Sebastian’s heart pounded as he rode through moonlit streets toward Master Aldrich’s manor.

He’d left Lady Cordelia’s chambers immediately after she’d fallen asleep, her earlier seduction suddenly feeling empty and meaningless.

Something had been eating at him since he’d left the physician’s residence hours ago—an inexplicable pull that wouldn’t let him rest.

Perhaps guilt, or something deeper, but he couldn’t ignore the nagging voice whispering that he’d abandoned his wife when she needed him most.

When he burst through the manor’s entrance and pushed open the door to Evangeline’s chamber, he froze in the doorway.

The room was empty. Fresh linens on the bed, candles flickering in their holders, but she was nowhere to be found.

“Where the devil is she?” Sebastian muttered, pacing the chamber like a caged wolf.

His riding boots echoed on stone floors as he strode through corridors, heading straight for Master Aldrich’s private study.

The door creaked under his forceful push, and Sebastian didn’t wait for the invitation.

He stepped inside, eyes narrowing as he found the elderly physician behind his desk, carefully writing in a leather journal.

“Where is my wife?” Sebastian demanded, his voice sharp as glass.

Master Aldrich glanced up from his writing, his weathered face tight with internal struggle. He set down his quill with deliberate care but remained silent, as if weighing his words.

The silence stretched until Sebastian’s patience snapped.

“I asked you a question,” he said, tone dropping dangerously low. “Where is Princess Evangeline?”

“She departed, Your Highness,” Master Aldrich finally admitted, voice barely above a whisper.

Sebastian felt a cold wave wash over him—disappointment, perhaps, or something more complex.

“She departed?” Sebastian echoed, frustration mounting. “What do you mean departed? Departed where?”

Master Aldrich remained conspicuously silent, eyes fixed on the scattered papers covering his desk.

Sebastian was turning toward the door, ready to launch a kingdom-wide search, when the physician’s voice stopped him cold.

“I have served this royal house faithfully for three decades, Your Highness,” Master Aldrich said quietly, his tone heavy with difficult decisions. “My loyalty to the crown has never wavered. But there is something you must know. Something vital to the realm.”

Curiosity overrode Sebastian’s anger.

He slowly turned back, moving to the chair opposite the desk and settling into it with practiced grace, keeping his piercing gaze on Master Aldrich.

“What is it?” Sebastian asked, voice carefully controlled despite the storm brewing within.

Master Aldrich hesitated, wringing his hands before taking a steadying breath.

“I know Her Highness instructed me to remain silent, but I cannot in good conscience keep this from you. You have the right to know the truth.”

Sebastian’s frown deepened, patience wearing thin. “Speak plainly, old man.”

The physician cleared his throat nervously, eyes darting toward the door as if checking for eavesdroppers. “She told me she intends to leave the kingdom permanently.”

“I already know that,” Sebastian muttered, more to himself than Master Aldrich. “She demanded an annulment.”

Master Aldrich leaned forward slightly, voice dropping to barely a whisper. “There is more, Your Highness. Much more.”

Sebastian’s eyes snapped up to meet the physician’s troubled gaze. “What?”

Master Aldrich swallowed hard, his next words emerging slowly and deliberately. “Princess Evangeline is with child.”

Sebastian froze completely. The candlelit study’s air felt thick and suffocating, as if the atmosphere had turned to molasses. “What did you say?”

“She is pregnant,” Master Aldrich repeated, voice gaining strength. “With your child, Your Highness. Your legitimate heir.”

Sebastian shot to his feet with such force his chair toppled backward, clattering against stone.

His heart hammered wildly, disbelief clouding his vision like morning fog. He had no framework for processing this revelation.

“I… I was not informed…” His voice trailed off as he struggled to make sense of the earth-shattering news.

Master Aldrich’s voice cut through the suffocating silence. “I understand this is overwhelming, Your Highness, but I’m afraid there’s still more you must know.”

Sebastian’s head snapped toward the physician with striking speed. “What do you mean?”

Master Aldrich nodded gravely, his expression reflecting the magnitude of what he was about to reveal. “Princess Evangeline is not carrying just one child.”

Sebastian’s breath caught in his throat. “What?! Explain.”

“She is expecting twins, Your Highness.”

The world seemed to tilt on its axis as the physician’s words penetrated Sebastian’s consciousness.

He staggered backward until his shoulders hit the stone wall, thoughts becoming a chaotic tangle of shock, regret, and dawning horror.

“Twins,” he repeated hoarsely, as if speaking the word aloud might somehow make the reality less staggering.

Master Aldrich nodded solemnly. “I deeply regret delivering this news under such circumstances, Your Highness. I understand you didn’t anticipate this development.”

Sebastian ran both hands through his dark hair, desperately trying to regain his mental footing. The room spun as the full implications crashed down like an avalanche.

The one thing he’d always assumed would come naturally in time—heirs to continue the royal bloodline—had been right there within his grasp.

But Evangeline had fled the kingdom.

The woman he’d callously cast aside mere hours ago was now traveling toward an unknown destination, carrying the future of his dynasty within her womb.