Chapter 2

Whether I had eight children or eighty, it did not matter. With that kind of money, I could raise every last one of them in comfort and luxury.

Why should I care about the title of Lady Regent? Why should I care whether Edric had any affection for me, or what the people of his household thought?

With this amount of gold, I was all the security these eight children would ever need. I could take them and build the life I wanted, free from the obligation to read anyone's mood or seek anyone's approval.

Edric wanted me out of the capital, and that suited me perfectly. The Regent's household had never been anything but a gilded cage, and I had wanted to leave for a long time.

I had Finch bring the gold to my courtyard, and right there in front of him, I picked up a quill and signed my name on the divorce acknowledgment.

Suvanne Thayne.

The strokes were clean, without a moment of hesitation. Then, I called for my things to be packed.

I had lived simply during my time in the Regent's household. The dowry I had brought with me was modest to begin with, just a few trunks of old belongings from the Thayne family home.

I left every piece of jewelry and every bolt of silk the household had given me untouched. I took nothing that was not initially mine.

When everything was ready, I tucked the gold pieces away safely. I slipped the divorce papers into the pouch I kept on my person, gathered my skirts, and walked across the stone path and out through the iron gates of the Regent's household without so much as a hurried step.

The crest above the gate, bearing the Valthorpe name, had once struck me as impossibly grand. Now, they were nothing more than words I was leaving behind.

From this day forward, there would be no more Lady Regent Suvanne. There would only be Suvanne and her eight children.

Once I was clear of the Regent's household, my first stop was the largest banking house in the capital, where I exchanged the 10,000 gold pieces for bank notes.

I placed each note carefully into a silk-lined case that I kept close to my body. This was the lifeline for me and my eight children, and I could not afford a single slip.

With the notes secured, I went straight to a carriage house and hired three of the finest coaches available. The cabins were spacious, lined with thick cushioned padding, and stocked with warming braziers and pastries. It was more than enough for a comfortable journey.

I also sent someone to the Thayne family home to bring my parents to me.

When Mother and Father saw me, their faces lit up. However, the moment they noticed I was alone and carrying luggage, they knew something was wrong.

The instant they learned that Edric had divorced me, Mother's eyes went red, and Father slammed his hand on the table in fury. He was ready to march to the Regent's household with his walking cane and demand justice, declaring that Edric was heartless beyond measure.

I took them both by the arms and spoke gently.

"Father, Mother, please don't. This marriage ending is a good thing for me.

"He gave me 10,000 gold pieces. That's more than enough for our family to live without worry. Also, I'm carrying eight children. I can't put them at risk.

"Besides, Edric is fighting at the frontier. If we make a scene now, it only makes us look petty. It isn't worth it."

When I told them about the octuplets, they were equally stunned and overjoyed.

They sat speechless for a long while, but in the end, their love for the children and me won out over their anger. They nodded and agreed to come with me.

They had spent their whole lives tending the small Thayne family shop, asking for nothing more than a quiet, steady existence. Now that their daughter was carrying children and had money to see them through, leaving the capital and all its troubles behind was the wisest choice they could make.

Once the old house was packed up, the three of us climbed into a carriage and rode toward the city gates. The splendor of the capital fell away behind us, and it no longer had anything to do with me.

…

At that very moment, inside the Regent's household, an entirely different scene was unfolding.

The divorce decree and the gold had not come from Edric at all. They had been sent by Felicity Wrenfield, the cousin who had been raised under the Regent's roof.

Felicity and Edric were not blood-related. She had been taken in by the Dowager Lady Valthorpe as a child and brought up in the household, and she had been in love with Edric for as long as anyone could remember. She regarded me as a thorn in her side.

She knew that Edric was away at the frontier, and that the Dowager Lady held authority over the household in his absence.

She also knew that I was merely a merchant's daughter with no one to turn to, and that the marriage three years ago had been nothing more than a concession Edric made to protect his reputation.

We had only consummated it this year, which led her to believe I was clinging to Edric out of sheer desperation.