Page 124 of Hidden Empire

Nico and Remo.

“Sort of?” I rub the back of my neck, finding it suddenly sore. “Four of my brothers are twins, but two are identical.”

Elio and Emilio aren’t remarkably hard to tell apart, mostly because I see Emilio less. But they style their hair differently, and Emilio keeps his face clean-shaven while Elio lets his stubble grow. Nico and Remo, though, they look more like regular brothers than twins.

“Having fraternal twins in the family makes your likelihood of having them yourself higher,” Dr. Petrov explains. “Being a twin yourself would raise that even higher but it’s not unheard of for the siblings of twins to have multiples of their own.”

Well, Sex Ed did not cover this.

Lip wobbling, I look up at Dmitri while he rubs his thumb on my shoulder. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“Don’t apologize,” he reprimands. “Nothing has changed since last night. It’s still going to be okay, and I’m still not upset.”

Something has most definitely changed since last night.

One possible baby turned into two for sure babies.

I have to believe that he’s being honest when he says that he’s okay with it. I can’t afford to be scared of becoming a mom and how he feels about becoming a dad.

The sound of pills rattling around in a bottle draws my eyes back to the doctor.

“You’ll need to take these once a day. They’re prenatal vitamins. You don’t have any allergies, and you’re not currently taking any medications, correct?”

“Right,” I agree, taking the small bottle from him.

“The fact that I can even see that it’s twins means you’re at least six weeks along. I’m not a pregnancy expert, but we can try to narrow a due date down if you know when you conceived. When did you engage in unprotected sex?”

“When didn’t they?” Ivan chuckles.

Dmitri gives him a stern look with narrowed eyes, but it dies down when I bubble with laughter too. It shouldn’t be so funny, but it is.

“Sorry, I like sarcastic Ivan,” I profess, giggling through the words.

“It’s been a little over six weeks since our first time,” Dmitri tells him, softly squeezing my hand. “Could be closer to seven.”

Dr. Petrov nods. “Due date estimations are never exact, a week off won’t matter in the long run. We’ll keep an eye on you and monitor your progress. If anything is uncomfortable in a way that makes you nervous, come see me. Morning sickness is bound to happen anywhere from four to fifteen weeks, so unless you’re throwing up so much that you can’t keep yourself hydrated or nourished, you won’t need me.”

Does that happen? Am I going to throw up so much that I get dehydrated? Armani is going to be pissed if I’m walking around not pumped full of electrolyte juice.

“That sounds awful,” I whine.

“Yes,” the doctor agrees sympathetically. “Well, unfortunately, I don’t have any pregnancy-safe nausea medication here, but there are some natural remedies to help alleviate the worst bits of it. The kitchens should have ginger, and dry foods like bread and crackers can help as well.”

Well, that’s good to know, at least.

“Jade’s in a fighting class, we’ll need a note for her?—”

“What if the instructor tells people,” I burst out nervously. “Are they allowed to do that?”

“No,” Dr. Petrov says immediately. “Instructors are bound by the same confidentiality as all of the staff. They like to gossip amongst themselves, of course. But anything medical being leaked would be a huge issue with the Lord.”

The man tasked with enforcing Empire rules and policies, formally known as the Lord. He has a table of lesser Lords that back him up and entire systems in place to keep his power strong, but I’ve never seen him. He lives here during the semester like the rest of us, I just have no idea where. I don’t know his name or what he looks like, but if he’s a threat to the instructors if they spill the beans, then I think they won’t.

Worst case, the fighting teacher gives me a hard time and I drop the course.

As he starts penning me a note, the doctor throws out the names of foods I can’t eat and things to avoid. Most of them aren’t a problem. I haven’t been brave enough to try raw fish yet, the texture of raw meat is terrifying to me, and unpasteurized cheese is too sophisticated for my taste buds. Plus, I already don’t drink alcohol or coffee.

I will remember not to eat grapes with my breakfast, though, because apparently, there are potentially poisonous compounds in them that can cause complications with pregnancies. But hey, at least they aren’t my favorite.

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