“A stroke.” She couldn’t imagine it. The hearty, powerful, untouchable King Enzo Lidia…suffering a stroke.
“He is dead, Evelyne.” Gabriel moved closer to the car. “You may return home. For good.”
Evelyne tried to absorb those words, but they refused to penetrate. Dead. Return home. Dead.
Dead. Her father, her own personal demon, was dead. Just…gone. In the blink of an eye. And she could gohome.
“Get out of the car so we may have a real discussion,” Gabriel ordered. “And get you back to Alis.”
Home. Dead. It was all so much to wrap her head around, and he was right. She couldn’t just sit in this car and wait for him to go away, even though she needed more time to figure this out.
He thought he would take herhome.
She looked up at the beautiful house she’d tried to accept was hers forever. She had spent time forcing herself to think of this place as the place she would raise her child. And therewereso many things she’d learned to like about this place, this house.
But particularly since becoming pregnant she hadachedfor home. For her brother. For the familiar. Shelikedher friends here, but it was not the same. She had known she couldn’t go back, would never subject her child to an Alis ruled by King Enzo, so she’d tried to accept that.
But what about an Alis ruled by King Alexandre? It was almost unfathomable in all the positive possibility.
She looked at Gabriel, who studied her with his dark eyebrows drawn together. Perhaps she should refuse. Perhaps that was her only choice to keep her child a secret.
But why should she now if there was no King Enzo?
Becauseheleft you.
Which felt a bit childish now that there was more at play. She had to figure out how to work through it somehow. Sitting in this car wasn’t that. So she picked up her purse, her jacket. She tried to arrange them all in front of her so that she could hide the bump. It wasn’t unwieldy just yet, but it was getting there.
Carefully, angling her body just so, she got out of the car. She didn’t bother to look at Gabriel. “This feels like some kind of…trick.”
“It is no trick. The king died yesterday. Alexandre has tasked me with bringing you back home before the announcement is made to the kingdom and then the world. He wants you at the coronation.”
Coronation. “Alexandre will be king.” She wasn’t sure she’d ever be used to it, so sure it would not happen until they were both old themselves. “He will…” Tears filled her eyes. Not just hormones. A relief from a tension she hadn’t known she carried. It fully hit her now, with Alex in charge, he would not be in danger from her father’s vicious whims. With Alex in charge, everything changed. Decades before she’d thought that possible.
But in her emotion, herelationand relief, she didn’t hold the bag and coat just as she should. She saw Gabriel’s eyes widen. She tried to recover, but it was too late. He’d seen.
He pointed at her—at her stomach. “What is that?” Gabriel demanded.
She had dreamed of this in her weaker moments. Telling him that he was to be a father. In her fantasies, she was calm, casual, disdainful almost. She did not give him the satisfaction of thinking that she needed him, wanted him, or was afraid of being alone.
She was determined to make fantasy a reality.
So she beamed at him, made sure she sounded cheerful. “In the States they call it a baby bump.” She ran her hands over the roundness, moved to give him a profile view. Refused to let the nerves fluttering through her show—she’d had ample practice at hiding those. “Isn’t that cute?”
He said nothing. Didn’t move. She wasn’t sure he breathed.
When he finally moved, it was with clear-cut precision. “Explain yourself,” he said quietly, dangerously.
She chose to maintain her flippancy. “Is it not self-explanatory, Gabriel? I am pregnant.”
“By whom?”
She startled a bit at that. She’dassumedhe’d jump to the natural conclusion. Did he really think she’d just…immediately hopped into some townsperson’s bed after him?
It ached, almost as bad as him leaving her. That he’d think so little of her. She refused to even acknowledge the question. “I will need some time to pack.” She started to walk up to the porch, but he caught up with her.
She expected him to take her by the arm, but he stood in front of her blocking her bodily. Like he was afraid to touch her.
She almost hoped he was.
