Page 41 of His Hidden Royal Heirs

Thatwas love. Devotion. Zia was not selfish.Perhaps, if anything, she was a little too selfless.

He blinked at this realization, at the warmth that seemed to settle over him when she smiled at him, when she let her guard down andtrustedhim. Something he’d broken now, but he’d had there for a few days.

And he heard his father’s words once more.

I saw her across the room, and she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. My heart stopped.

After their deaths, Cristhian had watched many videos of his father’s interviews. Before and after he’d married his mother. In those first few years after Cristhian had lost them, he’d collected any and every scrap that might keep them alive to him, that might give him hope for a life beyond his mother’s family’s machinations.

Sometime in his teen years, he’d cut himself off. Realizing he had to focus on his future to escape his present, rather than dwell forever in a past he couldn’t get back.

But that interview played in a loop in his head now. Because from that first moment of seeing Zia walk in the door at that bar, he had felt altered. And nothing had been the same since.

My heart stopped.

Something seemed to stop inside him then. Or start. Or break apart. He moved from behind his desk. “Your Majesty,” he said firmly, interrupting the king’s diatribe. “This is not Lille. And Zia is not your possession. I have my own money, my own power. I do not need your permission. I do not need to follow your orders. Here, you will follow mine. There will be a wedding tomorrow. You can be there, or not. But I will not be agreeing to anything with you or Lille.”

King Rendall shoved to his feet. His cheeks turning a mottled shade of red. “Then you will not inherit a dime. And neither will they. Whatever marriage you think you can enact, I will invalidate.”

“I don’t need your dimes, sir. Your titles. I don’t need any of it.” He did not say it angrily. It was a simple, easy truth. “Your reach does not extend beyond your country, and we are notinyour country.”

The kingfumed. For a moment or two, before turning on a heel and storming out of Cristhian’s office.

It wasn’t over, no, but Cristhian wasn’t backing down. Because love or no, nothing changed what he had to do.

Protect Zia and their children at all costs.

“We have to wait until the last possible moment,” Beau was saying as they got ready for bed that night. Zia had refused to attend dinner, which was perhaps petty, but she had been exhausted and known she wouldn’t be up to dealing with her fatherandCristhian.

Because already she was having doubts of her rebellion. The more excitedly Beau spoke of escape, the more tired Zia felt. The heavier her stomach seemed. Something inside her ached, and it was hard to think past it.

What kind of life was she making for her children if they ran away? What kind of life was she making for them if she stayed? And where did either option leave Beau?

“If they have time to look for you, then they could stop us,” Beau continued, crawling into the huge bed next to Zia. “So we have to create some sort of trick where theythinkthey know where we are, but we’re on our way. That they don’t come looking until the very last minute.”

“Beau. Realistically. Where are we going to go? This is not as simple as it was,” she said, gesturing at the very large bump under her blanket.

“What about your island? We still have that cabin for another few months.”

“Even if I didn’t think Cristhian would look there first, I can’t go back with this.” Maybe she could get by for a week or two, but soon enough the island would insist she return to the mainland until her babies were born.

Beau had her phone in her hand. “I’ll come up with something,” she said, the screen illuminating her face. No doubt researching all-new lives for them.

But... Zia couldn’t dream of an all-new life anymore. She had to deal with the people in this one. Not just her children, but their father. “You can’t find a new life for us before tomorrow.”

“Before morning,” Beau replied firmly. “You’re not marrying that incredibly handsome monster.”

Zia laughed in spite of herself. Incredibly handsome indeed. But... “He’s not a monster, Beau. And...we have to face facts. Not only will I be incredibly recognizable now that Father knows I’m pregnant, I need access to a doctor. I need lots of things, Beau. I can’t fly under the radar like I did. I know I said I needed help, but...”

“Zia.” Beau turned to her side to give Zia a stern look. “You can’t actually be considering marrying him.”

But she was. Ever since tea with Mother, she hadn’t been able to completely eradicate the idea of...just letting this happen.

“Mother was right. I was ready to marry Lyon. I never expected to marry for love. I never expected to have freedom. I want it for my children, of course, but... How canIgive it to them? Father is a worst-case scenario. Cristhian isn’t as bad as that.”

She believed Cristhian at least had the potential to care about their children more than any legacy orbloodlines. He’d spoken of loving parents, grandparents. He expected there to be some...taking care of and putting the children first.

That was better than Father.

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