Page 25

“I found out a month or so after the accident. I was only about six weeks then. I’m barely into my second trimester now, but it won’t be long before I start to show,” she confessed. “I already had to do the hair tie trick with these pants two days after I bought them because I couldn’t get them to button.”

“I don’t know what the hair tie trick is, but if you’re far enough along you’ll be showing soon, we should probably tell at least part of my family. We’ll need to know how we want to respond to any comments, but mostly, we need to know how we can support you. HowIcan support you.”

“I don’t know. I’ve been living in denial, more or less,” she admitted. “I probably need to get a doctor. I had an appointment with one next week. I probably should have pushed for one sooner, but I didn’t.”

Josiah nodded. “I’ll probably have to ask one of my sisters for a recommendation, I suppose. Although if you’d like to keep it quiet a little longer, we can talk to the family’s physician. The only person he can legally be compelled to tell is Benjamin, who won’t ask unless he has an excellent reason to.”

We. He’d saidweseveral times. That was good, right?

He leaned back as a thoughtful look crossed his face. “Legally, the baby will be considered my child even though we know I’m not the biological father. Because we know I’m not the biological father, he or she won’t be in the line of succession, but all my kids will be far enough down the line it won’t really matter.”

“Down the line?” She was ignoring the legally parts and just focusing on the parts that didn’t make her feel too deeply. Shouldn’t she know this? Her mind was too muddled.

“Because I’m a member of the Eyjanian royal family, my kids are in the line of succession to the throne. The line officially only goes to like the first twenty-five or something. I’m already number ten or eleven or something and get bumped farther down every time one of my older siblings has a kid. The odds of one of my kids ever getting any farther up the line than I already am are slim. The highest I made it was four, after my father died, and Ben became king. That made it Gen, Evie, Darius, then me.”

She had known that. “I’ve never had to worry about those kinds of things.”

Josiah chuckled. “Worry might be a bit strong, but it’s something I’ve thought about. Contemplated. Before any of my older siblings had kids, I wondered if I’d be able to live up to the expectations if something happened to the four of them. I never dwelt on it long, but I did think about it. It’s highly unlikely my kids will ever have to.”

Bekah realized her hand had moved to cover her lower abdomen, where the baby currently nestled. “I never would have thought about any of that.”

He shrugged. “Why would you? And really, you still don’t need to.”

Because this baby wouldn’t be on the list anyway? There wouldn’t be any other babies, not if the marriage didn’t last any longer than necessary like they’d said at the beginning.

Sucking in a deep breath, Josiah sat up straighter. “We’ll figure this out, Beks. Money won’t be an issue, obviously. We’ll get you the best prenatal care we can. We’ll tell my family when you’re ready. We can stay up here at the cabin indefinitely, if you want. We don’t have to go back to Akushla. Or we can go somewhere else in Eyjania. We could probably even make an argument to see your sister, but that might not be the best idea without some good reason - like her wedding or something.”

She just nodded. Maybe it would be a good idea to see how the weekend went, though she doubted the rest of the family would stay more than a few days.

Josiah’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket. “It’s almost time to eat. Are you up to a meal with the family? If not, we can stay here and have something sent up. Maybe later we can go out on the lake.”

Bekah just wanted to curl up and take a nap. She told Josiah that.

He stood and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Get some rest. I’ll bring you something to eat when I come back up in a little bit.”

“Thank you.”

After brushing a bit of her hair back off her face, Josiah left the room.

It took several minutes for Bekah to convince herself to stand up and move over to the bed, but she eventually did.

Once curled under the covers, she closed her eyes and let herself sink into sleep. Fortunately, it came quickly.

Unfortunately, dreams plagued her, and she didn’t sleep well. When she awoke, the curtains had been pulled a little more tightly, meaning someone had been in the room with her. Josiah? Or someone else?

He’d mentioned in passing that sometimes staff members would come in. It didn’t seem to bother Josiah, but he was likely far more used to it - just like he was used to thinking about how many people would have to die for him to be king someday.

The whole idea made Bekah uncomfortable, so until she knew otherwise, in her own mind, Bekah would consign that role to Josiah. Surely, he’d been the one who came in and closed the curtains more tightly.

When she sat up, a light in the corner caught her attention. Josiah sat in a chair with some sort of light wrapped around his neck. It wasn’t enough to bother her, but apparently enough that he could see whatever he was looking at.

He looked up and smiled at her.

Bekah breathed a sigh of relief. No one else had been in the room with her.

* * *

As they settledinto the boat, Josiah tried not to let worry wash over him. He glanced at Bekah. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?”