Page 28 of Dragon King’s Duty Bride

“We will endure the council,” he said quietly. “Together.”

It should have comforted her. Instead, it felt like standing on the edge of something vast and unnamed. Because together still meant distance. Together still meant inches of untouched space in a wide bed.

That night, when they lay once more beneath the canopy, Sia stared into the darkness and listened to the careful rhythm of Lucas's breathing.

She imagined what it must be like to lie beside a woman you did not want., to feel obligated, to restrain yourself not out of discipline, but disinterest.

She turned her face slightly toward him and watched the faint outline of his profile in moonlight. He was close enough to reach. Close enough to test her fear.

But she didn’t move. If he desired her, he would come to her.

And in the silence, as the space between them remained unbroken, Sia understood one thing with painful clarity. The throne might demand an heir, but what stood between her and Lucas was not absence of effort.

It was reluctance.

And she was no longer certain whose.

Chapter 11

Lucas

Lucas learned about Pavel’s engagement from his mother, who said it the way she said most of the shocking things she blurted out. While sipping coffee and staring him in the eye.

“Pavel is getting married next week,” she announced.

Lucas nearly choked on his coffee. “Pavel?”

His youngest brother, who still lived in his parents' home on the edge of the castle grounds. The same brother who had never done an honest day’s work or carried one responsibility. Also his mother’s favorite. That Pavel.

“Yes,” his mother said calmly. “He is very happy.”

That unsettled him more than he wanted to admit. “I didn’t even know he was dating anyone.”

“You don’t know everything about your brother.” She rose and refilled her mug. “The wedding is next weekend.”

Lucas stared at her wide-eyed. “That soon? No time for you to plan?”

She shook her head. “No need to plan. They don’t want anything extravagant like Liam. And once the baby gets here, everything for him is going to be more important than the wedding.”

This time Lucas sat his mug down before the shock caused him to drop it. “Pregnant? That’s quite the nonchalant way to slip that detail in. Pavel is having a baby?”

“He is, and that’s the last I want to hear of it. Your girls will have a cousin.”

Lucas knew not to cross his mother’s tone. He had always assumed Pavel would never marry. He had always been too happy with his life choices to remain a mama’s boy.

Yet when Lucas saw him the following week and saw the way Pavel’s hand rested instinctively over his fiancée’s stomach, something inside Lucas shifted.

Pavel didn’t seem trapped or cornered by the surprise pregnancy or marriage. Instead, he seemed proud. Terrified, yes, but proud. Radiant in the way that only happened when one was in love.

It upset Lucas in a way he hadn’t expected.

He had told himself for years that love for himself was unnecessary. That stability was enough, especially for the girls. That desire was a luxury he didn’t need and that longing was weakness.

Yet watching Pavel beam across a church hall decorated simply with white flowers and red roses, Lucas felt something sharp and unfamiliar press against his ribs.

He had known that happiness once, but he had buried the very same. He thought of Dian as this second wedding slammed into his memories harder than the first. His mind went back to when he had been the groom. Back to when he had felt chosen.

He had not allowed himself to wallow in how much he missed her in a long time, but at Pavel’s wedding, surrounded by brothers who were suddenly husbands, he felt the absence like an old bruise pressed too hard. But he also noticed that the pain wasn’t as sharp as it had been in the past.