Chapter 25

Avalor's hand didn't leave mine as we pushed through the hall. His touch was grounding, reminding me I wasn't alone in this storm. Yet something else weighed heavier than the threat of Lucius or the treachery of the alliance with George.

A secret I kept from Avalor.

I was pregnant.

It had been a slow dawning, like the soft bloom of a flower I hadn't noticed until it was fully grown. Now, in a retrospective glance, I realized that all those nausea attacks, all that exhaustion, and those odd cravings had one meaning. I had tried to keep telling myself that it wasn't the right time to tell him. War was about to erupt. We just had to survive. But how long could I go on hiding it from him? How long before my growing body revealed its secret?

The idea sent shivers down my spine at what could happen if Lucius were to find out. This child, which would be nothing but a symbol of our union, could become a pawn. A tool for manipulation. Or worse, a weapon.