Sophia’s mind struggled to compute this. And then, she shook her head, and despite the heartbreak of a moment before, she smiled. “Do you mean we’re having… twins?”
“Yes,” the doctor drew his gaze back to Sophia’s face. “And both are strong, showing good nutrient delivery. However, we will monitor you a little more closely than we would a single pregnancy.”
“Of course,” she smiled and nodded, and risked a glance at Malik. He was staring straight ahead, his face cast from stone.
She swallowed, and finished the conversation with the doctor, scheduling her next appointment before seeing him to the door of the suite.
Alone again, she turned to face Malik, and she waited. Eventually, he dropped his eyes to hers and a shiver ran through her, for the coldness in his gaze.
“What’s the matter?” She asked stiffly, shielding her heart out of habit now, protecting herself from the pain he seemed to inflict without making any such effort.
“The matter?” His own voice was flattened of any emotion. “Nothing, Sophia. You have done very well. Two children perfectly secures the bloodline – the purpose of our marriage has been met.”
Chapter 14
THE NEXT NIGHT, SHE DREAMED that she’d followed him. That she’d thrown herself at him bodily and battered him with her small fists, that she’d screamed at him until he’d listened to her. That she’d pushed him to the floor and made love to him until he understood the truth of this.
But she didn’t.
She watched him go with a heart that was turning cold, with a heart that was learning to accept the futility of trying to convince a man like Malik of anything. She watched him go with pure acceptance.
And doubts began to creep in. Not doubts as to her own feelings – she knew her heart and she understood it. But doubts as to his heart?
For love was not something that could be rejected so easily. She had offered him everything she was and he’d turned his back on her like it was nothing.
That was not love.
She discovered, six weeks later, that he was having daily briefings about her. Usually, her chief of staff delivered them, but owing to illness, Awan had been dispatched to provide the update, and she’d mentioned it to Sophia almost in passing.
So he hadn’t walked away from her completely.
Then again, she was carrying his royal heirs – he probably just wanted to know they were in good health.
And they were. The same could not necessarily be said for Sophia.
“You must eat more,” the doctor said, after her twenty-week ultrasound.
Worry immediately spread through her. “The babies?”
“They’re fine,” he murmured, lifting his gaze to Malik’s face. “But you are not gaining enough weight. Growing twins is demanding on your body. If you don’t look after yourself, you will suffer, your highness.”
She felt Malik stiffen beside her. She didn’t care. “I’m fine.”
The doctor looked as though he wanted to argue, but Malik nodded, signalling that the matter was dealt with, and the doctor let himself out.
“Are you eating?”
She pushed up out of the sofa with more difficulty this time, her stomach was so much rounder. “Yes.” She didn’t meet his eyes. She couldn’t. Pregnancy hormones were pulling her in a thousand different directions and she was afraid that if she looked into his eyes, she would burst into tears.
He was very still, she sensed his lack of movement and stayed where she was, head bent forward, eyes fixed on the carpet at her feet.
“Fine.”
And he’d left.
But not forgotten, apparently. He returned at dinner, his expression grim. He watched her eat, and of course she barely ate anything, because her stomach was in knots having him sitting opposite her. “I’m not an animal in a zoo,” she snapped, eventually, standing up and stalking towards her bathroom. “You don’t get to come for feeding time and disappear again. You don’t get to do that to me.”
The next day, Awan sat with her while she ate. Awan chatted, telling Sophia all about her life, her childhood, her home, her sister’s upcoming wedding, and Sophia nodded and smiled and answered back as she pushed food around her plate and ate what little she could, but inside, she fumed, because he was simply using Awan as a proxy.