The sacrifices she’d had to make in her life had not been as bad as Andre had feared when he’d asked her to marry him. Juliana had thrown herself into her new role as Zakhar’s queen with the same wholehearted enthusiasm she’d always shown with any role, although this was real and not make-believe.
She hadn’t been content with merely the figurehead position taken by previous queens in their charitable endeavors, either. No, she’d been an active participant, especially with those things near and dear to her heart—such as anything to do with children. Pregnancy hadn’t slowed her down in the slightest, except at the very end.
And through it all she’d had Mara’s friendship to sustain her. Mara’s example as a royal princess to guide her. Not to mention Mara’s advice on her pregnancy. Mara’s twins—a healthy boy and a girl—had been born only three months ahead of Raoul.
Juliana glanced over at Andre again and saw he was finally awake. Awake and staring at her and their son, love for them both lending a radiance to his tired face. She held her hand out to him, and he came to sit on the edge of the bed. “Meet your son,” she told him with a soft smile, turning the baby to face him. She took their son’s tiny fist and placed it in her husband’s hand, amused at how tentatively he stared at it, as if afraid something so small would break if he breathed. “Look, Andre,” she said tenderly, inserting a finger to open the tiny fist. “Raoul has your fingers.”
His eyes met hers, a shadow in their green depths. “Did you think I needed that proof?”
She shook her head slowly. “No more than the first Andre Alexei needed proof when he acknowledged Eleonora’s son was his before it was confirmed.” Her smile faded and she gazed at him with a solemn expression. “When I was eighteen I wondered if my children would inherit that endearing genetic defect from their father. Then later I knew they wouldn’t...because I would never have children.”
He glanced down at the baby in her arms. “But you did.”
“Only with you.” Her sudden radiant smile coaxed a smile from him in return. “Only because you paid a king’s ransom to bring me back to you.” She cupped his cheek with one hand, love welling up in her as she quoted softly, “‘Two hearts as one...’”
He turned his face to kiss her palm, his warm, firm lips sending a thrill coursing through her body the way they always had. The way they always would. “‘...Forever and a day,’” he finished for her in the deep voice she loved. “‘Forever and a day.’”