Page 63 of Pregnant at the Palace Altar

Love.

“No,” he said, surprising even himself. He had been given twins. Just like his brothers. Names that deserved long, happy lives.

“This is Rafail Youkilis Lysias Agonas,” he said, as the newborn scrunched up his tiny face. Diamandis looked down at the one still being monitored. “This is Achilleas Alexander Balaskas Agonas.”

“I will make sure it is noted right away,” the nurse said, scurrying off.

“Would you like to hold them?” another nurse asked.

He would. Every cell of his body ached to hold his children, but he needed their mother with him.

“I need to see my wife. The babies should be with their mother.”

The doctor nodded solemnly. “The queen will be under for a while longer yet. Once she wakes, we will have a better idea of her prognosis. But she is strong, Your Majesty. And we will do all we can for her. You can go and see her now, and we will bring the babies in when we can.”

Diamandis nodded. “Very well. Take me to her.”

More hallways, bright and white. Curtsies as he passed. Whispers. But nothing mattered. Only Katerina.

He was ushered into a private suite and there she was on a bed, in the midst of a cold hospital room. Pale. Lifeless. So many monitors hooked up to her beeping and flashing, but he could see the rise and fall of her chest.

Breathing, alive. Not blood. Not death. Alive. If she breathed, there was hope. Zandra had told him to have faith. After seeing his children, he felt compelled to have all the faith in the world. Just for them.

“She will be asleep for a while yet, Your Majesty. The nurses will check periodically. You are welcome to stay as long as you like. We will work on getting the babies moved in here as soon as it is possible.”

Diamandis nodded and waited for her to leave before he crossed to the bed. He knelt down next to it on the hard floor and took Katerina’s limp hand.

He did not waste time, because time was always fleeting.

“I love you. My queen, my heart. If... I will be everything you need, I promise. A husband. A father. I will love you all more than life itself, but you must come back to me.”

Please, he said silently, thinking of the picture of his parents in his pocket,bring her back to me.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

KATERINACOULDNOTquite make sense of where she was or what had happened. Something beeped obnoxiously. She felt...fuzzy and heavy and out of sorts. She could not remember where she was.

Had she made it to Anavolí? Was she ill? The babies... The babies...

But then she heard a cry. A baby’s cry. And she forced her eyes to open.

The room was dim, and it hurt. Moving at all felt wrong, but there in a corner was a man. Not just any man.

Diamandis, tall and regal but looking exhausted, held a small bundle of blue in his arms. The room spun a little around him and she had to close her eyes, but when she managed to reopen them he was still there. With a baby.

Her baby.Theirbaby. She looked around wildly until her eyes dropped to the two hospital bassinets. Two.Two.

“Diamandis...” But her voice didn’t come out as more than a rasp.

His eyes flicked to hers immediately and he crossed to her. His gaze tracked over her. “You are awake.”

“Are they okay?”

“Yes. We have two sons, Katerina, and they are doing just fine despite the early entrance.” He tilted the child in his arms so she could see his precious face. Dark blue eyes, tiny, tiny nose. A shock of black hair. Hers. Here. Alive.

But she was in this bed. She was...all wrong, and Diamandis looked at her as if she would disappear simply by the looking. “Am I going to die?”

He lowered himself into a chair that was positioned next to the bed. He adjusted the baby into a one-arm hold. He took her hand with his now free one. “No,glyko mou. I am the king and I will simply not allow it. You will be quite well and we will go home soon. Together.”

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