Page 20 of Pregnant at the Palace Altar

Or perhaps you really just want to be his queen.

She closed her eyes as Diamandis led her up the aisle of the grand ballroom. The council liked to have their meetings here and hear their voices bounce loudly against the high vaulted ceilings back to their own ears. They liked to look up at the king on his gold, jeweled throne and fancy themselves important for serving him.

Katerina had always thought it a foolish exercise in grandiose wealth and self-importance, and now she was being led up to sit on a throne. The queen’s throne.

Instead of standing in the shadows as she’d once done.

There was no turning back if she did this. No escaping. Once their marriage was announced to the council, it was over.

She’d gone to dinner. She hadn’t attempted to talk Diamandis out of his plan. Part of her understood how stupid this was, and yet...

She could not turn her back on all that the kingdom would offer her children, and so she had made her decision. The doctor had warmly informed her that everything was good and she would be by her side through the remainder of the pregnancy as well as after, and so Katerina had decided that she would do this. For the opportunities it would give her children.

Diamandis might not love them, butshewould be all the love their children needed. She would shield them from every rumor, every whisper. She was not her mother and so she would put her children above herself.

Always.

And none of those decisions revolved around Diamandis. Not really. She couldn’t control him. She couldn’t change his mind or make him want to be a loving father.

She watched him as he took his seat on the king’s throne and gestured for her to take the queen’s.

She would never reach him. But that did not mean she could not make something positive out of this...strange situation. Makemanypositives. Just as she had when she was his assistant.

She could live without his love. She’d lived without her mother’s. She’d survived and somehow managed to be a rather decent human being, she liked to think.

So she sat. In the queen’s chair. Inherchair. She could apply herself to being queen and mother just as she had to being an essential assistant.

That will not make him love you.

She frowned at the insidious thought, and luckily she had no time to really think it over as the council approached and took their seats at the table situated in front of the thrones.

Lysias joined them at the table as though he was now a member of the council—and this was new, as were a few of the faces. This was, after all, not the first council meeting to which Katerina had been privy. While there were often parts of the meeting she and other staff were asked to withdraw from so delicate conversations could be had in private and away from the untrustworthy help, she had been Diamandis’s right hand man in many meetings.

She didn’t like them. She found most of the men on Diamandis’s council far too stuffy, traditional and cruel. More often than not, she left said meetings complaining to Diamandis and urging him to consider a council purge.

He had refused, of course. It had taken Lysias producing evidence proving that a few of the members had been planning to betray Diamandis all those months ago to bring in these new faces.

Katerina had her doubts that this new group would be any better, considering two of the men she’d long hated the most were still on it. But Diamandis must have listened to her at least a little, because some of the new faces were younger. Two were even women.

“Council members, thank you for agreeing to meet on such short notice,” Diamandis said. “We have come in front of you this evening to announce a few changes to the royal wedding.”

One of the men she didn’t like—who was closest to Diamandis, much to her eternal consternation—Marias Remis, turned to Lysias. “Did this really necessitate a meeting?”

Lysias did not respond. He merely pointed to Diamandis.

“It will not be Princess Zandra and Mr. Balaskas’s wedding next week. I know that is what we had led you to believe, but this was a ruse to keep my wife safe and healthy.”

“Your...?”

Murmurs amongst the council members sounded like a dull buzz to Katerina, and it reminded her of how often she had been the reason for the buzz of gossip—or rather, her mother had been the reason. Katerina had dealt with the fallout.

“Some of you will remember Ms. Floros,” Diamandis continued over the buzz that had Katerina curling her hands around the arms of the chair to keep herself from running out of the ballroom. “Unfortunately, she has been plagued by some ill health. This is why she stepped down as my assistant. Though we wanted to marry, we knew Katerina was not strong enough yet to withstand the rigors of a royal wedding and all that goes with it, so we were married in Athens.”

“Athens!” someone said, as if Diamandis had claimed they’d been married on Mars.

“This is incredibly unorthodox, Your Majesty,” Marias said disapprovingly.

“It is, and I think you all know how much I regret any behavior that could be so described. However, Katerina’s health made keeping this under wraps incredibly important. I could hardly ask her to carry the weight of the kingdom when she was in such a state. But she is much improved, and the doctors have assured us that the pregnancy is coming along quite well. We wanted to ensure, Katerina’s health withstanding, that we could have an official, traditional wedding before the twins are born.”

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