Page 53 of His Hidden Royal Heirs

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and this seemed to wake him. He didn’t notice her sitting and looking at him as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He frowned at the screen, poked at it a few times, then shook his head.

When he looked up, he didn’t register any surprise that she was sitting there watching him, but something did cross his expression. A kind of resignation. He got to his feet, walked over to the bed.

“Good morning. Did you sleep?”

She nodded.

“Zia...” He sighed, like he was about to deliver bad news. “I want to make something clear before I tell you what’s happened.”

“What’s happened?”

But he ignored her. “We do not need to marry, if you’d rather not. We can live here, or at one of my other estates, and raise the children together. As...friends, I suppose you’d call it. We can find a way. It was wrong of me to think only marriage could accomplish this.”

Her mouth dropped open, like all her facial muscles had deserted her in shock. He was admitting he was wrong? Just as she’d finally agreed to marry him, he was saying they didn’t have to?Afterhe’d said helovedher? “Why are you saying this?”

“To be clear, I think marrying would be best. I think you could learn to love me. I think we could build a family, putting our children first. Protecting them. But your sister said something to me that has stuck with me. She did not always appreciate your protection, and yet what she’s done was out of love and a gratefulness for that protection. So that you would take a turn at...living your own life, I suppose. So I want you to have a chance at that life thatyouchoose. Because I, too, love you.”

There was that word again, and she just...didn’t know what to do with it. So she focused on her sister. “What has she done?”

He handed her his phone and Zia looked at the article on the screen. The headline was in big block letters: Princess Beaugonia Rendall, Newly Minted Heir of Lille, Weds Crown Prince Lyon Traverso of Divio in Private Ceremony!

Zia could only stare, reading the headline over and over again until she finally found her voice. “She can’t do that.”

“It seems she already has,” Cristhian said gently, taking the phone from her hand.

“But how? I don’t...” Zia shook her head.

“She set you free.”

So why did it feel like she was drowning? Facing down some unknown future instead of one that was clear. “I didn’t ask to be set free! I am notfree!” Zia pushed out of bed, not sure where she thought she was going. “She is my sister. I love her, and I’m worried for her.”

Cristhian stood in her way, then gently nudged her back onto the bed. Because she was onbed rest.

“Sit. Rest.”

She did as she was told because those were the doctor’s orders and she would follow them. But...how could she just lie here while her sister... She shook her head. This couldn’t be true.

“Cristhian. This is why my father agreed to let me go. She took my place.” She looked up at him, on the verge of tears. And his expression was sympathetic. But he simply nodded.

“Yes, that is what it looks like.”

“What am I to do if...?”

At some point, you have to face yourself, Zia. Not me. Not your babies. You.

Beau had said that to her. And now she was forcing Zia to do it. Not just her, but Cristhian, too. It wasn’t fair. “Why are you doing this to me?”

He cocked his head, as if he didn’t understand the accusation. Maybeshedidn’t understand it either, but it felt better to demand it of him than figure out what was going on inside her.

“I don’t think I am doing anythingtoyou, Zia. I am giving you a choice.”

She stared at him, bowled over by such a sentence. By the realization that swelled through her. “I have never had a choice. Not about anything.” It was an exaggeration, she supposed. She hadchosento protect Beau. She hadchosento have her little week rebellion, then run away for good when she discovered the consequences.

But no one had ever looked at her and told her she did not have to think about consequences. She could justchoose. And everything would be taken care of regardless of her choice.

“Not long ago, I would have scoffed at that, but I think you’re right in a way. I think everything you have done has been in reaction to something. To protect someone. So here we are. With no one left to protect. Because your sister has made her choice, and I have ensured our children’s protection. So it might be difficult and uncomfortable, but it is time, Zia. Make a choice for yourself.”

She stared at him, completely and utterly lost. Make a choice forher? Without thought to anyone else? She didn’t... She couldn’t...

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