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He blew out a breath. “Media coverage. We can talk about it later. It’s nothing to be overly concerned about, and you don’t look fully awake yet. Unless there’s more to it than I understand, I don’t see a reason why we need to respond at all.”

She yawned. “I’m not fully awake.” Looking out the window, she saw trees everywhere. “Where are we exactly?”

“About twenty or thirty minutes from the cabin. It’s north of Akushla, but we have to go the long way. There’s a shorter route, but it has dangerous switchbacks, and security won’t let us go that way. I can’t say that I blame them, but it’s a lot more fun in a sports car than going this way.” He chuckled. “Not that I’d know anything about that.”

A small grin crossed her face. “I’m not sure I believe you.”

“I... might have done it once or twice, but that’s it. I won’t do it again, especially now that I have a family. That’s about when my father stopped doing it. Finally, the security teams forbid it, but a lot of us have snuck it in a couple of times.” He chuckled. “At least my brothers who aren’t also the king. I doubt any of the girls have.”

“That’s because girls are too smart for that.” Bekah’s grin widened as she turned his words over in her mind.

He had a family.

Her.

She was his family.

So was the baby, but she hadn’t told him about that yet.

Maybe this weekend would be the time, especially if they stayed a little longer than anyone else like he’d mentioned was a possibility.

“How long has this cabin been in your family?”

“Since it was built, I guess. It’s not nearly as old as the palace, but not young either.” He brushed his thumb along the side of her hand. “We will be in a one-room suite, though. Just a bedroom with a small living area and a bathroom.”

“It’s not that different than what we have now. We’ve been sleeping in the same bed since we arrived in Akushla. We’re grown-ups. We’re married. It’s fine.”

The thoughts that had been bubbling in the back of her mind started to work their way to their forefront. She’d only been a widow for less than three months, but she was remarried and not weirded out by sleeping in the same bed with her marriage-of-convenience husband.

Information she’d found in the pamphlets flashed in front of her eyes.

Based on what they said - and what she’d started to suspect even before her first wedding - the death of her first husband had been a blessing.

* * *

The cabin wasn’treallya cabin, though that’s what it had always been called. It was more of a lake palace.

Not nearly as big as the actual palace in Akushla, of course, but for Josiah, it was just... the other home. The one that was more comfortable and less public than the palace.

He pulled up in front of the main door and put the car in park. Someone else would put it away.

“This is amazing,” Bekah said as she looked out the window at the second and third stories.

“It is pretty cool.”

He climbed out of the car then opened her door, holding out his hand to help her. She slid her hand in his and joined him as he started up the stairs.

They didn’t do a tour just yet. Instead, Josiah showed her to the room they’d share.

Once they settled in, he told her about the phone call.

“There were pictures of you from the other night,” he started, sitting in the small living area.

Bekah pulled a blanket around herself, something he’d noticed she did often, especially when she thought she might need protection from something. “Didn’t we know there would be?”

He nodded. “That’s not the issue. It’s that there’s some flyers or pamphlets sticking out of your handbag and they’re wondering if there might be some underlying rationale for them.”

Her head tilted a bit. “What?”