Page 27 of Prince Cheating Charming

“I’m not dressed for whatever this is,” I said.

“You look perfect,” he replied. “I don’t care what you wear. You’ve always looked perfect to me.”

Feeling so many eyes on me, I walked over reluctantly to a chair that was marked QUEEN.

Not for much longer.

“Who is this getting broadcast to?” I asked.

“The entire country,” he said.

Then the King walked up to the podium.

The noise quieted as soon as Alexander turned around, and I heard the click and whir that meant this press conference would be covered live all over the country and probably the world.

He stood poised there for a moment. All eyes on him. Even now I had to admit that he was drop-dead gorgeous. I was seated so close to the front that I saw the way a muscle throbbed in his jaw.

“Because I fucking screwed up in public, I want to apologize in public,” was how the King began his announcement.

The conference room was so profoundly silent all I could hear were the little noises of the camera running.

“My beloved Queen Delilah is planning on leaving at the end of the month and it’s entirely my fault. I made the biggest mistakes in my life in my first six months of marriage to my wife. And I don’t have a single excuse except that I was the lowest and most repulsive worm.”

He was clutching the podium so tightly that I could see the tendons standing out in his big hands.

“I loved her, but I cheated on her,” Alexander went on, enunciating his words clearly so that each one sliced into the dead silence. “I want to make it clear to the whole world that it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done and I will never do it again.”

His throat seemed to work convulsively, while I felt rooted to the spot.

There were blank stares, a few sharp gasps, and a disbelieving scoff (from Libby).

I crossed my arms.

“The fact that she wants to leave me has completely shattered me,” Alexander said in a low voice, and I saw a muscle throb in his jaw. “I am a broken fucking man right now and looking back I can’t believe how stupid I was. I love my wife,” he went on, meeting my eyes and I felt my breath catch in my throat as his voice broke. He took a moment to tighten his mouth, looking down at the podium. The tendons in his strong hands flexed. “I only want a chance to prove myself to her.”

Then his eyes seemed to burn into mine. “I hope you forgive me, Delilah.”

“No,” I said coldly.

Maybe at one time I would have run away but I was done running.

“No, I do not forgive you.”

The King’s face seemed to crumple, and his hands gripped the podium so tightly I heard a crack as the wood broke under his fingers. Suddenly his eyes looked red-rimmed and shiny.

“No further questions,” he added in a jagged tone, although the reporters were all jumping up and talking over each other to get a microphone in his face.

Since these kinds of press conferences were usually reserved for a new tech announcement or economic news from the King, they were usually not attended by palace security, and Roger had to spread his wide arms and usher everybody out as they protested.

“Could anything change your mind, Queen Delilah?” one of them asked me excitedly, but Roger grabbed him by the collar and bodily hauled him from the room.

What was my response? I didn’t have a response. I didn’t know if anything could change my mind.

But I felt stunned. Alexander cultivated his image and the image of Norjava very carefully. Because of our history, beautiful buildings, and natural wonders, we were a hot tourist destination, and this was the King baring himself in front of the hungry piranhas of the press. There would be weeks of gossip and speculation, none of it flattering, and my rejection likely headline news.

My mother-in-law’s face looked frozen with horror. “You little bitch,” she hissed, and suddenly I didn’t want to stay to see everyone’s faces. I rushed into the adjoining room, which was for top palace officials only, and tried to catch my breath.

I was relieved that Libby was already there, making Magnus a cup of tea.

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