Amalie held him tight, breathing in his salty, woody scent, cradling his scalp, wanting only to take away his pain.
As far as lovemaking went this was fierce, primal, but she embraced every carnal thrust, felt the pulsations building in her core as she clung to him. He gave a roar and buried his face in her hair, his whole body shaking, and his final thrust pushed her over the edge as the pulsations exploded with a shocking power that took all the life from her bones and left her limp in his arms.
Time lost any meaning.
It was only when he gently placed her back on her feet, tugged her skirt down from around her waist and stepped back, that she saw the red mark on the top of his shoulder and realised she had made it with her mouth.
Talos spotted it too and gave a ragged grin. ‘My first love bite,’ he said, in an attempt at humour that didn’t fool her for a second.
She waited for him to ask why she was there, but all he did was cup her cheeks and kiss her with something close to desperation, then pull her to him.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, his voice husky. ‘That was incredibly selfish of me.’
‘I’m not,’ she murmured, tilting her head to look up at him.
His eyes closed and he muttered an oath. ‘I didn’t use protection.’
That made her blink. She hadn’t been in the right frame of mind to think of protection either.
‘We should be okay. I’m due on tomorrow.’
‘Should be okay?’ He gave a savage shake of his head.
‘I’m not an expert, but I’m certain I’m way past the ovulation stage of my cycle. And I’m always regular,’ she added, trying to reassure him even while the image of a dark-haired baby wrapped in vine leaves filtered into her mind. ‘I’ll know within a couple of days if we have a problem.’
The pulse in his jaw was working overtime. ‘Make sure to tell me the minute you know.’
‘I promise.’ She hesitated before asking, ‘Talos, what’s wrong? You’ve become so distant.’
He gazed back down at her, and for a moment she was certain he was about to talk. Instead, he pulled his arms away and took a step back.
‘Nothing’s wrong. I’m a little stressed about the gala, I have a few minor problems with work, a lack of sleep...the usual.’
‘I’m sure the rehearsals tomorrow will go better,’ she said, trying to inject positivity into her tone. ‘At least I was able to play it today.’
Even if it had sounded like a cats’ chorus ringing out, and even if the members of her orchestra had been gazing at her with something close to horror.
He raised his eyes to the ceiling and shook his head, before jerking it into a nod. ‘I’m sure you’re right.’
And in that moment she knew he was lying.
He wasn’t merely concerned.
He didn’t believe she could do it.
Panic took hold in her chest.
Up until that point Talos’s conviction that he could fix her had taken root in her head, allowing her to believe that she could overcome her fear in time. But if her warrior prince had lost faith, what did that say? Where did that leave her? Where did that leave them?
‘I need to go to Athens first thing in the morning,’ he said, rubbing the back of his neck. ‘I’ll collect you at seven for dinner with my grandfather.’
Was this his way of dismissing her?
‘Okay...’ she answered uncertainly. ‘Are you certain it’s informal dress?’
‘My grandfather insists. He wants it to be a relaxed occasion, where you can both talk without formality.’
‘That sounds good,’ she said. ‘Are you coming back to the cottage with me?’
Instinct had already told her his answer, but she had to ask. She wouldn’t presume to invite herself to stay here at the villa with him—even if it wasn’t so obvious he wished her gone.
‘Not tonight. I’ve an early start. I’ll only disturb you if I stay over, and you need a good night’s sleep as much as I do. I’ll walk you back.’
His words made sense. That didn’t stop them feeling like a knife plunging into her heart.
She forced a smile to her face and leaned up to kiss him, pretending that nothing was wrong when it was blindingly obvious that he was steeling himself to end their relationship.
Not that what they shared was a relationship, she scolded herself on their silent walk back to the cottage. It had always had an end date attached to it; she had accepted that. She just hadn’t considered that he would tire of her before the end date. She hadn’t considered that he would lose faith in her.
* * *
Amalie strove to hide the shock that meeting King Astraeus Kalliakis evoked.
With Talos’s hand in the small of her back, they had been escorted by a courtier to the King’s private dining room—a space a fraction of the size of the Banquet Room but every bit as sumptuous.
The pictures she’d seen of the King had depicted a tall, handsome man. Even at his eightieth birthday celebrations, with his ebony hair having thinned and turned white, he’d exuded vitality. That was the man she had prepared herself to meet.
‘Forgive me for not rising to greet you,’ he said, his voice weak. ‘If I could get up I would kiss your hand.’
She had no idea what possessed her, but when she took the unsteady hand he offered she was the one to place a kiss on the paper-thin skin, rather than giving the curtsy she’d practised earlier.
He smiled warmly, then indicated for his nurse to wheel him to the table.
Amalie tried to catch Talos’s eye but he was avoiding her gaze, just as he’d avoided any conversation other than the usual pleasantries on their drive to the palace. He hadn’t even mentioned her phone call early that morning confirming that her period had started.
As masochistic as she knew it to be, she’d felt a definite twinge of disappointment when she’d spotted the telltale signs of her period. She’d never even thought of having children before. Not once. But for less than twelve hours there had been the smallest of chances that she might have conceived and her imagination had taken root. Any initial concerns about what a disaster it would be, seeing as she was in anything but a loving relationship, and it would affect the career she longed to reclaim, had fallen by the wayside as she’d imagined what it would be like to have Talos’s child.
It had felt almost dreamlike.
She had no idea if she would be any good as a mother, but instinct told her he would make a fantastic father. She sighed. It was something she would never know, and it was pointless to allow
