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
"It's time," Sutton said, lifting the dress carefully. "Let's make you a princess."The palace chapel gleamed with candles on stands; every window was ancient stained glass. Flowers, white lilies were on every surface.Standing in the antechamber, Keira took a deep breath, smoothing the front of her
"And Prince Niko is 'Your Royal Highness,' then 'Sir,'" her mother added. "Though I imagine he'll ask you to use his name fairly quickly, given the circumstances."Amelia nodded, fighting the absurd urge to laugh. Given the circumstances. Such a delicate way to refer to their impending marriage in j
She couldn't argue with that. Since her grandfather had ensured she received the finest education befitting a wife of any royal. She spoke five languages fluently, understood the intricacies of international relations, and could navigate the most complex social situations with grace. She was, as her
Being on time, Amelia discovered, was apparently a royal virtue. At precisely 11 a.m., a sleek black car with tinted windows pulled up to her grandfather's estate. She watched from her bedroom window as Prince Niko emerged, accompanied by a security detail that took positions around the driveway per







