Chapter 570: Planning at last.

For once, Seven looked genuinely pleased when Dean told him why they were there.

That was suspicious enough that Dean narrowed his eyes before the physician even answered.

"You’re happy."

Seven sat behind the desk in his private consultation room, tablet abandoned beside one hand while Arion occupied the chair next to Dean. Outside the tall windows, the late-autumn afternoon had already begun darkening, and several travel cases were waiting back at the Crown Prince Palace for their flight to Draxil the following morning.

"I am relieved."

"That sounds worse."

"It isn’t." Seven looked between them. "You came here before the pregnancy."

Arion leaned back slightly.

"That is generally how planning works."

Seven gave him a long look.

"Your first child was discovered after Dean was already pregnant, while both of you were attempting to reconstruct dates, symptoms, pheromonal changes, and whether anything unusual had happened during the previous cycle."

Dean smiled faintly.

"That was memorable."

"For me too."

Seven picked up his tablet.

"This time you are telling us before you start trying. That means we can establish a proper baseline, monitor Dean’s cycles more closely, review both of your health beforehand, and decide when it is actually reasonable to proceed."

Dean folded his arms.

"We are not starting anything now."

"I know."

"We’re flying to Draxil tomorrow."

"I also know that."

"And the coronation schedule is terrible."

Seven’s expression suggested this had absolutely nothing to do with medicine.

Dean continued anyway.

"We came to tell you what we’re considering. That’s all."

"And that is exactly what you should be doing."

Seven’s satisfaction returned.

Arion looked amused beside him.

Dean pointed at him.

"Do not encourage this."

"I haven’t said anything."

"You look pleased too."

"I am pleased."

Dean sighed.

There was, admittedly, something reassuring about the entire situation.

Seven opened Dean’s existing medical file.

"Once you return from Draxil, we start properly. Bloodwork, hormone baseline, scar evaluation from the C-section, general reproductive assessment, then cycle tracking."

Dean nodded.

His cycle had been considerably more regular since Theodore’s birth, but dominant-omega biology remained complicated enough that nobody intended to rely on estimates alone.

"And Arion?" Dean asked.

"He gets tested too."

Arion did not object.

Seven noticed.

"You’re unusually cooperative."

"If it affects Dean’s safety, I have no reason not to be."

Dean glanced toward him.

That answer had become increasingly common over the years.

Seven continued scrolling through the file.

"I also want to know exactly what your pheromonal system has been doing since the last restoration incident. Another pregnancy means Dean’s body will react to you constantly, and I am not combining that with unexplained glandular backlash if I can avoid it."

Arion’s expression became less amused.

"Victor cleared me."

"Victor cleared you for ordinary life."

"That was months ago."

"And I am still checking."

Dean smiled.

"You’re losing this argument."

"I noticed."

Seven finally set the tablet aside.

"For now, go to Draxil. Attend the coronation. Come home. Then we begin planning with actual data."

Dean stood.

"That sounds suspiciously reasonable."

"I occasionally try it."

They left the consultation room less than twenty minutes later.

Which should have meant nobody outside the three of them knew anything.

Unfortunately, Dean had forgotten that royal privacy became considerably less reliable when close family members developed instincts for anything involving babies.

Minerva was waiting outside the private medical wing.

Dean stopped.

"No."

She looked up from her phone.

"I haven’t said anything."

"That is becoming a family phrase."

Arion stopped beside him.

"Mother."

Minerva smiled.

"I was nearby."

"You were not."

"I could have been."

Dean stared at her.

Then the elevator doors opened.

Otto stepped out.

Dean closed his eyes.

"No."

Otto looked genuinely offended.

"I have a meeting downstairs."

"In the reproductive medicine wing?"

"The building has other departments."

"That answer was almost convincing."

Arion rubbed one hand across his face.

"How many people know?"

Minerva looked toward Otto.

Otto looked toward the ceiling.

Dean immediately understood.

"Rina."

Neither answered.

His phone vibrated.

Dean slowly removed it from his pocket.

A message from Rina.

ARE YOU HAVING ANOTHER BABY?

Dean stared at the screen when another arrived.

I CAN KEEP A SECRET.

Her husband followed immediately in a separate message.

She cannot.

Arion started laughing.

Dean typed while walking toward the elevator.

There is no baby.

Rina replied before the doors closed.

YET?

Dean exhaled through his nose.

Minerva entered beside them.

"We are not doing anything yet," Dean said. "We informed Seven. That is all."

Otto joined them.

"So you are considering it."

"Yes."

Minerva’s face softened immediately.

Dean pointed at her.

"No shopping."

"I did not say anything."

"No nursery."

"We already have one."

"No additional nursery."

Otto frowned thoughtfully.

"There are several rooms beside Theo’s—"

"No."

Arion leaned against the elevator wall, clearly enjoying himself far too much.

Dean’s phone rang.

Rina.

He answered.

"What?"

Her face appeared on screen beside her husband, who was sitting behind her with the resigned expression of a man who had already lost control of the conversation.

"So it’s true."

"We are considering a second child."

Rina smiled broadly.

Dean immediately added, "Have one yourself and leave mine alone."

Her husband choked on his drink.

Rina stared at Dean for half a second before bursting into laughter.

"You’re horrible."

"You have a husband. Use him."

"Dean," Minerva said, although she was already laughing.

Otto turned toward the elevator wall.

Arion covered his mouth.

Dean looked at all of them.

"There is not even a pregnancy yet, and all of you are behaving like this."

Rina recovered enough to speak.

"When will you start trying?"

"After Draxil."

Dean stopped.

"That was more information than you needed."

Rina’s smile widened.

"Have a nice coronation."

Dean ended the call.

Arion slipped an arm around his waist as the elevator doors opened into the main corridor.

"You did tell her."

"Accidentally."

"She will remember."

"I know."

Tomorrow they still had to fly to Draxil, attend Amaru’s coronation, survive the first major political appearance of Nero and Sebastian as a couple, and somehow keep Theodore from becoming the center of another international media cycle.

The second baby could wait until they came home.

Their relatives, unfortunately, appeared incapable of doing the same.