“Endeavor,” Alexandre scoffed. “Such a bland word.”
“What would you prefer?”
“Ensure.”
“Very well, I will ensure they are both happy.” He did not know how he could possibly ensure such a thing, but he supposed he had no choice now.
Alexandre narrowed his eyes, studied Gabriel with that quiet, stoic intensity he had employed even as a boy. Like he’d been born with such abilities. Born to be a king.
“You are my best friend. I respect the man you have built yourself into. And while I knowyoudo, I do not hold your youthful indiscretions and Gia’s influence against you. We all have crises of self and fate, particularly at eighteen. It is not the crises that define us, but the choices we make in the face of them.”
Gabriel felt as though he was a young man getting a lecture from a much older person. Perhaps his own father. Someone he’dalsohave to tell about this, but he wasn’t ready to consider his parents just yet.
“My sister is now the mother of the future monarch. Your life will change. You did not know that going in. You thought, like I did I would imagine, that my father would hold on to life and the crown for quite some time. But these facts change things.”
“I am aware.”
“Are you?” Alexandre replied, quite royally. He stood now but stayed behind his desk. “You will be given a title. We will have a royal wedding ceremony of some sort. Your child will be the future king or queen of Alis.”
It was…too much. Too many things to fully engage with. He wanted none of those things, but he could hardly deny them. The child existed. He would be an heir.Hewould be… “Future king. It is…a boy.”
“A boy,” Alex repeated.
And they stood there staring at each other, that fact between them, both perhaps feeling like they were children again, wondering how the years had zoomed ahead to the point where they were the oneshavingchildren.
“Evelyne has not had an easy life. I know on the surface it is all privilege, but surely you understand just how…ugly things have been for her.”
“Yes.” Gabriel gave Alexandre the only truth he had in him now. “I will do everything in my power to shield her from all the ugly from here on out.”
Even if the ugly was him.
Evelyne was starving when she woke up. When she glanced at the clock, she couldn’t be surprised Gabriel was not in bed. She’d nearly slept the morning away.
“All the books say to enjoy that now,” she said, running a hand over her stomach. “That you will be keeping me up at all hours of every night soon enough. You wouldn’t do that to me, my darling, would you?”
She got out of bed and moved into the closet. She frowned at her options. Since she hadn’t had a chance to pack her maternity clothes, she only had items that suited a much thinner and different woman.
“What I have back in Maine will be suitable sometimes, but I will need an entirely new maternity wardrobe for royal events and the like, if your Uncle Alexandre has any plans to announce my marriage and pregnancy to the public.”
She smiled at the idea ofUncle Alexas she found a pair of soft, stretchy pants that were a bit tight as such, but she rolled the waistband down under her stomach. What had once been a dress now fit like a somewhat odd tunic. She studied herself in the mirror, chuckled in spite of herself.
“Not very princessly, I must say.”
“Who are you talking to?”
She glanced up at Gabriel. She hadn’t heard him come in, and now he stood in the entrance to her closet. “The baby.”
He looked dubiously at her stomach.
“You should give it a try.”
He did not respond to that invitation. “Alexandre has requested our attendance at lunch since you slept through breakfast.”
“Good. I’m starving.”
She slipped on the sneakers she’d worn yesterday, which made her clothes look even more ridiculous. Then followed Gabriel out into the hall. She tucked her arm into his. He stiffened, though he didn’t pull away.
“Are you afraid you’ll lose all control and take me on the table in front of my brother and sister-in-law if we touch arms on the way?” she asked him lightly.
