Page 53 of Pregnant at the Palace Altar

She looked like such awarrior. Like she would take on armies, pregnant and furious. Beautiful and fierce.

He could not deny in his heart that he loved her, and likely had for a long time. He had tried—valiantly, he liked to think—to escape it. But the feeling was there. It was a poison he could not eradicate. A poison that would likely kill them both.

Love always did.

So he would have to kill the love. Even if it meant unearthing his darkest secret that he swore he would never tell a soul.

“I have committed murder.”

Katerina did not gasp. She did not drop his hands and step away. She simply looked at him as though he’d saidI can fly.

“Dearest, what on earth do you mean?”

Dearest.When he should be dear to no one.

“You and Zandra have been telling me over and over that I wasjust a boywhen I became king. That I was a victim to the circumstances, though I lived and everyone I loved died or disappeared.”

“Yes,” Katerina agreed. “Because that is the truth. Just because you weren’t murdered doesn’t mean you weren’t traumatized.”

“And what about those who cause trauma?”

“Diamandis—”

“I murdered my uncle. Should I be excused for that too, simply because I was fourteen?”

And still she did not step away. “If the history books are true, he is the one who killed your mother.”

“Vengeance, then. Vengeance is the excuse?” he demanded harshly, because she was not reacting as she should. She kept seeking to excuse him, when there was no excuse.

Marias had told him that there was no excuse. That it was an evil thing he had done. That he should have handled it better. That as king, he was not worthy, but he would have to lead anyway. Marias would show him the way.

Maybe not in those exact words, but that was the message Diamandis had received, and he did not know how to go back and view it any differently.

Katerina inhaled and then led him over to a bench where they could both sit. She drew him down next to her, never letting go of his hands. “Tell me what happened. The whole night. Let it go, Diamandis.”

He withdrew his hands from her, though he did not get up and leave like he should. “I can never let it go.”

“Just tell me,” she insisted. “Walk me through it. Maybe I’ll find a way to hate you yet.”

He scowled at her because she was treating this...all wrong. She didn’t think she would despise him, but she would. She had to. Marias had said...

He did not know if it was strength or weakness to confess all, but it would solve the problem of Katerina. He was sure of it. She would keep her distance and then things could go back...

He did not know what they could go back to, but he also did not know how to resist her any longer, so he would have to give her the tools to hate him.Please hate me.

“My parents were shot—”

“No, Diamandis. The whole thing. From the beginning.”

The beginning. He did not wish to remember or relive the beginning. That it was a day like any other. That his mother had talked excitedly at breakfast about going to Anavolí the following morning. That he had sulked because he felt he was too old and mature to splash about the beach with the children.

He did not tell Katerina those details. Could not bring himself to voice them. Achilleas and Rafail kicking each other under the table. Zandra whining about not liking eggs, and his father grinning at his mother while telling Zandra that they were very special eggs. Magical eggs.

And then any magic had died hours later.

He had been silent too long, but Katerina did not push him. She sat there, shoulder to shoulder with him, waiting patiently.

“If there was any tension beforehand, I did not know it.” That was the beginning. That to him it had been a day like any other. “Zandra had been put to bed, and Achilleas and Rafail were supposed to be asleep, but had been sneaking into each other’s rooms. I often did any extra studying at this time, so I was in my room. One of my father’s guards and one councilman came in unannounced. They said there was some cause for alarm, and I was to go with them. I wanted to gather my brothers and sister, but they assured me they already had men on it.”

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