CHAPTER 70: MY STEPSISTER MIGHT BE HAVING MY BABY, OOPS

Natalia drifted in the warm haze between sleep and wakefulness, her body heavy with satisfaction. Satori’s arm lay across her waist, an anchor of warm weight that made her feel securely tethered to him. Her head rested against his chest, the steady thump-thump of his heart a rhythm she could happily fall asleep to for the rest of her life.

She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with his scent—sweat and spice and something darker, something uniquely him that made her stomach tighten with want even after everything they’d done. It clung to the sheets, to his skin, to her hair. She was saturated in it, marked by it.

His. I’m his.

She nuzzled closer, her palm flat against his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breathing. There was something primal about being held like this, something that bypassed all her defenses and spoke directly to a part of her she hadn’t known existed until he’d awakened it.

But as the fog of pleasure slowly lifted from her mind, other memories began to surface—not of their lovemaking, but of what had come before.

"Your mom... she’s very beautiful."

What had she been thinking? She’d practically accused him of wanting to sleep with his own mother.

Natalia Kuzmina, top of her class, prodigy telekinetic, daughter of a B-Rank Hunter—reduced to a quivering mess of insecurity by the sight of her boyfriend holding hands with his mother.

He must think I’m pathetic.

She lifted her head slightly, looking at his sleeping face. The early light traced the sharp line of his jaw, the straight bridge of his nose, the curve of his lips.

Sovereign’s Covenant. A Nexus. You are the Keystone Pillar. My queen.

Queen. Not his toy, not his pet. His queen.

What kind of queen would throw a jealous fit because her king spoke to his own mother? What kind of queen would be so insecure in her position that she’d see a threat in the woman who raised him?

A weak one. And I refuse to be weak.

She saw it clearly now. Her jealousy was an insult to the position he had offered her. A queen wasn’t simply a warm body in his bed. A queen had her own power, her own authority. A queen supported her king’s ambitions; she didn’t sabotage them with petty insecurities.

If I’m going to be his partner in this insane covenant, if I’m going to be the queen he needs, I can’t be that weak, jealous girl. I have to be worthy of the title he gave me. I have to be stronger. For him. And for myself.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his in a deep, lingering kiss.

"I’ll be a queen you can be proud of," she whispered against his mouth, so softly that it wouldn’t disturb his sleep.

Natalia carefully extracted herself from his embrace. She didn’t bother gathering her clothes from the floor; she would retrieve them later. For now, she slipped out of his room wrapped only in her new resolve, padding silently down the hallway to her own bedroom.

Back in her own space, Natalia felt a sense of control returning. She grabbed her phone from her desk and composed a text to Emi:

Coffee at Lunar Brew later? We need to talk. It’s important.

She hit send, then placed the phone back on her nightstand. First, I fortify my alliances.

She headed to her private bathroom, eager for a shower. She needed to wash away his scent, to clear her head and think through the next steps of her plan. If she was going to be a true queen, she needed to start acting like one. That meant helping Satori expand his power base, starting with bringing Emi into their fold.

Natalia opened her sleek, minimalist medicine cabinet, reaching automatically for her birth control pill. Her fingers stopped mid-air.

The blister pack stared back at her, every single slot empty except for a lone "Sunday" space—a tiny silver void that seemed to grow larger the longer she stared at it. Her mind raced backward through a rapid-fire montage—the couch, the kitchen counter, the shower, his bed. Not once had they used protection. Not once had she even thought about it. And every single time, she had felt him finish inside her, filling her completely.

A jolt of pure panic shot through her, ice-cold and electric. It was immediately followed by a traitorous, hot flush of arousal that made her knees weak. Her hand moved instinctively to her flat stomach, resting there as if she could somehow sense a change that would be biologically impossible to detect so soon.

Oh, fuck.

Natalia stood under the shower’s hot spray, letting the water pummel her shoulders as she tried to think rationally. She wasn’t due for her period for another week and a half. There was no way to know if anything had happened yet. And even if it had... well, there were options.

But every time she tried to think logically about those options, a stubborn, primitive part of her brain whispered: His child. Our child. A prince or princess for our kingdom.

"Stop it," she hissed aloud, pressing her forehead against the cool tile of the shower wall. "You’re being ridiculous."

She wasn’t ready to be a mother. She was eighteen, for god’s sake. She had her Hunter career ahead of her, the entrance exams, her future at New Vein Academy. A baby would derail everything she’d worked for.

And yet.

The image of a small child with Satori’s eyes and her hair formed in her mind, so vivid it made her heart ache with a strange, fierce longing.

Natalia shut off the water with more force than necessary. This was exactly the kind of emotional, irrational thinking she’d just promised herself she would avoid. She needed to be strategic, levelheaded. A queen didn’t make life-altering decisions based on hormones and fantasies.

She toweled off quickly and wrapped herself in her silk robe, then padded back into her bedroom. She’d check her calendar, figure out exactly where she was in her cycle, and calculate the risk. Then she’d go to the pharmacy and get a morning-after pill. Simple, responsible action.

But first, she had to prepare for Emi. If Satori truly needed a court of exceptional women to amplify his power, then Natalia would deliver her best friend as the next addition. It was the perfect solution—Emi was sweet, loyal, and possessed a rare healing Aspect that would help Satori’s abilities and Natalia’s telekinesis perfectly.

Natalia pulled on a pair of leggings and a long sleeve shirt to head to the gym. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she barely recognized the woman staring back at her. Gone was the perpetual furrow between her brows, the tight line of her lips. Instead, her eyes held a new light—calculating, yes, but also alive with purpose. Her lips curved in a small, secret smile.

Queen Natalia has a nice ring to it.