Moonlight Waltz

As she laid down to sleep, Evie couldn’t help but release a relieved sigh as her skin touched the smooth silk sheets. After taking a moment to get comfortable, which was getting harder as her pregnancy progressed, she felt Raphael slide into bed at her side. Despite her mild irritation with him at the moment, she couldn’t help but relax into his warmth. Even in his human form (it was easier to sleep with no wings, he claimed), he radiated heat.

She broke the comfortable silence after a beat, albeit reluctantly. “You didn’t need to step in at the opera house. I can handle myself—I’ve dealt with plenty of unpleasant men before.”

“I’m aware. I’m simply protecting my assets,” Raphael murmured, laying a possessive hand over the swell of her belly.

“Assets,” she muttered irritably, scowling into the darkness of the room. “I’m your partner, Raph. And that’s our baby.”

Though Evie couldn’t see his face, she felt the way his lips curled into a smug grin against her shoulder. “My archduchess and my heir.”

Feeling uncharitable, she snorted and said, “You’re not the ruler of anything yet.”

“Yet,” Raphael agreed. “Nevertheless, I’ll protect what’s mine. You could have handled it but it was safer for me to.”

She couldn’t argue with that. Damn. “I guess.”

He shifted so his lips were by her ear and whispered, “Besides, I think you enjoyed watching me put that cur in his place. Didn’t you?”

“Oh, hush, devil,” she murmured, turning her cheek away in embarrassment as he chuckled. Even if Evie had wanted to argue, she was sure her shiver would’ve given her away. “Let me rest.”

“Of course.” His tone was amused. It didn’t help that she had twined her fingers with his where his hand still lay on her stomach.

“Sleep well, my Evune.”