Page 147 of The Princess and Her Grand King

“What happened?” Aekeira pulled back just enough to look into her sister’s eyes. Her voice was small, her gaze searching, imploring. “Tell me what happened. You just woke up one day… changed. No more grieving, crying, or moping. I was relieved—at least one of us was brave enough to deal with it. But deep down, I have always felt there was something more. Something you are not telling me.”

Emeriel shook her head slowly. “No, Keira. Let’s not go there.”

“So thereissomething.” Aekeira suddenly looked determined. “No, I need to know.”

“There is nothing.” Emeriel took a step back, the warmth fleeing, a chill spreading through her veins.

Her fingers tightened on her garment, her knuckles white. “Nothing happened.”

“No more secrets, Em, please.” Aekeira sounded desperate and frustrated. “I have thought about it for years. Did the grand king send a rejection letter to you in Navia? Is that it?”

“I truly don’t want to talk about it,” Emeriel’s voice shook. Her body betrayed her as she trembled, the tremors impossible to hide. “Keira, please, let it go.”

“Look at yourself!” Aekeira’s voice rose, her worry spilling over into anger. “You are shaking—it’s still affecting you! What happened, Em?”

“No!” she screamed in anguish. “Let it go. It’s all in the past!”

“Tell me, I need to know!” Aekeira shouted right back.

“I lost my child!”

The confession exploded from Emeriel in an agonized scream ripped from the depths of her soul. “I was pregnant, and I lost my baby!”

Emeriel’s chest was too full, it hurt too much. And because there was no more room for the pain, it was bursting through her.

“I was cr-crying too much, h-hurting myself too much. I was too weak, and because of that, I lost my p-pregnancy!” The more she screamed, the worse it hurt.

Tears streamed down her face in unending rivers. Now that the dam had burst, the words refused to stop. “I stood there in that lavatory while my child left me in a p-pool of b-blood, and there was n-nothing I could do about it.” A bitter, choked laugh left her. “I didn’t even know I was pregnant. I was so weak I lost the most pre-precious thing in—”

Aekeira’s arms were fierce around her again, and this time, Emeriel collapsed into her body, violent sobs wracking her throat.

“You were pr-pregnant?” Aekeira’s stuttered, her own tears falling freely now. “Oh, by the gods, by the gods,by the gods…!How could something like this happen? How did you live with this!? Why didn’t you tell me!? You carried something th-this heavy within you?!Light-gods, Emeriel!”

Aekeira held her even tighter, as if her arms alone could shield Emeriel from the agony.

“This is why I n-never talk about it,” she sobbed. “After all these years… it shouldn’t hurt this much. But it does. I feel likeI’m tearing apart inside.”

“It was not your fault, do you hear me!?” Aekeira whispered sternly, with conviction. “Stop blaming yourself! Stop—”

Her words froze mid-sentence. She pulled back, her tear-streaked face suddenly tense.

“What is it?” Emeriel asked, her voice shaky and weak.

She wiped at her cheeks, her gaze fixed sharply on something behind Emeriel.

Dread coiled in Emeriel’s stomach as she turned slowly.

There, standing in the doorway, pale as death itself, was Grand King Daemonikai.

Oh heavens… no.

Chapter thirty-four

MELTDOWN: UNDER THE NAKED MOON.

HighLordHerodisstoodby the window, gazing out over the open field bathed in moonlight.

The night breeze whispered around him, carrying a lovely scent of grass and distant woods.

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