Elisabeth's POV
Cold sweat broke across my skin as my heart hammered against my ribs. Pregnant? The word hit me like a physical blow, stealing the breath from my lungs.
I understood the mechanics of it, obviously. But how had this happened to me?
Before I could process the reality crashing down around me, hysterical laughter erupted from somewhere deep in my chest. The sound was foreign, unhinged, echoing through the room like it belonged to a stranger. I couldn't control it. The laughter was sharp and brittle, the kind that comes when your world has tilted so far off its axis that crying seems pointless.
My mother's expression darkened, her lips pressing into a thin line of disapproval. "What exactly do you find amusing about this situation?" Her voice carried that familiar edge of barely contained frustration.
But I couldn't stop the manic laughter bubbling up from my throat.
