Page 13 of Pregnant at the Palace Altar

Of course she would. As far as she could tell, being the queen was little more than being Diamandis’s assistant in public rather than private. She’d been anexcellentassistant in private, so why would the promotion to public figurehead change that?

Such a promotion.She rolled her eyes here in the privacy of the room where no one would see, then she pushed herself up onto her hands. She was supposed to be more clearheaded today. Ready to problem-solve.

Ready to plan her escape. Again.

But her gaze landed on a tray next to the bed—where she’d left the remains of her dinner last night. At some point when she’d been asleep it had been taken away and replaced with one full of pastries and juices.

She tried very hard not to be happy or excited. It was justfood, just abed, and the price was her whole life. So she shouldn’t enjoy a decadentbougatsa, her favorite. She should protest, or something.

But her stomach rumbled, and this had been the best sleep she’d gotten in months. At the end of the day, none of this was ideal, but she was seven months pregnant with twins and someone had made her two meals in a row and she had slept on a bed that felt like being carried away in clouds.

Would it really hurt to enjoy this for a few days while she formulated a plan? She would have to get around Diamandis somehow, but that didn’t mean she had to be miserable in the process.

A door opened—she heard it squeak—but the door to the bedroom remained resolutely shut. Which was when she turned her head and saw there wasanotherdoor. Aconnectingdoor.

As Diamandis strode into her room with no knock, no request to enter, she realized their bedchambers must adjoin.

She scowled deeply. No, she could not stay here and enjoy the amenities for a few days. She needed to find a way out of this now, before she was doomed to spend the rest of her life fending off whispers.

Her mother.

And this pang for a man she would never, ever reach.

“Good morning,” Diamandis greeted. He frowned at the tray. “Why haven’t you eaten? Is the selection not to your liking? I thoughtbougatsawas your favorite.”

Something inside of her fluttered that he might know that. Why would he know that?

It hardly mattered when she had to somehow thwart him and his grand royal plans.

“The selection is just fine. Send my compliments to Mrs. Markis. Or are we still acting secretly? Am I allowed to leave my room?”

“You are the one desperate for secrecy, Katerina,” he returned in his stiff manner.

“Only as much as you, Diamandis. Certainly not more than you want to avoid any reason for someone to suggest you might have disappointed your father.”

She did not often stoop to mentioning his parents. He got that cold look on his face that she knew hid pain. So much pain. He did not speak of thebeforetimes, but it had been clear in her years of working for him that the stories about how devoted the royals were to each other were true, not just fodder to make subjects happy and content that they were led by nice people.

The Agonas family had been a close one, before the coup that had ended most of their lives.

“You have no idea how hard I tried to disappoint my father when he was alive, Katerina. It would be my great pleasure to disappoint him now, if it meant he was here with us. But he is not.”

And those words made Katerina feel very,verysmall. As was clearly his intent.

“Everything will be in place by this evening,” he said. He stood there, hands behind his back in what she had always called hisproclamation stance. “We will make an announcement to the press and ask for privacy for a few more days before you are introduced. On Friday. The wedding will be the following week.”

Week.Week.“Week.”

“Yes. It is already settled.”

“But it is not. First of all, I have refused to marry you. Second of all, Diamandis, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into marrying a commoner. People accept Lysias marrying your sister because he made himself into a billionaire, because his parents—servants though they might have been—were named martyrs for the Kalyvan cause. I am a bastard commoner. My father’s identity is unknown.” Sometimes she wasn’t even sure her mother knew it. “And my mother... Surely you have looked into my family, Diamandis. If not today, then before you hired me. You have to know that my blood will never be considered fit for royalty.”

He stood there and his face betrayed nothing. “I do not wish to speak ill of your mother. It is of no matter.”

Of no matter? Katerina did not know how any living man could be so stubborn. She got out of bed, unable to sit still while he stood above her like some kind of...

Well, king.

She was shorter than him, so he was still looking down at her, but at least she felt like she had an almost equally powerful position by standing up to him.

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