Page 65 of Pregnant at the Palace Altar

“You mean when you came here to lie about the paternity of your daughter,” Diamandis said coolly.

Ghavriella rolled her eyes. “Honestly.”

But she could clearly come up with no retort.

“I asked you to come here today, because as much as I would love for you to be a part of my children’s lives, some things are going to have to change. I will not let your toxic behavior touch my children.”

“Yes, I know. Such a terrible mother! Sotoxic. Feeding you, clothing you, getting you to school and back. How verydareI?”

Diamandis made a noise, but Katerina held up her hand. She had expected this behavior. She and Diamandis had both begun to see a family therapist to deal with their issues. They were acting today on her advice, and the driving need Katerina had felt to stand up for herself. To draw this line in the sand.

To be the adult in the situation. She did not expect the same of her mother, but she wanted to behave in a way that made herself proud.

“When you are ready to truly build a relationship with us, to join us in family therapy—”

Ghavriella made a sound of shocked outrage.

“—I will be happy to attempt to mend fences. But this is my line in the sand. You will play no part in my children’s lives without this step. No matter how you scheme.”

“Utterly ridiculous! I’m sure everything is all my fault. Well, I don’t need you or your royal children, Katerina. I am doing just fine on my own.”

Katerina did not react. She nodded at her mother. “Very well. But understand this—I will protect them from everything. I do not know why you could not do the same for me, but I understand now, truly, how very much not my fault that was.” Which was why she had truly needed this moment. She had not expected her mother to change, but she had needed to bring that realization full circle.

“You have married a king and you whine at me about protection?”

Katerina kept her bland smile intact, then nodded at Christos, a signal they had agreed upon. “That is all, Mother. I hope someday you can find it within yourself to change.”

Christos offered Ghavriella his arm. She looked at it, then at Katerina, then at Diamandis. She whirled away and stomped out of the room without an escort. Christos bowed to them, then followed her out, no doubt to make sure she actually left.

Katerina let out a long, slow breath. She did not feel good, but she felt settled. She had made her choices, made them clear, and shut the door without locking it forever. She had little hope her mother would change, but she would always allow for the possibility.

And she would never let her mother turn her into a small child again. Her sons and her husband had given her a strength she had not known she possessed. She would protect them from everything.

Thatwas what today had been about. Proving that knowledge to herself. No one, not even her mother, could ever turn her into someone she did not want to be again.

She rose and Diamandis held out his arm. She took it and they silently exited the room.

“You seem content,” Diamandis murmured as they walked down the hall to where their babies were. He held her arm as they walked, a thoughtless gesture these days, but that was what made it all the more beautiful.

“I am.” She smiled up at him. “Sometimes you need to make a stand and create boundaries for yourself.” She paused, reached up and fitted her hand to his cheek. “And you can because there are so many people who love you standing behind you.”

He pressed his mouth to hers. “Always, my queen.”

EPILOGUE

DIAMANDISWATCHEDHISwife chase after their sons in the sand on the beaches of the castle at Anavolí. His childhood best friend carried his niece on his shoulders while Zandra, heavily pregnant yet again, looked on laughing at Rafail’s and Achilleas’s toddling antics. Here at Anavolí, where Diamandis and Zandra had once done the same as children while their parents watched.

His family. His love. His heart.

He still had the picture of his parents that Zandra had given him in the hospital two years ago. He showed it to the boys often, so they would know the grandparents they’d never gotten to meet and the uncles they had been named after. He even spoke of them with Zandra, to the point where she felt like she did remember more than she had before.

He no longer let that old grieving love be a curse. He considered it part of all that love he was so lucky to have, every day.

Lysias handed his daughter over to Zandra and began to chase the boys so Katerina could take a break. She walked over to where Diamandis stood.

“It’s a shame we have to head back tomorrow,” she said when she approached. “But it will be good to get back into a routine. The boys will be feral if we do not.”

“I do not mind them feral.”

His wife censured him with a sideways look. “Of courseyoudo not,” she said, making him chuckle.

She sighed, watching their boys, joy lighting her face. “You know, the doctor is quite certain it would be safe to try for more.” She slid her arm around his waist and leaned into him.

He kissed her temple. “Whatever you wish, my queen.”

And he would find a way, for all his years, to give her—to give their entire family—exactly that.