“Consider this your first taste… the rest is waiting for you.” 🌙

Bonus Story Alert! 💖
Chapters 1 & 2 are free for everyone to enjoy, but the rest of this tale is reserved for my wonderful patrons.
If you’re a Free Member and want the full story, join the Sapphic Only tier for just $5/month and lose yourself in this exclusive short romance. https://www.patreon.com/c/nightkitten/membership

Now, without further ado, here’s Chapter Two…

Chapter 2: The Royal Treatment

The murmurs spread like gasoline fire.

Bilieo had a woman? A baby?

They moved in hushed tones through the crowd, flickers of scandal breaking through the respectful funeral quiet. Solar caught the shifting glances, the whispered breaths, and decided she’d give them exactly nothing to feed on.

She leaned toward Marcus, her voice barely audible. “Form a line.”

A sharp nod was all it took. Within seconds, half a dozen men in dark suits shifted their positions, closing ranks around her and Ever, creating a wall of broad shoulders and watchful eyes. Curious relatives slowed as they approached, some with sharp questions, others with worried frowns—but the tall man who stepped forward from Solar’s right cut them off with a calm, steady tone.

“Everything’s under control,” he said, his deep voice heavy with finality. “Please give the family privacy.”

It wasn’t a request.

The crowd hesitated, then retreated in slow, reluctant steps. Still, the whispers chased them away. The name Greshilo was always in people’s mouths, but today it was carried on the crackling static of rumor: a little missus… a baby on the way…

Solar ignored them.

One of the men she’d sent to the grave site reappeared, breathless, holding the pregnancy test in his gloved hand like a delicate piece of evidence. The white plastic was dusted with dirt, the faint lines still visible in its tiny window.

Solar tugged a pair of black latex gloves from her jacket pocket, snapping them on. She took the test, holding it up to the light as if it were a diamond. For one brief moment, her expression shifted—something almost human breaking through, a flicker of… could it be hope?

It was gone in an instant. Her jaw tightened.

She turned the test in her hand. “How exactly,” she said, voice low but razor-sharp, “are you sure my brother was the father?”

Ever stood her ground despite the circle of men around her. “Because I know who I was with.”

“Really?” Solar arched one brow, a thin smile pulling at her mouth. “Because I wasn’t aware Bilieo’s tastes ran beyond street-level company.”

Ever’s lips parted, then closed. Her pulse thudded against her throat. “I am street-level company,” she said finally. “I’m a prostitute. Was. Until your brother offered to change that.”

A muscle jumped in Solar’s cheek.

“He paid my rent. My bills. Bought me clothes I couldn’t pronounce the brands of.” Ever’s voice shook but didn’t break. “Three months. Three months of him saying he’d marry me. That I’d never work again.”

Solar’s gloved fingers tightened around the test until the plastic creaked. She turned to Marcus. “Put her in the car.”

Ever jerked back. “I’m not going anywhere with—”

The men didn’t wait for her to finish. Hands clamped around her arms, steering her toward the cemetery gates. She kicked at the gravel, hair falling over her face. “You think dragging me off is going to make me shut up?!”

Solar didn’t answer.

Marcus fell into step beside her, his voice low. “Why don’t we just do it here? One and done.”

Solar let out a slow breath, watching the car door slam behind Ever. “If the kid is Bilieo’s,” she said, “killing her would be the same as him dying on our watch all over again.”

A couple of the men murmured in agreement. Others just stared, waiting.

“And if she’s lying?” Marcus pressed.

Solar’s smile this time was different; cold, deliberate, sharp as a blade. “Then we give her the royal treatment.”

Marcus raised a brow. “Royal treatment?”

“Execution shot to the head,” Solar said simply.

There were nods all around. A few grim smiles. The kind of agreement born in blood-bound loyalty.

Solar peeled off the gloves and handed the test back to Marcus. “Throw this away and have her tested…Discreetly.”

“Yes, boss.”

She turned away from the car and crossed the grass toward the knot of her relatives—cousins, uncles, family friends—who waited with questions boiling in their eyes.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” she said before they could speak, smoothing the air with practiced grace. “Grief makes strangers bold.”

She held their gazes until they looked away, until they began to drift back to the grave, the dirt ready to be shoveled in over Bilieo’s coffin. She murmured something to an elderly aunt, squeezed her shoulder, and accepted condolences with a nod.

But her mind wasn’t here anymore.

It was in the black sedan idling at the edge of the cemetery. Behind the tinted glass, a beautiful woman sat straight-backed between two of her men, eyes locked on Solar with a mix of fury and defiance.

Ever’s stare didn’t waver as the car pulled away.

Solar’s hands curled into fists at her sides. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to throw Ever out of her city or keep her under lock and key forever.

And that uncertainty…the unfamiliar, irritating pull in her chest—was what she hated most of all.