"And the gender?" Adrian asks. His hand is gripping mine so hard it almost hurts.
The tech smiles. "Let me see if baby is cooperating today."
She moves the wand, clicks a few buttons, studies the screen.
"There we go. Clear as day." She turns the monitor so we can see better. Points to something I can't quite make out. "Congratulations. You're having a boy."
A boy.
A son
Adrian's son.
The future heir to the Nero empire.
I look at Adrian. His face is perfectly controlled, but his hand is shaking in mine.
"A boy," he says quietly. Like he's testing the words.
"A boy," the tech confirms. "Would you like pictures?"
"Yes." Adrian's voice is rough. "All of them."
We sit in the car afterward, neither of us speaking.
Leo is behind the wheel, giving us privacy via the partition.
"Are you okay?" I finally ask.
"I don't know." Adrian stares at the ultrasound photos in his hands. "A son. I'm going to have a son."
"You sound terrified."
"I am." He looks up at me. "What if I'm like my father? What if I fuck this up? What if I?—"
"You won't." I take his face in my hands. "You're not your father, Adrian. You're not weak. You're not cruel. You're—" I stop. "You're trying. And that matters."
"Does it?"
"Yes." I kiss him softly. "It does."
He pulls me against him, burying his face in my hair. His whole body is shaking.
"I'm going to protect him," he whispers. "Both of you. Whatever it takes. No one will ever hurt either of you. I swear it."
And I believe him.
For better or worse, I believe him.
We have lunch at a small Italian restaurant Adrian knows. The kind of place where the owner greets him by name and doesn't ask questions about the security detail outside.
"We should tell Bianca," I say over pasta carbonara.
"She already knows."
I set down my fork. "How?"
"I called her from the car while you were in the bathroom." He has the grace to look slightly sheepish. "She wanted to know immediately."
