"Could you... help me with this too?"

Kira’s voice floated across the room just as Derek turned to head back to the sofa.

He had been quietly studying her ever since she returned from that suspicious trip to Aethelwulf without telling him, Alistar, or Flora. The quiet fury from that afternoon still simmered under his skin.

When she had finally returned, looking annoyingly untouched and serene, he had demanded answers. She had brushed him off with a breezy "just handling my own business," as if that settled it.

This woman was going to be the death of his sanity.

Now she stood there with that wide-eyed innocent expression, like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. Derek eyed the necklace dangling from her fingers. He wanted to ignore her. He really did. But then she spoke again, voice sweet and teasing.

"My dear hubby," she said, pushing out her lower lip in a perfect pout, "why don’t you put this around my neck? You know... it’s a husband’s sacred duty to help his wife with all these shiny little things."

He almost scoffed. "Who made up that rule?"

"Oh, it’s an old one," she replied, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Common law of marriage, really. We’ve got to sell this united, lovey-dovey front to your people in Snow Crest. Might as well practise here at home first. We’ve been a bit rusty with the whole act, don’t you think?"

She was trying to use her cheekiness to cover up her initial emotional slip. The fact that she had been so affected by him. She didn’t even know why she felt the need to.

Derek let out a long breath and rose from the sofa without answering. She was trying to distract him with that sunny, bubbly mask, but Derek’s instincts, honed by years of war and betrayal, told him there was more to the story.

Ever since she returned from the village that day, the day she saw the woman die in childbirth. Something had been off about her. Something Derek couldn’t quite place his hand on.

Her smiles never quite reached her eyes anymore. Her mind seemed miles away, lost in thoughts she wouldn’t share.

He had pressed Flora for the full story again. The older woman had stuck to the same tragic tale of the difficult birth. She wasn’t lying—at least, not as far as she knew.

He crossed the room and took the necklace from Kira’s hand. "Turn around," he said, voice low and rough.

She obeyed with a small, pleased smile, pivoting so her back faced him. With both hands, she swept her hair up and away, revealing the elegant curve of her neck. The soft skin there looked impossibly vulnerable under the warm light.

In the large mirror across the room, their reflections stared back at them, him tall and dark in his sharp tuxedo, her smaller frame glowing in that emerald gown that hugged her like liquid gemstone.

Derek stepped closer. The air between them thickened with her scent; fresh jasmine laced with the faint floral notes of her shampoo, mingling with the warm citrus and ceder that clung to his own skin.

He lifted the golden chain, letting the cool metal brush near her throat. Their eyes met in the reflection. For a moment, they both held their breaths.

"This will suit you perfectly," he murmured, the words slipping out before he could stop them.

A deep flush crept across Kira’s cheeks. She bit her lower lip and quickly glanced away from their joined image in the glass.

Derek’s eyes ran to the nape of her neck, that small, vulnerable spot just below her hairline where a mate’s mark was meant to sit.

Something raw and primal stirred low in his gut. His gums ached as his fangs threatened to descend. The sudden, fierce urge to lean in, to press his mouth to that spot, to taste the salt of her skin and sink his teeth in until the whole world knew she was his, nearly knocked the breath from him.

His thoughts turned possessive. She was his wife. His. That soft, unmarked place belonged to him alone. He wanted to drag his lips over it, to kiss and bite until she shivered and gasped his name.

But Derek was no fool. She had gone to Aethewulf on purpose, keeping him in the dark. The reminder made his jaw tighten. He snapped the clasp shut and stepped back sharply, putting much-needed space between them before those darker thoughts could take hold.

He needed to know every detail of her life. He needed to know her every move. But as he adjusted his cuffs, he realised with bitterness that this was his own fault.

He had been the one who set the rules from the beginning—separate lives, stay out of each other’s business. Now those rules felt like chains he had forged with his own hands.

He had always believed tracking her location was enough. That he only needed her for the heir and the cold revenge he had planned. He had never counted on actually caring what she did when she was away from him.

The secret tracker in her phone had pinged her at a hospital in the Central today. Nothing more. Just... a hospital.

A hospital.

The thought snapped in his head. He glanced at Kira as she fastened her earrings, the new necklace gleaming against her skin.

What had she been doing there? The question hammered at his brain. Was she sick? Or—his heart lurched painfully against his ribs—was she already carrying his child?

"I’m all done, darling," Kira said brightly, snapping him out of the spiral. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

She must be pregnant. Why else would she hide a hospital visit? A surge of something he couldn’t name swelled in his chest.

"Shall we?" she asked, arching one brow.

Derek pulled himself together and offered his arm. Kira slid her hand through it, her touch light but warm against the fabric of his sleeve. They walked out together.

His pulse kicked up with a strange, restless excitement he could barely contain. At the top of the grand staircase, he stopped abruptly, bent down, and swept her clean off her feet, cradling her bridal-style against his chest.

Kira let out a startled squeak, her eyes flying wide. "What are you doing?"

Then, something happened that made Kira’s heart nearly stop. Derek’s lips curved, slowly at first, then wider until a genuine, smile broke across his features, transforming him.

"Honey," he drawled, the light, teasing lilt in his voice one she had never heard before, "from today onwards, I won’t let you stress about a thing."

Kira’s heart slammed against her ribs so hard she thought it might burst free. "Did you... did you just smile?"