Page 46 of His Highness's Hidden Heir

Magnus walked into a darkened room that was a little too warm for comfort. Lexi wore a cotton nightgown rucked up to her thighs. She sat on an oversize ball, leaning forward, keening softly. The midwife sat in a chair before her, offering her arms to stabilize her.

“Lex, I’m here,” he said softly.

He waited until Lexi quieted and started to sit up. Then he jerked his head to dismiss the midwife and took the seat. He cupped Lexi’s elbows and set his feet on either side of the ball to keep it steady.

“What time is it?” she asked distractedly.

“They said you’re not taking anything for the pain? Why not?”

“Because I need to stay sober, so I know what’s going on.” She clamped her hands around his forearms and winced. “These things are constant. Why aren’t theyworking?”

She keened softly again, for a solid minute.

He waited, breath backed up in his lungs until she relaxed and panted.

“We talked about pain relief in birthing class. Remember? Let them give you something.”

“I just told you.” She squeezed his arms so hard it pinched. “They’ll make me sick or stupid. I won’t be able to walk. Walking is supposed to—Argh!”

Her cry was as much frustration as pain and it cut through him like a knife.

“Lexi.” He tried to smooth her hair from falling over her eye, but she knocked his hand away. “Listen to me,” he insisted. “They’re worried. They want you to agree to surgery.”

“They said the baby is fine.” She touched the belt on her bump and snapped a look to the monitor.

“Youare not. You’re exhausted. You didn’t sleep last night. You can’t keep on like this.”

“You don’t know what I can do!” she cried. “You sure as hell aren’t going to do it, are you? I have to do this myself. Oh my God.” She folded forward.

He caught her before her knees hit the floor and gathered her into his lap. Her fist pressed into his shoulder in resistance even as she muffled her moan of agony in his chest.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said piteously, shoulders shuddering. “What if the baby needs me? I’ll be unconscious. What if... I can’t give up, Magnus?”

Give up control, she meant. She couldn’t trust that she would be taken care of. That their baby would be.

“Lexi...søta.” The endearment was one his father had used for his mother all through his childhood. Sweetie. It bordered on innocuous, but it wasn’t something he threw around. He’d never called anyone that.

He had to wait while another paroxysm gripped her. He didn’t know how else to soothe her except to hold her and try to absorb her pain and whisper, “I’m worried aboutyou,søta.”

Finally, she relaxed and panted, trying to recover before the next wave arrived.

“I’ll be there the whole time, Lex. The baby will be safe and so will you. I promise you. Ipromise.”

It wasn’t something he could promise. He wasn’t a surgeon. Things went wrong with childbirth. They’d made that clear in the classes.

She knew it, too. She lifted her head enough to give him a look of weary disillusionment, then her expression crumpled and she caught fistfuls of his shirt and groaned.

The urge to just give the order and make it happen was so strong, he had to lock his throat against it. She would never forgive him if he took this choice from her. Never.

So he waited until the contraction eased and she panted once again. Then he petted her sweaty hair and said, “Please,søta. Trust me. I know that’s hard, but I won’t let anything bad happen to you or the baby. We’ll both be here when you wake up. I swear on my life. Trustme.”

When the next contraction hit, she didn’t stiffen. She collapsed into weeping.

“Okay,” she sobbed.

“I can order the surgery?” He made her look at him.

Her eyes were streaming, her mouth trembling. She nodded, then ducked her head in defeat.

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