Page 89 of The Alpha King’s Hidden Mute Mate

"When I'm bigger," she said, eyes shining, "I'm gonna fly to the moon!"

"Then I'll wait for you on the moon."

She laughed, that smile like a beam of light piercing the darkest corners of my heart.

We played at the playground for about an hour. She taught me how to slide—though my legs were too long and I got stuck halfway down, making her laugh hysterically. We built a sandcastle together, though a passing dog trampled it. She said it was okay, and we could build a new one tomorrow.

She held my hand, pointing at clouds in the sky, saying that one looked like a rabbit, that one like ice cream, that one like a sneezing dinosaur.

She asked about my favorite color. I said blue. She said she loved blue too, because the sky is blue, the ocean is blue, and Mommy's performance dress is blue.

She asked if I'd ever had a pet. I said I had a horse. She got excited and said she wanted a pony, but Mommy said she had to be older first.

As she talked, I watched her.

Watched the way she gestured wildly, the way her dimples showed when she laughed, the way her nose wrinkled when she thought hard about something.

She was like Mia. The laugh, the way she spoke, especially that nose wrinkle when thinking.

But she had my eyes.

Those gray-blue eyes, catching amber light in the sun, just like mine, like my mother's, like every generation of my family.

Chapter Eighteen

Mia

I stood at the corner of the apartment building and saw the scene.

Zane was crouched in the playground sandbox, building sandcastles with Lily.

Lily's laughter rang through the morning air, clear as wind chimes. She was using a plastic shovel to scoop sand into a red bucket, as focused as a researcher conducting a major scientific experiment. And Zane—the man who once stood so high above everyone, who wouldn't even look at me properly—was now kneeling in the sandbox, using those hands that had signed countless royal decrees to carefully shape the castle's towers.

His shirt sleeves were rolled to his elbows, exposing the firm muscles of his forearms. His hair was a mess, probably just run through with his fingers after waking up. A smile played at his lips—not the polite smile from political occasions, but something real, unguarded, like he'd removed all his armor.

I'd never seen him smile like that.

That smile sent a sharp pain through my chest, like someone had driven a rusty needle straight into the softest part of my heart.

Lily dumped the sand from her bucket too hard, and half the castle collapsed. She let out a frustrated sigh, her little shoulders sagging.

"It's okay," Zane said, his voice so gentle I wondered if I was hallucinating. "Look, we can turn it into a volcano. Volcanoes are way cooler than castles, don't you think?"

Lily's eyes lit up immediately. "Will the volcano erupt?"

"Of course. But we'll need some red paint—"

"I have red crayons!" Lily jumped up and ran toward the apartment building. "I'll get them!"

She ran out of the sandbox, then saw me.

"Mommy!" she called out happily, launching herself at me like a little cannonball and wrapping her arms around my legs. "Mommy, you're back! Look! Zane's building a volcano with me!"

I looked down at her. Her face was covered in sand, one braid had come loose, but her eyes shone like two stars. Pure, unfiltered joy.

"I saw," I said, my voice calmer than I expected. "Having fun?"

"So much fun!" She nodded vigorously. "Zane said he used to have a horse! And he said next time he can take me riding!"