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A HALF HOUR LATER, Leah still sat in the study, wiping away tears. A servant had been kind enough to fetch her a handkerchief when they’d spotted her crying.
Who knew if Marcus would even join her? He’d essentially broken up with her for an entire month when they were a new couple, when he’d found out about her shoplifting habit.
She stared out the window, aching inside, focused on the lingering punch of color on the horizon as the sun set.
“I love you,” Marcus said softly from behind her.
She sniffled, continuing to stare out the window.
The door clicked. “You know that, right?”
“Yeah,” she half whispered. “I know.”
He joined her on the settee, leaning against the window. “I’m sorry I didn’t handle that the best.”
“Me too.”
“That’s why you haven’t been eating much? You’ve been sick?”
She nodded.
“Can I help?”
Her heart melted, and she hugged him. “I love you.”
He gave her his signature squeeze.
After a moment more in his embrace, she leaned back. “There’s not really anything you can do right now.”
“Let me know if that changes?”
“Will do.”
He took her hands. “So... Keeping the baby?”
“Yes.” She was as sure of her answer now as she’d been when she’d said it earlier. Her heart ached at the notion of someone else raising this child. Accident or not, it was hers. It was theirs.
“But...” He pursed his lips. “No marriage.”
She looked down at their hands. “I’m not saying never. I just ... don’t want to be pressured into it.”
“But do you want to do this together?”
She gazed into his warm brown eyes. “Yes.” She couldn’t fathom not having him by her side as she sorted through the mess of her life in this realm, as she carried and raised their child. She couldn’t fathom not having her best friend there through it all.
“Then I’m yours.”
She lunged forward, giving him a kiss. He held her by the nape of the neck, and she got lost there for just the briefest of moments.
Once their lips parted, she took a cleansing breath.
He rested a hand on her knee. “Not exactly the weekend we planned, huh?”
She frowned. “Sorry about the lake.”
Giving her a half-smile, he rubbed her knee. “We’ve got plenty of other excitement instead, don’t we?”
“That’s one way of putting it.” She mirrored his smile.
“Please ... try to be patient with me. Kind of my first time with this sort of thing.”
“Yeah. Same. Definitely my first rodeo.” It didn’t happen often, but she sometimes caught herself using a human idiom he wasn’t familiar with. “A rodeo’s—”
“I’ve heard my mom use that one before.”
A servant knocked and entered, lighting sconces in the room and bidding them good night.
Leah and Marcus stayed up for hours discussing things. They didn’t come to any solid answers on what they were going to do, but they discussed options. He’d continue with his internship, and she would continue with her education. And despite how much they both dreaded the prospect, they would have to inform Catrina and Stephan of their news and plans. The queen and king would not be happy.
As Leah and Marcus prepared to turn in for the night, they walked the candlelit corridors of the quiet palace, hand in hand. They reached the hallway where they had to part ways, and hugged once more.
Marcus caressed her cheek and kissed her on the forehead. “Love you.”
She smiled. “You too.”
***
Leah tossed and turned in bed, unable to calm her mind. Life would be so much easier if there were a manual, if there were signs posted telling her to ‘go this way.’
She and Marcus had agreed to sleep on the discussion they’d had, and reconvene in the morning. They planned to tell Catrina and Stephan together once the king returned from an assembly late the next evening.
But Leah couldn’t handle just lying there in bed again, stressing about things, and wondering if Marcus was in his chambers freaking out about the news.
Throwing on a robe, she set her mind to go see him. It would be a tricky feat, but she’d be doing essentially what Marcus had done to sneak into her chambers, getting them into this mess in the first place.
She cracked her door open and slipped into the hallway. Light on her feet, she made her move toward the storage closet. A mere two yards away, she halted when a door clicked behind her.
“Miss Elonto? What are you doing up? Did you need something?”
Leah’s heart dropped. She turned. “Robyn? What are you doing here at this time of night?”
Robyn stepped into the candlelight. “Covering a shift for Lily. Did you need something?”
Leah paused. She could lie. She could say she’d been sleepwalking, or that she needed a new towel from the storage closet for some reason in the middle of the night. She couldn’t pretend she was sneaking to the kitchen for a late snack, since she’d been walking in the wrong direction.
She liked Robyn, and felt she could be trusted. People would find out soon enough anyway. Though ... she wasn’t sure Robyn knew about the palace’s hidden passageways, so she treaded lightly.
“I ... need ... to go take care of something in private,” Leah said.
Robyn arched an eyebrow. “I might be able to help you if you’d like to elaborate.”
Leah wrung her hands. “No, I... I kinda need you to ... look the other way.”
“Hmm... Looking the other way is not something I can do much of in my position.”
“Please?” She was so desperate. “If you need to go take a quick bathroom break, and then ... not check in my room...”
“Miss Elonto.” Robyn’s tone was more serious. “Please explain what you have in mind at this hour.”
Hugging herself, Leah considered her options. She could let her plans go, but she couldn’t stop that yearning, that nagging feeling telling her she had to be with Marcus right now. “I need to see Marcus.”
“Absolutely not.”
“I’m not asking you to lie. I just need you to not ... proactively tattle on me.”
“Leah,” Robyn said softly, “I have to follow Her Majesty’s orders when it comes to your curfew and visitations. You know that.”
Leah was close to crying. Whether from hormones or desperation or exhaustion, she didn’t know. “Please? I need to see him. I’ll be back before your shift is over, long before they ring the breakfast bell.”
Silently, Robyn shook her head.
“I need to be with him. I’m ... pregnant.”
Robyn’s mouth hung open for a moment. “Does Her Majesty know?”
“Not yet. We’re going to tell her tomorrow. But I need to see him.” Leah wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Please just pretend you didn’t see me leave, and I’ll be back before anyone would know I’m missing.”
Frowning, Robyn shifted from one foot to another. “Even if I did that, how would you get past all the other guards and servants on night patrols? They’re not as likely to be sympathetic.”
Leah hesitated. “I ... know how to get there without getting caught.”
Robyn’s gaze drifted to the storage closet behind Leah.
She does know about the passageways. The palace was Leah’s residence, but sometimes she still felt more like a guest than a resident herself. No one from inside the palace had ever told her about the passageways.
“You’re asking for trouble, child,” Robyn said, almost in a whisper.
“I’m already in trouble,” Leah replied, her stomach in knots.
After a long pensive moment, Robyn finally replied. “You and I need to be perfectly clear with one another. We never had this conversation, and I never saw you sneaking out of your room. I will never lie to Her Majesty. For you or anyone else.”
Leah’s shoulders slumped.
“But I could stand to go use the toilet. I have no reason to check your room or to suspect you snuck out. I don’t expect to see you until very early this morning. Much earlier than the change of shift or breakfast bells?”
Leah’s tension eased, and she almost even hugged Robyn, not that hugging the staff was allowed. “Thank you!”
Robyn shook her head. “Don’t thank me. But don’t get me in trouble either.”
“I won’t!”
Robyn scanned her. “And if you ever need to talk about it, I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about pregnancy, at least based on my experiences with my two.”
This time Leah did hug her. “Thank you!”
“Sure thing. Now, I’m heading down the hallway. And I’m assuming you’ll be back in your bed where you belong.” Robyn released her, and Leah stood in place until the hallway door clicked shut behind Robyn.
Leah quickly pulled open the supply closet door and shut herself inside. Her heart raced in the dark, but she persevered and carefully felt her way past the shelves to the back of the closet. She crouched, finding the little lever by the floorboard. When she pulled the lever, a barely perceptible squeak announced her success.
She’d snuck out and explored this route before, but had been much more careful to avoid detection.
Leah slid the panel to the side, slipping through the narrow entryway, then slid it back into place. She really should have brought a candle to see better, but she’d spaced it with the moonlight and candlelight in her chambers and the hallway. She’d do fine once her eyes adjusted, and with the few tiny windows along the corridors.
She knew her way around here anyway. She hadn’t explored much of the maze of tunnels and offshoots, mostly just what was needed to find a path between her chambers and the ones Marcus was usually assigned when he came to visit.
After a while spent groping the cold stone walls and guiding herself at the right turns, she arrived at the door closest to Marcus’s chambers. This door wasn’t as close to his room as the first door was to hers, and it required a touch more precision with the timing.
Cupping her ear to the door, Leah listened for noise on the other side, though she hadn’t expected any. This particular doorway was hidden behind the curtains of a small theater and concert hall. No one would be in there at this time of night. Even then, she was careful to keep noise to the minimum as she popped the door open and stepped into the room.
She was still two hallways away from Marcus’s room.
They’d spent months planning their romantic rendezvous, and it had even become a game. Based on previous observations, there were usually more guards and servants patrolling the area around Leah’s chambers.
Leah sighed, pausing with her hand on the doorknob. It definitely wasn’t a game this time. She twisted the knob, listening intently as she opened the door just a hair. The night was still.
Shutting the door behind her, Leah hastened down the long hallway, with only the soft pitter-patter of her bare feet to give her away.
As she neared the corner, someone sneezed.
Shoot.
She stopped dead in her tracks, her gaze darting around the hallway. She chose the nearest door and pulled it open, ducking inside.
A bathroom... That could be good, since it could be locked, which she did immediately. Or it could be bad, if the sneezer needed to use it!
Calming her breathing, Leah waited. And waited. And panicked as footsteps thumped closer. She held her breath, her ear pressed to the door. She finally loosed that breath after the footsteps passed her.
She waited a few minutes, mentally mapping the routes she and Marcus had discussed. The timing had to be right. She had to wait long enough for that person to be out of earshot, but couldn’t dawdle, because the next patrol might not be far behind.
Leah stepped back out into the hallway and turned the corner, running to the next doorway and taking less care to open it and step inside.
Luckily, no one was in this hallway either. She passed the first door and headed straight to Marcus’s, trying the handle. Unluckily, it was locked. She knocked, hopefully loud enough that he would hear it, but others wouldn’t.
She danced from foot to foot, wringing her hands, waiting for Marcus. She’d just done all that maneuvering to get to him, drawing Robyn into this mess, and she’d lose it if he didn’t answer, if he was fast asleep, if she got caught.
The lock clicked from the other side, giving her reason to smile, and the door opened.
“Yeah?” Marcus asked.
Leah pushed her way in, closing and locking the door behind her.
“Leah,” he breathed as she turned and fell into his arms.
“I needed to be with you,” she said, her hands splayed across his bare back. The last time she’d snuck into his room, it had also been for comfort, though it had been at his parents’ house. He’d also been wearing only boxers on that occasion.
Marcus nuzzled her neck, squeezing her tighter, not giving a verbal answer.
He was her home. He was happiness and hope. She’d reconsidered her crazy idea to sneak over to see him a handful of times as she’d navigated the palace, but the warmth of his perfect hug steadied her heart and confirmed she’d made the right choice.
Eventually, Marcus pulled back. “What’s the matter?” His gaze flickered to her stomach, and his hands rested on her sides. “Is everything okay?”
She smiled, her heart melting. “I’m fine. We’re fine. I just ... needed to be with you.”
He matched her smile. “I like the idea of that.”
“Can we cuddle for a couple of hours? Then I can sneak back with plenty of time before the breakfast bell.”
“Yeah.” He led her by the hand to his bed. The moonlight through stained glass windows cast a beautiful pattern on the floor. She took off her robe to be more comfortable, and slid under the sheets with him.
They kissed a little, and talked a bit, but mostly just held each other. She was still lost and anxious, and could only imagine how he felt after finding out.
They checked his clock every once in a while. Every time she nodded off, she woke to a kiss on her cheek or forehead, and Marcus would ask if that was a sign she ought to head back to her chambers. She didn’t want to. She didn’t want to ever leave his side again.
Her arms and legs wrapped around him, she fixated on the windows. They truly were breathtaking—the stained glass in his room depicted a cherry tree in full bloom. A hint of daylight started to glow behind the windowpanes. She needed to head back soon, even though she didn’t want to.
A loud knock on the door startled them. Leah’s gaze shot to the clock. She still had plenty of time before she needed to be back in her own chambers.
Marcus gave her a panicked look as a second louder knock came at the door.
“Stay under the blanket,” he said, covering her up.
Leah held her breath, listening. The door creaked open.
“Um... Hi...” His voice held no confidence. “Hi, Aunt Catrina.”