The crying took her aback. Eva had certainly not cried when she had been told – although her reaction had not exactly been desirable – but this was much trickier to navigate. Nikolai could do nothing but reach for his child when she was in such a state of misery and, were the girl the same age as her sister, she might have through Petra was deliberately manipulating her father. She had certainly cried to get her papa’s attention before…

“I don’t want to replace your mother,” she muttered quietly, her soft tone taking away the sting of her true meaning. She didn’t want to be this girl’s mother – or the other ones for that matter – but they came with Nikolai and he was worth the effort to get along with his daughters until she could be a mother to their child. She reached out gently, placing a hand in-between Petra’s shoulders, making sure Nik saw her efforts. “It’s not so bad is it?” She asked, with the same small, decorative smile that usually led to her getting her way.