Unwanted visitor

I sit at my desk, staring at the map laid out before me. My fingers drum against the surface, my mind running through the details. The Remiro estate has been tolerable, but it's never felt like home—not truly. It's not ours, not mine and Noelle's. It belongs to another family, another legacy, and while Duke Remiro has extended every courtesy, I can't shake the feeling that we need to leave.

Especially now.

I glance at my marked locations, each one a secluded island off the coast of Vitra, technically still part of the kingdom. But with Remiro holding so much influence, and once the king is gone, securing land for ourselves will be easy. And I need this. Not just for me, but for Noelle, for Mimi, for the family we're building.

My gaze flickers toward the parchment holding my notes. There's an overwhelming likelihood that Noelle is pregnant again. His heat, my rut—it was different this time. More intense, more consuming. It has to have taken.