MasukInside, Blair sat on the sofa, her hand resting on her slight belly, while Roman stood nearby deep in conversation with Luca. Two-year-old Olivia was showing off her drawings to anyone who would look."Aunt Keira!" Olivia shouted, abandoning her colouring-in to run across the room. Keira bent down,
Olivia, growing restless, wiggled off Blair’s lap. “Can I go play with my blocks?”“Yes, but stay in the playroom,” Roman told her. “I’ll be there in a minute.”As Olivia skipped off, Roman pulled Blair to her feet and into his arms. “You look tired. You should have let me bring someone in to handle
“Mama! Look!”Blair looked up from her laptop to see her two-year-old daughter, Olivia, proudly showing off a crayon drawing that was mostly colorful scribbles.“That’s beautiful, sweetheart,” Blair said, genuinely impressed with the artwork of her toddler. “Is that our family?”Olivia nodded madly,
"Is that what you think?" Niko's voice was dangerously quiet. "That your only value is as a... what? A royal broodmare?""It's the reality of our position," she insisted. "The Wystovian crown needs an heir. You need an heir. And I can't—" Her voice broke.Niko crossed the distance between them in th
"I'm trying to protect him—""From what? From having a choice?" Keira's voice grew stronger. "You're deciding what's best for Niko without asking him what he wants. That's not protection, that's control."Amelia stared at her, startled by the blunt assessment."Look, I get it. The pressure is overwh
Amelia shook her head, the weight of her failure pressing down on her. "The doctors say there's nothing wrong with Niko, which means the problem lies with me. I'm considering stepping aside, letting him divorce me so he can marry someone who can actually give him an heir." She glanced at Keira, sudd
“Let’s just say if you have any protective gear, now might be the time to wear it.”Blair’s voice came through the speaker then, laughing. “Don’t scare him, Roman. Keira promised to be on her best behavior.”“Which means what, exactly?” Luca asked.“It means she probably won’t actually try to kill y
Sutton woke to the soft buzz of her phone against her nightstand. “Oof,” she mumbled, pressing her palm against the spot where the baby had kicked. “Take it easy in there, would you? Mama’s ribs aren’t punching bags.”She squinted at her phone screen through bleary eyes. 6:30 AM. A text from Luca.L
Sutton drifted between layers of dim sound and raw pain. It was too much. It was like her body no longer belonged to her. It throbbed. It pulsed. It ached in strange places. Hands touched her everywhere… her stomach, her face, her arms. The back of her head. Voices moved over her like waves. She did
Sutton had barely taken three steps into the development room when someone let out a long, theatrical whistle.Then there was clapping. Not sarcastic slow clapping, but actual clapping. A solid round of applause. Everyone was watching her.Sutton paused in the doorway, blinking at the strange yet en







