Page 28 of Stolen Princess's Secret

‘A blood test?’

Well, no. She’d peed on a stick and heaved a giant sigh of relief when the result had come up negative. As it should have, because she’d had an injection against becoming pregnant some three...possibly four...months ago. She’d been well and truly covered when she and Tomas had temporarily lost their minds and joined bodies in the map room.

‘It’s impossible.’

‘Been there, done that.’ Ana smiled gently and reached for her cup of tea. ‘Meet my daughter.’

‘Hi,’ said Sophia with a grin.

‘I can’t be that right now.’ She couldn’t even say the word—just thinking it was enough to make panic bloom. Tomas was still getting used to the idea of doing couple things in public, let alone aligning future goals. A future together—that she took great pleasure embellishing, in the privacy of her own mind—was in no way a sure thing. They hadn’t even had their first date yet!

The thought of pressuring him into a relationship because she was pregnant only made her more nauseous.

She set the teacup down with a clatter and pushed the tray to the bottom of her bed, where Sophia sat watching with the innocent curiosity of childhood. Put a photo of Claudia at seven and Sophia at seven side by side and they could be mistaken for the same child. It was how Cas had known instantly that Sophia was his. He’d stopped at nothing—even kidnap—to bring Sophia under his roof so he could protect her and her mother, Ana. He’d been driven by fear and the need to protect them, and guilt too, for leaving Ana with no way to contact him. Claudia couldn’t imagine her brother’s emotions when he’d first set eyes on his daughter. He’d once said, over too many drinks, that he’d never felt more blessed and afraid in equal measure.

Watching her brother hold so tightly to Ana and Sophia in that revelatory press conference had sealed the deal when it came to Claudia returning to Byzenmaach after their father’s demise. Not only would her return cement Casimir’s claim on Sophia, he needed someone to help him make the most of the olive branch he’d publicly held out to the people of the north.

Claudia had real power now and changes were coming, and she could be proud of her role in bringing peace to her country. But with that role came certain expectations. Being unmarried, pregnant and unwilling to name the father would give her political opposition way too many clubs to beat her with.

‘I can’t be,’ she repeated thinly. ‘I have bigger responsibilities.’ She deliberately avoided her niece’s golden gaze in case longing for a child of her own flooded through her. ‘Cas would—’

‘Understand,’ said Ana firmly.

Would he? He’d warned her to take it slow where Tomas was concerned, but had she listened to his most excellent advice? No.

She couldn’t even begin to wrap her mind around what Tomas might think. Or say. Or do, at this lack of anything even resembling a controlled courtship and emotionally steady way forward.

No.

Just no.

Ana removed the breakfast tray from the bed and set it on the table by the window. She pulled the curtains aside, her actions befitting a maid rather than the Queen Consort. ‘I’m here to support you.’

It was a strong position to take for someone who—a year ago—had been a single working mother living an ordinary life. Or maybe that experience was why Ana was here. She knew Claudia would need allies if she was...

Should she be...

Carrying.

‘And what of Byzenmaach’s broader population? Would they support an unmarried pregnant princess? I think not.’ Claudia knew she sounded snappy. Maybe it came of being half scared out of her mind.

‘You’re their Iron Princess. You’re indestructible,’ Ana countered, turning back towards the bed. ‘They’ll get used to it.’

‘And then there’s T—the father.’ Last but emphatically not least. They’d never discussed children. They’d barely discussed dinner.

‘Yes.’ Ana’s sympathetic gaze was almost too much to bear.

‘He’s not one to be trapped.’ Understatement. ‘He’ll think I did it deliberately.’

‘Maybe. Or he might trust that you wouldn’t deliberately do such a thing.’

In her experience, trust was something that had to be earned.

‘I let him think I was dead.’

‘Due to circumstances beyond your control.’

Claudia liked this compassionate, clever woman who kept Cas grounded and worked so hard to be the figurehead her brother and this country needed. Even if her confidence in Claudia’s ability to cultivate trust was misplaced.

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