beautiful face for a while before smiling. "A daughter. I really want a daughter, Emmet. But it’ll be fine. I’ll be okay with whoever it is. It’s just that everyone has a preference, and I always saw myself as a baby girl’s father," I whispered.

I heard him chuckle on the other side.

"Isn’t it weird?" he asked.

"What is?" I frowned.

He was terrible at suspense because he never knew when to stop.

"Whatever we all wanted is what we got," he said, taking my breath away.

"Wait, what are you saying?" I asked, smiling wide.

"You know, we’re strong rogue kings. We were destined to be alpha kings, but thanks to our mother, that didn’t happen. Still, we were meant to be powerful. I was speaking to the doctor today, and she said the babies will be very powerful too. But it also means Helanie will need a lot of care. Her emotions will be heightened, at their peak. She’ll break down. She’ll crash. She’ll throw tantrums. She’ll get very sick," Emmet explained, his voice lowering.

"Emmet, where are you? I need to discuss this with you, because what you’re telling me isn’t good news," I said, quickly getting up from the bed and heading to the door so Helanie wouldn’t hear.

Once I stepped out, I noticed Lamar and the others arriving. They kept walking around the mansion, coming back often to see if Helanie had woken up so Lucy and Helanie could meet.

"I’m packing my stuff to take a flight to Arthendell. Maximus is with me too," Emmet said, making me even more anxious.

"What about Kaye? Is he staying back to take care of the academy and everything?" I asked. I always tried to keep track of my brothers, to make sure none of them were in trouble.

"Yeah, weirdly enough, he wanted to stay back. I mean, someone has to. I wanted to check if he’d be upset, since sometimes he gets that way when he’s not involved. But he said he was fine. He willingly stayed back," Emmet explained.

I could only imagine this tied into what the doctor was saying.

"Okay, I want to know everything. Begin from the start," I demanded as I reached the beach, staring at the blue sky ahead.

"The doctor said Helanie will be in pain, but she’ll be fine. It won’t be anything too extreme, so don’t worry. Because of our strong genes, they easily determined the DNA of the babies and which baby will be yours and which will be mine. And her pregnancy will be very quick. By quick, I mean the babies are developing fast, which is why we got the results so clear and so soon. Norman, I hope you understand what I’m trying to say," Emmet said, already frustrated even though I hadn’t told him I didn’t understand.

That only proved he was anxious. He always did that when he was extremely worried about someone.

"I understand, Emmet. We’ll take care of her. What did the doctor say? Is Helanie okay? Her blood sugar, is everything fine?" I asked, pacing back and forth anxiously.

"Oh yeah, she’s perfect. It’ll just be a little difficult pregnancy, but she’ll be fine. The doctor said Helanie is also very strong. Her blood is extremely combative." As soon as Emmet said that, I laughed. It was true. Our little Helanie was combative. Size didn’t matter. She was a beast in that body.

"You fucking scared me. I thought something was wrong with her," I groaned at him, warning him with grunts never to do that again.

"Oh, by the way, I was going to tell you the gender. That’s why Maximus and I are coming over. We planned a gender reveal party for her, but you’ll have to start preparing. By the time we arrive, it’ll be really late, and we don’t want her to find out from someone else or wait even longer," Emmet explained.

Emmet and I talked a little longer. He told me Kaye had already gone back to the academy to finish any pending work, and they were sending all the students home for now. Meanwhile, Emmet and Maximus were packing quickly, getting what they needed for Helanie.

But now I had to prepare for a gender reveal party. I ended the call and held a quick meeting with her friends, explaining the plan. They were all excited. I told Lucy to spill just a little bit to Helanie, so she wouldn’t worry too much about our absence.

By the time I was done, hours had passed. Lucy told us Helanie woke up, she spilled a little bit to her, and then Helanie went back to sleep. So we decided not to wake her for another four or five hours. By then, we had prepared another beautiful show for her. The mermaids wanted to let Helanie know, in their own style, what each of her mates was having with her.

Emmet had told me, and I was honestly very happy. Beyond happy. But when Emmet and Maximus called and said they’d be there in a few hours, I went to the room to wake Helanie. That’s when I realized we had prepared everything, but we couldn’t celebrate until Maximus and Emmet arrived. Until then, I had to take care of Helanie and be with her. Too many hours apart was something I wasn’t comfortable with.

But when I arrived at the room, I found an empty bed. Panic surged through me. We searched every nook and cranny of Arthendel, but there were no signs of her. As if she had never even existed.