Page 18 of Pregnant at the Palace Altar

CHAPTER SIX

DIAMANDISSPENTTHEremainder of the morning hard at work. There was much to do and he’d spent over an hour...not working.

He was going through with the announcement. And if there was a strange tug of discomfort deep in his gut, he ignored it. Because there was nothing to be guilty about. He was doing what was right.

No, he could not promise Katerina some fairy-tale love and warmth. He knew all too well where that led, and he would protect his children. Loving them would only leave him open to the sorts of things that had been his father’s downfall. His most trusted adviser had made this clear to Diamandis on the very day of his parents’ deaths: that if his father had not been blinded by love, he would have seen through the cracks in the kingdom. He would have been able to stop the coup before it had started.

Love was a death sentence.

But he could promise Katerina everything else she could possibly want, and he firmly believed in what he’d said to her this morning. There was space between love and cruelty, where his secrets could remain in the dark—where they belonged. It was a space where love did not threaten everything. He could exist in the middle. And would, as he had all these years.

He entered the dining room a few minutes later than usual and frowned when only Lysias and Zandra were present. “Where is Katerina?”

Zandra’s eyebrows rose. “Are we supposed to know? I thought you had her locked up in a dungeon so no one would know she was here.”

“My assistant was supposed to notify you both of today’s change of plans. We have put the announcement in motion. After dinner, the four of us will address the council and explain the change in wedding participants.”

His sister and brother-in-law exchanged glances. “I haven’t seen Tomás today,” Zandra finally said, somewhat reluctantly. “But perhaps he left word and it didn’t make it to us.”

Diamandis’s temper flared. He’d gone through three assistants since Katerina had left, each more useless than the last. “I wish I could continue to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“Well, he’s afraid of you, Diamandis. Hard to blame him for that.”

“So hiding from me and not doing his work will fix the problem?”

“He’s young,” Zandra said, but it was clear she was enjoying defending Tomás, not because she thought he warranted defending, but because she liked to frustrate her older brother.

“He’s useless. Messages never went astray when Katerina was my assistant,” Diamandis muttered, wondering how long he would last before he went and hunted her down himself.

“Should I point out that Ms. Floros is no longer his assistant, or would you like to?” Lysias said to his wife.

Diamandis scowled at them both, but he did not have a rejoinder because the door was opened and Katerina stepped inside.

She curtsied, and he knew the symbol of deference was more habit than actual deference, at least toward him. “Your Majesty. Your Highness. Mr. Balaskas. Or have you conferred a title on your brother-in-law as I suggested many months ago?” She smiled sweetly up at him.

The smile was exactly the one she used to bestow upon him regularly, once upon a time, when she’d been his assistant, suggesting things she thought he should have already done. He did not understand what twisted inside of him, only that he wished they were alone so he did not have to keep his hands to himself.

She was dressed for dinner in a plain black dress that hugged the glorious swell of her bump. He had to force himself to look away so he did not picture what it might look like if he peeled the dress away.

“You are late.”

“I did not know I was allowed to leave my prison until just recently. Luckily a maid was available to help me dress as I also discovered that my bag with all my things in it had been confiscated.”

“It is best if you look fit to be queen when around the palace. Your old clothes werenotthat.”

“Perhaps we should leave you two to quarrel over dinner without us?” Zandra suggested, her glass hiding her face—though Diamandis had no doubt she was hiding a smile behind it.

“That will not be necessary,” Diamandis replied stiffly. He moved to the chair next to him and pulled it out for Katerina before the waiting staff member could.

Katerina hesitated, though he couldn’t imagine why. But she sat without saying anything. Diamandis took his own seat, royal protocol not necessary at a family meal.

Family.After years of it just being Diamandis, the past few months had been an adjustment. There was his sister, and Lysias, who had once been as close as a brother to him before...

Everything had been destroyed that night, and he had never thought there would be any recourse. But Zandra and Lysias...

And now Katerina. Who was to be his wife. The mother of his children. Family, in all those ways he’d promised he’d never have.

But life changed on you, this he knew quite intimately. He was rolling with the punches, as one must. As akingmust.

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