Page 69 of His Runaway Princess

She walked back into the bedroom to see her mum standing on the other side, her face ashen.

“Are you all right, Mum? You look like you’ve seen a gho...” She stopped mid-thought and knew exactly where her mother had been.

“Lind?” Her father finally saw Mum. “What is it?”

Her mum tried to speak but it could several tries to get the words out. “Regina,” she finally managed to croak.

“What about her?” Amalia’s father looked between her and her mum. “She and Oliver are fine. They’re still at the North Shore.”

Her mum shook her head. “Her nursery...”

Amalia stepped in. “I think what Mum means is that the nursery she’d prepared for Ginny is still there, completely intact.”

As her mum nodded, Amalia could see the tear tracks on her cheeks.

“What are you talking about?” Her father started toward the door.

As she glanced at Ryker, she could see the Eyjanian king give him a nod then quietly leave the room. Good. This was clearly a family matter.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her mum was frozen in place. “Why didn’t you tell me or your father or someone that it was still there?”

Amalia set Ryker’s clothes on the side of the bed. “Because you obviously didn’t know it was there. You’d never lived in this apartment, at least as far back as I can remember. I didn’t want to bring up painful memories, and then I didn’t know how. I don’t think anyone really realizes it’s still there. Except me.”

Before she realized what was happening, her mother had wrapped her arms around her and held on tight.

“Oh, my sweet Amalia, always protecting those you love,” she whispered. “In one fashion or another, you always do.”

She’d never thought of her decision that way, but she supposed it might be one reason.

A long moment later, her mother loosened her hold. “I’ll make certain it’s taken care of. I’m certain you and Ryker will want to do something with it. Whether it’s a cozy place to sit and read or, someday, a nursery, it’s up to you to choose what happens next.”

“Thank you, Mum.” She suspected there would be a longer discussion later, when emotions weren’t running quite so high, and they couldn’t still count the hours since the encounter with the stalker.

Her father ushered her mum to the door and closed it behind them as they left.

And she found herself alone again with Ryker. Dozing off next to him had felt right. They needed to find out exactly what their legalities were and make some decisions.

Amalia knew what she wanted that decision to be.

To get married, if they weren’t already, as quickly as possible and have the public ceremony as soon as they could reasonably plan it.

“That wasn’t how I expected that meeting to go.” Ryker used the button to lower the head of the bed a bit more.

“I don’t think any of us could.” She went back to the chair and sat down. “How are you? Too much?”

“Maybe a bit,” he admitted. He nodded toward the clothes. “I appreciate you bringing those.”

“I thought that might be why you looked uncomfortable.”

Ryker shook his head. “No. I need to...” He glanced at the door on the other side.

Amalia’s eyes went wide as she realized what he meant. “I can call someone to help you.”

He shook his head. “Can you just help me through the door? I can take it from there.”

Her doubt must have crossed her face, but he reassured her it would be fine. How could he know when he hadn’t put any weight on the leg yet?

To her surprise he carefully moved to the other side of the bed, the one closer to the door he needed to get through. With his arm around her shoulders, Amalia took on much of his weight as they slowly moved toward the door.

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