Carrying The King's Pride

His chest tightened at the thought of what he’d had and what he’d lost. Things that would never be given back to him. His brother. His life. The world as he’d known it. It was like opening a can of worms, thinking about it. He’d tried not to.

His life had been a living hell since he’d come back to Akathinia, his father’s recovery slow, his country’s recovery from its crown prince’s death equally lengthy and sorrow-ridden, particularly given Carnelia’s failure to deliver anything other than a formally worded apology via messenger. As if that would ever do.

His coronation had been a blur. He was fairly sure he had processed little of it, his only focus his increasingly verbose neighbor who continued to insist Akathinia was better off back within the Catharian island fold—a desire that Nik knew was motivated by economic reasons. Carnelia’s economy was struggling, had been for years, and Akathinia was prospering. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.

And, if he were to be honest, he wanted, needed to prove to his father and the people that he had the ability to lead this country as well or better than Athamos would have. It was something that kept him up at night.

Exhaling a long breath, he took a sip of his coffee, set the cup down and returned his attention to the report in front of him, skipping to the conclusion. His attention was pulled away once again when Abram knocked on the door and entered.

“Sorry to interrupt, sir.”

He lifted a brow.

“You asked me to keep an eye on Ms. Ramirez, given the news coverage.”

His fingers dropped away from the papers. “Is she all right?”

“She’s fine.” Abram clasped his hands together in front of him. “There has been a development.”

“Which is?”

“Ms. Ramirez is pregnant.”

“Pregnant?” He repeated the word as if he couldn’t possibly have heard it right.

“We had a detail on her as you requested, with so many photographers still trailing her. She purchased a pregnancy test earlier this week, then saw her doctor.”

Thee mou. His brain attempted to absorb what his aide was telling him. It was inconceivable. They had been so careful.

A buzzing sound filled his head. “And the doctor? We know for sure it was confirmed?”

“Yes.”

He got to his feet, his head spinning violently. It was impossible. Impossible.

He excused Abram. Paced the room and attempted to wrap his head around what he’d just been told. He was going to be a father. Sofía was carrying the heir to Akathinia. It was a disaster of incalculable proportions.

It occurred to him Sofía hadn’t told him because the baby wasn’t his. But as soon as the idea filled his head, he discarded it. Sofía hadn’t had a lover before him for a long while. They had been exclusive. That he knew.

So why not tell him? What was she waiting for? An image of that last time they’d been together filled his head. Woke up old demons. Sofía running a finger down his cheek. I wanted to end it like this. The emotion he’d read in her eyes that said she’d gotten too attached. How she’d stopped him when he’d reached for a condom... Can it be just us tonight?

Blood pounded his temples. Had she bedded him that night with the intention of getting pregnant? It seemed so at odds with Sofía’s independent personality. With her acceptance of the no commitment rules of their relationship. Yet didn’t he know from personal experience just how far a woman was willing to go to keep a prince? To preserve a relationship she knew was ending?

His head was in only a slightly better state when he found his father taking a mandated walk in the formal gardens. He curtly broke the news, without preamble. The king’s leathery old face turned thunderous.

“Pregnant? Thee mou, Nikandros. We have all turned a blind eye to your philandering, but to have her conceive your heir? Have you lost your mind?”

His jaw hardened. “It was not planned, obviously.”

“By you. What about by her?” He shook his head. “Has history taught you nothing?”

A red mist descended over his vision. “Sofía is not Charlotte.”

“You wouldn’t hear ill of your first American plaything either. Then she sold her story to the tabloids and seriously damaged the reputation of this family.”

And his father would never let him forget it. Never mind the fact that Gregorios had indulged in countless affairs during his marriage, had torn this family apart and was far from a saint.

His father waved a hand at him. “No use dwelling on your irresponsibility. We are on top of this. It gives us a chance to deal with it. Consider our options.”

His heart skipped a beat. “What options are you referring to?”

“We need this alliance with the Agieros.”

What his father didn’t say rendered him speechless. When he did recover his voice, his tone was as sharp as a blade. “This is the heir to the Akathinian throne we’re talking about. What exactly are you suggesting?”

“We can make this go away. There will be other heirs.”

Stars exploded in his head. He clenched his hands by his sides. “Do not utter that thought ever again.”

“Don’t be naive about her, Nikandros. Women are your downfall. They always have been.”

Nik gave him a dismissive look. “I’m flying to New York on Friday.”

His father gaped at him. “You can’t leave the country right now.”

“Idas is not going to start a war overnight. I’ll be there and back in twenty-four hours.”

“And if it gets out you’ve left Akathinia at this crucial time?”

“It won’t.”

“Send Abram.”

Nik pinned his gaze on his father. “As you’ve just said, the country is on tenterhooks right now. I am trusting no one to deal with this extremely sensitive issue but me. I know Sofía. I know how to reason with her. We’ll be back within twenty-four hours.”

His father clenched his jaw. “This is insanity.”

Nik shook his head. “Insanity was when Athamos decided to take Kostas on in a suicidal race neither of them should have survived. This is practicality. Sofía is carrying my heir. Marriage is the only answer.”

* * *

Sofía turned the sign on the boutique door to “closed,” kicked off her shoes and carried them to the register, where she started doing the nightly deposit. Working was preferable to facing up to the question of when she was going to tell Nik she was carrying the royal heir.

When she unleashed a ticking time bomb with the potential to rock a nation and its leader at a time when it needed it the least...

From the timing the doctor had given her, she had conceived her and Nik’s baby the night they’d ended it. When she’d questioned the effectiveness of her birth control pills, the doctor had informed her the migraine medication she was on could have interfered with the pill’s effectiveness, a fact she hadn’t been aware of. A fact she’d desperately wished she’d been in possession of.

That she’d gotten pregnant that night seemed to be the only thing she was certain of. That and the fact that she was keeping this baby. Treasuring it.