Page 35 of Pregnant at the Palace Altar

She was more like her old self, back when she’d been his assistant: constantly challenging him and forever unbothered by whatever his reaction might be. Quite happy with her own situation, regardless of what he thought.

And then she kissed him—another quick affectionate peck—while he stood, stock-still, trying to make sense of it.

“We have made our choices, Diamandis.” She said this with her hands on his shoulders and a pleasant, content look on her face. “We are married. We are to become parents. For my children, I will move forward and accept what life throws at me. And I will make the best of all of it.”

“And what brought on this sunny attitude?” he returned, sounding more strained and less dismissive than he had intended.

She seemed to think his question over. “You gave me your mother’s ring. You sent Christos to walk me down the aisle. I am pretending to believe my mother simply didn’t care enough to show up for the wedding and cause a scene, but I have a sneaking suspicion you made sure that she could not attend and ruin it.”

He stiffened because she was correct. The first night they’d returned to the castle after she’d told him about what a problem her mother was, he’d made certain to keep her far away from Katerina and the palace.

“That was not done for your benefit.”

“Perhaps not. Perhaps none of it was, Diamandis. But regardless of all the reasons behind these things, you have been good and kind to me, even when I want to throttle you. That extends to when I was your assistant.” Her expression sobered some, and that made something twist in his chest like pain. “I believe we can build a good life together, if you allow yourself to.”

She said it with such certainty, as if her optimism could make it so. “You have clearly never had the hardships of life destroy everything, Katerina.”

He thought she might take offense at that, or be hurt by it, but instead she just gazed up at him.With pity.She even patted his cheek like he was a poor, misguided child. “Oh, Diamandis. Life is hard, and tragedy unavoidable, but that hardly means you can’t enjoy your life. In fact, I think it means you should enjoy it all the more when it is good.”

“And this is good? A husband you did not want—a husband, in fact, you ran away from with the intent of keeping our children to yourself?”

His cold words had the desired effect. The warmth in her eyes cooled and she removed her hand from his cheek, but she did not step away. She did not break eye contact.

And it was in that moment he realized he’d expected her to. He’d expected her to step back, hurt and quiet, and withdraw. That was the reaction he’d wanted.

Instead, she slid her small hands over the swell of her stomach—a reminder, always, that she grew their children there. They were real, even if he could not hold them yet.

“Would you like me to apologize for the choices I made?” she asked, quite calmly, as if she would give such a thing if it was what he wanted.

He could not stop himself from scowling.

“I cannot. By leaving, I thought I was saving you, Diamandis. Not that I’m entirely selfless, just that... I did not want to be the reason you were conflicted or even more burdened than you already felt. Part of that was not wanting to deal with you in that state, but part was not wanting to see you, or to empathize with you in your suffering. I left because I could not fathom being the one to add to your burden when I had spent years trying to take some of it away.”

He did not have words for this...this honesty. This...

She was lying. Tricking him. Trying to soften him for some...some reason.

Because for many years shehadtaken some of the burden off his shoulders, though he had never asked her to do it. She had always been there when he’d needed. She had been like his conscience, and she had reminded him that he was human and not a robot.

“And yes, some of the running away was brought on by the fact that I never wanted to be like my mother,” she continued, the vulnerability she rarely exposed coming to the surface now. “She wanted to burden anyone she could. I don’t know how many powerful men she tried to convince that I was their daughter.”

This information shocked him enough to forget what he was trying to accomplish. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, she’d parade me in front of anyone she’d slept with, anyone she thought she could convince to accept paternity. She was certainly not choosy in her partners, either before I was born or after. Of course, she only ever tried to convince anyone who had money. Which leads me to believe my real father had none.” She shook her head and cradled her belly with her arms, as though she would protect her children—theirchildren—at any cost. He knew she would. “But I am not my mother. Of course I make mistakes, but I will love my children more than myself.”

She kept using the wordloveas though it wasn’t a weapon to be used against people. As though it was to be enjoyed, sought after. As though love protected when all it seemed to do in his life was destroy.

“So I am not claiming pure selflessness, Diamandis,” she continued. “But I made that choice from a place of caring. For them. For you. And I made the decision to make the best of this situation out of that same feeling. First for them, and now for you. I will love the family we create in spite of you.”

Then she smiled, and it was beautiful and open. As if none of that pain mattered. Because though they weren’t born yet, she cradled their children in her arms. Their family.Theirs.

“Perhaps you could have breakfast brought up to the balcony while I get dressed. I’m starving.” And with that she sailed off to the dressing rooms, leaving him wholly and utterly confused.

Katerina enjoyed her breakfast out on the patio overlooking the ocean below. She even enjoyed Diamandis’s stifled discomfort. He didn’t know what to do with her simply enjoying things—thebougatsashe couldn’t seem to get enough of, the beautiful view of the lapping waves.

She knew he’d spent most of his adult life compartmentalizing. She’d done a lot of that work for him, but she was done. For the both of them. If he wanted to keep things separate from here on out, he’d have to do the work himself.

He watched her eat. At first, it was almost like he was counting every bite, but then...well, he was watching her mouth. She licked a piece of flaky pastry from her lip.

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