THEIR_VIRGIN_PRINCESS Read Free Page B

can’t keep it from her. She’s my closest relative. Oh, Lea.
     You weren’t there when we got married. You have to be there when I have my
     first baby. Please say you’ll come.”
    Yasmin was pregnant? Silly, superficial Yasmin was married
     and now having a child. A little kernel of jealousy weighed in her gut. Yas had
     been the prankster when they were young. She’d nearly dropped out of school.
     She hadn’t even thought of going to university. So how was Yas the one with a
     husband and a career that should have been Alea’s, and a baby on the way?
    She struggled to find something to say. She looked down at
     Yasmin, who was perfectly slender in her Marchesa gown. “You don’t look
     pregnant.”
    Yasmin’s smile lit up the night. She ran a hand down her
     flat stomach. “I assure you I am. I’m almost three months along. You have to
     come. It will be just like our childhoods when we spent summers together. And
     you can start over in England. The palace is too insular. You need to be out in
     the world.”
    Yasmin waxed on and on about all the things they could do in
     London. They would shop, go to the theater, hang out with Oliver’s brothers.
     One was a very famous football player, and Yas was convinced that Alea should
     go on a date with him.
    The idea curdled her stomach. Alea backed up, her hip
     bumping the ledge of the balcony. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Landon
     surge toward her. She quickly edged away from the ledge lest Lan decide she
     meant to escape Yas by jumping to her death or something equally dramatic. He
     would think of it as his sacred duty to either save her or go down with her, no
     doubt.
    “You’re going to love Callum. He’s so handsome, and he’s
     just a bit younger than my Oliver.”
    “Yas, stop. I don’t know that I want to leave the palace
     right now.”
    When her cousin pursed her lips, preparing an argument, Alea
     knew she had to come up with some excuse or Yasmin really would set her up with
     an athlete. The paparazzi already swarmed her on those few occasions she
     ventured out in public. They called her the “Prisoner Princess.” Tal had
     managed to keep the gritty details of her kidnapping out of the press. The
     world believed she’d simply been held in a gilded cage until the royal family
     had coughed up enough cash. If they knew the truth, they would call her the
     “Prostitute Princess.” The very idea made her stomach turn.
    Oliver put a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Back off a bit,
     Yas. You’ve just thrown a lot of information her way. Give her some time to
     think.”
    “You’re not happy for me, are you?” Yasmin stared at her,
     her doe eyes more than a little sad.
    “O-of course I am,” Alea stuttered. “I’m just surprised.”
    And a bit annoyed, which made her feel guilty. Yas merely
     meant to help. But she just wanted peace. Why had she and Oliver sought her on
     this balcony? Alea had enjoyed the quiet of her and Lan sharing the space
     alone.
    “But I thought you would be happy for me, too. I’m sorry,
     Lea. Oliver was right. You’re still in a dark place, and I didn’t realize… This
     is all my fault.”
    She turned and fled the balcony, her dress floating around
     her ankles. Alea winced. Oliver cursed under his breath. Yas had always been on
     the dramatic side. Pregnancy hormones probably weren’t helping. Of course she
     wanted her cousin to be happy…but it was hard to feel joy about anything when
     she felt stuck in a rut defined by numbness, terror, and a slow-burning rage.
    Oliver dragged a hand over his face. “Forgive her. She’s
     missed you far more than she’s let on. I swear she changed the day you went
     missing. She was quite manic for a while. I was worried we would have to sedate
     her those first few days. I think the wedding was the only thing that held her
     together. And now the baby is coming.”
    He said the last in a sort of resolved tone that led Alea to
     wonder if