YELENA

The night air outside the restaurant was thick with the scent of pine and damp earth, a familiar perfume of our territory, but tonight, it felt charged with something else.

I was still blushing, the heat of it lingering on my cheeks despite the cool evening breeze.

Tristan had insisted on this outing with the stubbornness of a man possessed, refusing to take "no" for an answer.

Even with my belly swollen and heavy, housing the little life that was preparing to greet the world, he ...