He considered the question carefully. "Cold in the north. The winters last half the year and the snow never fully melts. My mother's family comes from there. They say the cold makes you strong. The south is warmer, agricultural. Most of our food comes from there. The cities are like any cities anywhere. Crowded, loud, full of people trying to survive."
"You sound like you prefer the north."
"I prefer open spaces. Places where I can see the sky without buildings blocking it." He glanced at her. "I grew up in the palace. It has always felt like a cage, even when I was too young to understand why."
Lin Yue nodded slowly. "I get that. I grew up in a city, but my grandmother lived in the countryside. I always liked visiting her better. She had this tiny house with a garden full of vegetables, and at night you could see every star in the sky. She used to point out constellations and tell me stories about them."
"What kind of stories?"
"Old ones. Myths. Heroes, monsters and gods who made mistakes. The usual."
"She sounds like a wise woman."
"She was." Lin Yue felt the familiar ache in her chest. "She died a few years ago. Cancer. It was fast, at least. She did not suffer long."
Uriel was quiet for a moment. "I am sorry."
"Me too." She touched her stomach without thinking. "I wish she could have met this one. She would have been so happy. She always wanted great-grandchildren."
"She would be proud of you. Facing an unknown world, carrying on despite everything."
Lin Yue looked at him sharply. "You do not know that."
"I know that grandmothers are the same everywhere. They want their grandchildren to be strong, to survive, to find happiness where they can."
His voice was soft when he said it, and she wondered suddenly about his own family, his own losses.
"Did you have a grandmother?"
"I did. She died when I was young. But I remember her. She taught me to read the stars, to navigate by them. She said a wolf should always know where he is going."
"That's beautiful."
"She was beautiful. Even prettier than my mother.." He paused. "I think she would have liked you. She always said the strong ones were worth waiting for."
Lin Yue did not know what to say to that, so she said nothing.
They walked on, past the fountain and around a small grove of trees with silver leaves that rustled in the evening breeze.
The lanterns were beginning to light automatically around them, soft glows that pushed back the growing dark.
"What about your parents?" she asked. "What are they like?"
"My father is the king. He is... distant. He loves his wife, his people, his kingdom, his duties. I am not sure there is room in him for much else." Uriel's voice was carefully neutral. "My mother is ambitious. She wants power, influence, control. She sees everything as a game to be won. She also loves her husband, they love each other so much there's no space for their children."
"That sounds exhausting."
"It is. But it is the only family I have."
They reached a small bench overlooking a pond, and Lin Yue sat down without asking. Her legs were starting to ache, the day catching up with her.
Uriel sat beside her, leaving a respectful distance between them.
"The baby," she said after a moment. "Do you want to know if it is a boy or a girl?"
"Does it matter?"
"Not to me."
"Then I do not need to know." He looked at her. "My grandmother used to say that the best gifts are the ones you unwrap yourself."
Lin Yue smiled. "Your grandmother sounds like she was smart."
"She was." He paused. "We should head back soon. You need to rest."
"In a minute." She leaned back on the bench, looking up at the stars. "Tell me something else. Something about you that has nothing to do with politics or duty or being a prince."
He considered this. "I like the cold. Most people find it uncomfortable, but I sleep better when the air is freezing. I keep my quarters colder than anyone else in the palace."
"That is oddly specific."
"You asked..."
She laughed. "Fair. Okay, my turn. I used to want to be a chef when I was a kid. I watched all these cooking shows and dreamed of having my own restaurant. Then I grew up and realized cooking for a living is mostly stress, burns and people complaining."
"What do you do instead?"
"Did." She corrected herself. "I worked an office job. Data entry. Spreadsheets. The most exciting part of my day was deciding what to eat for lunch and then I was demoted to customer service, worst and best years of my life. You meet the most interesting people on a call ."
"That sounds... dull."
"It was. But it paid the bills." She touched her stomach. "I guess I do not have to worry about that anymore."
"No. You do not."
They sat in silence for a while, watching the stars reflect off the pond.
"What happens now?" she asked eventually.
"Life goes on as we adjust to these new changes. Tomorrow you grow again. The day after, you give birth." He looked at her. "And after that, we figure it out."
"Together?"
"If you want that."
She thought about it.
About him, about the baby, about this strange world she had been thrown into.
"Yeah.." she said. "I think I do."
He nodded slowly. "Then together."
They sat a while longer, two strangers bound by a child neither had planned, watching the stars in a garden far from Earth.
They sat on the bench overlooking the pond, the stars reflecting off the water, the silence comfortable between them. Lin Yue had her hand resting on her stomach without thinking about it, a habit she had developed over the past few days.
Then the baby moved.
Not a flutter this time.
A proper kick, strong enough that she felt it through her palm.
She gasped softly.
Uriel turned to her immediately. "What is wrong?"
"Nothing." She laughed, surprised. "The baby kicked. Really kicked this time."
He stared at her stomach like he was seeing it for the first time. "It can do that?"
"He. She. It." She shrugged. "The baby can do that, yes. Want to feel?"