August hummed. He wished he could flip through the books, but that would require his leaving her, and didn't seem to fit the moment. It didn't help that the male characters in War and Peace had more obviously-Russian names than the female ones, or that he didn't want any son of his to have the same fate as Alexei Vronsky. (With Freya so convinced that her baby was a son, August was not going to suggest otherwise.)

"Andrei or Pierre, I think, from War and Peace," he answered after a beat; neither had particularly happy lives, but Pierre was inspired by Tolstoy himself, and where Pierre was concerned, August had a soft spot for fictional characters who died. " Or Joseph, from Pinafore." The play did not have as many options as the written word did.

---

  

French names were beautiful, but the odds of Daniel appreciating them were slim to none. Freya often hoped he would allow her to name their child without input, to grant her one exclusive right in life. She knew better, though. This child — illegitimate or no — was to be his heir. His input was certainly guaranteed.

"Pierre is lovely," she agreed. Perhaps she could sneak it in as a middle name and use it as her loving nickname. A boy ought to know what his father would call him. "I like Thaddeus as well." There were no literary origins for Thaddeus as far as she knew, but it was a beautiful name nevertheless.

The baby stirred in her stomach once more and she quickly shifted his hand to feel the movements.

  

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Amazing Set by Stef!

"I like Thaddeus," August agreed, as Freya moved his hand. All thoughts of potential names were absent from his mind as soon as he could feel it, the faint stirring of their baby. August grinned at her, suddenly at a loss for words in the light of the tangible proof of the tiny life they had made together.

---

  

The baby flipped and turned beneath his hand, the faint thumps more noticeable than the ones only a few minutes prior. She held his hand in place until they stopped and turned to meet his grin only at the last second. "I love you," Freya said quietly but earnestly. He had to know by now, but she hadn't said it before.

  

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Amazing Set by Stef!

August was so caught up in the movements of their son that he was caught off guard by her declaration. He should not have been — they had had several intimate conversations last summer and one intimate conversation, and she was carrying his child. For a moment all August could do was look into her warm, brown eyes and try to parse the earnestness with which she'd said it.

"I love you too," he said softly. It was true, in his limited experiences of romance — he loved her. It may have been easier for him if he didn't.

---

  

His return confession was both reassuring and devastating in one swift blow. They were in love — the type of love she dreamt of her entire life — and these stolen moments were all they would ever be able to have. Freya could never be free of Daniel, not unless he died, and August ... August would eventually have to marry himself. He would find someone else to involve himself with, someone available and not bound by the restraints of an unbreakable vow, and be happy elsewhere.

She moved her hand from where it sat above his to cup his cheek softly. None of her words felt adequate enough, now. Everything doused in the devastating flood of reality. If only they met years ago, before she fell for Daniel's false persona. If only she wasn't bound and could run away. If only ...

One day she would be brave and live freely. She would tell August all that she could, all that she endured at home with Daniel, and they would find a way to be together. One day, she would believe herself deserving of such love and devotion.

Until then, she would live in the shadows like a happy coward.

There wasn't much distance remaining between them to close, a fact she was grateful for as their lips met for their first kiss since August.

  

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Amazing Set by Stef!

Kissing her was easier than thinking about all the issues August was sure they were both thinking about. Freya was well-acquainted with the limits of her own circumstances; she was the one actually stuck in an unhappy marriage, and August was just — habitually choosing things and people that were going to hurt him in the long run.

He returned the kiss, reaching one hand up to cup her face gently.

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