Page 28 of Truth (Wicked Empire 2)

“You look so surprised,” I said.

“I…never mind,” she said, the camaraderie that had been building fleeing in an instant.

“Say it,” I said, my voice stern, allowing no opportunity for argument.

“I wasn’t sure you’d care,” she finally admitted.

That stung, but I reminded myself that she had made a mistake. That what she’d thought before didn’t matter now.

“Well, you were wrong,” I said, trying to keep my voice light.

She nodded, accepted that, which I appreciated. Because there was no reason for her to know that reading those pregnancy books was the thing that kept me sane.

She didn’t need to know that for weeks, my life had been nothing but looking for her or thinking about her, wavering between excitement at the thought of finding her again and despair at the thought that she was lost to me forever.

But that didn’t matter now.

I had her. And I wouldn’t let her go.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Zürich,” I said.

“Switzerland?” she answered, her eyes wide.

“Yes. And let’s hurry. You have an appointment in,” I checked my watch, “one hour. It wouldn’t do to be late.”

I opened the plane door and guided her down the stairs before she could say anything.

There was a fleet of SUVs waiting on the tarmac, and I led her to one and made sure she was settled before I got in and told the driver to leave.

“To the hotel. We’ll be leaving again shortly,” I said.

Amethyst didn’t say anything, but I noticed that she was looking out of the windows, taking in the sights around her.

When the car pulled into the hotel garage, she got out, still not speaking.

I took her to the suites that my family maintained there and let her in.

“As I said, we have an appointment, but if you’d like to clean up beforehand, you can,” I said.

“I don’t have any—”

I cut her off. “Check the closet. There should be things for you. I’ll arrange for you to get more later,” I said.

She opened the closet and saw the clothes hanging there.

“These are some of my favorite things from home,” she said.

I shrugged. “Replicas of a few things I remembered you liked. I wanted to make sure you were comfortable,” I responded.

“You were certain you were going to find me?” she asked.

“That shouldn’t be a question. I wasn’t going to rest until I did.”

She selected a couple of items, then said, “I haven’t started to show, so most of my clothes still fit.”

“We can take care of it if that changes. I’ll ask Kayla to help,” I said.

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