Page 7 of Prince Cheating Charming

I let the ghost of a smile cross my face.

Being the new Queen hadn’t even sunk in yet.

It felt like a hollow victory.

What was the point of being Queen if your King didn’t really love you?

“Come down and see us at St. Constance’s anytime,” Libby added as she opened the door to go. “I think you’d enjoy the services.”

“Thanks, but I’m not really a church person,” I said dully.

“I get it,” she said agreeably. “Just think it over. St. Constance was kind of a huge bitch, but the food is good. And I think you’d like the people.”

“Thank you, maybe I will,” I said, but I didn’t really think that would help me.

Dropping my gown on the floor, I kicked it into the corner, then picked it up and guiltily hung it in my enormous closet. I took my crown off carefully, placing it on a side table.

It glittered but I felt hollow inside.

Why was I even the Queen?

I put on a nightie with numb fingers. What was I supposed to do now? How could I ever go out and face all those people who had been at my wedding only a few months ago?

I had barely fallen in bed with swollen, red eyes when the door opened again, and my husband came inside.

Alexander had a glass in his hand, and I could tell he had had a few drinks, but he sat down with his usual lithe grace in the chair beside my bed.

For a moment he said nothing, and my heart was in my throat.

Was this where he said he didn’t love me?

Was this when he’d tell me to pack my bags and get out?

That our marriage had been a huge mistake?

It was dark in the room but there was a clear shaft of moonlight slanting across his face, cutting across those gorgeous sharp cheekbones and the flawless jawline.

“You didn’t have to leave the party,” he said.

I was taken aback.

“W-why wouldn’t I?” I asked, the sour bitter feeling in my stomach twisting my guts.

“Because what you saw didn’t mean anything,” he said.

“How can it not mean anything,” I asked, my voice sounding strange and high in my own ears.

“It doesn’t,” Alexander said sharply. “Just don’t read the news for a few days. They’ll get over it. There will be some new gossip to occupy everyone soon.”

“But—“ I started, trembling.

“Come here,” he cut across me.

For a moment, I hesitated.

He was still in the same clothes he had been wearing at the party, and they barely looked rumpled. Everything always looked phenomenal on his tall, long-limbed body, the crisp white shirt stretched across his shoulders. Even now, he was still the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen in my life. As I watched, his strong tanned fingers pulled slowly at his navy-blue tie, undoing the knot with a soft swish of the fabric.

I shivered watching his fingers work. I wanted them on me, and I was disgusted with myself for being such a doormat.

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