Page 20 of Desperately Yours

“It’s like fireworks,” Celani insisted, oblivious to the tension she’d created with her confession. “And that moment, when he watched you fall.” Tears welled in her eyes, threatening to spoil her perfect makeup. “It was captured by a small sheep herder who was trying to record the destruction as it was happening.” She pressed her lips together as she gathered her emotions. “He called you something. What was it?”

I shook my head as if I didn’t know, but Bishop wouldn’t let it stand.

“Coco,” he answered. “That’s his nickname for her.” He brought his eyebrows together. “Lady Esmerey, doyouhave a nickname?”

“Yes.” Celani didn’t allow a rebuttal and stayed focused on me. “Coco, that was it. What does it mean?”

“Uh—It’s just something my mom called me when I was a baby. My hair was the shade of cocoa powder and it kind of stuck.”

“And the prince? How did he learn it?”

“I uh—” I felt stuck, trapped on every side. She wasn’t the type to let up, but the queen wouldn’t want me to explain that she’d allowed the Crown Prince to live in America for a year like a commoner.

“Oh, what about when he pulled you from the sinkhole and held you so close.” Plates were placed in front of us, but I’d missed it. From what I could tell, everyone hung onto Celani’s words. “The video is shaky, but his fingers touched your face so gently and I swore he was going to kiss you. Then you whispered ‘Fitz’ and I think my heart exploded. Does he like the nickname you’ve given him?”

My heart hammered in my chest to the point that it became painful. I felt like I was standing against a firing squad wall with twenty muzzles aimed at my heart. Celani seemed unaware that every question brought them closer to pulling the trigger.

“I think,” Bishop stole the spotlight back, “what makes them different is the friendship between them. It’s the sort of thing that every good relationship is based on, wouldn’t you agree, Your Majesty?”

“Friendships can be built,” she replied, all semblance of propriety gone from her voice. “There is more to a marriage than love and friendship.”

“Like loyalty, yes? Devotion? Trust?”

I wanted to kick him under the table. He wasn’t helping me, but then, Bishop was typically out for himself not anyone else.

“So, tell me, Michaela,” Celani leaned forward as if we were at a slumber party about to spill our guts in girl talk, “have you kissed him yet?”

“Cut the feed!” Queen Mariah’s command silenced Celani at once. She rose to her feet, chest heaving with her rage. “Tom, this stunt is over. I won’t have thisstrumpetmaking a mockery of everything this country stands for.”

I stood with the rest of the room, knowing that was tradition. Only Bishop refused to stand. Tom stepped from the shadows created by the stage lighting. “Your Majesty, this is good TV. The ratings for this are going to be—”

“If you don’t want me to not only pull the plug on this whole escapade and then ruin you in ways you could never imagine, then I suggest you do as I say.”

Defiance flashed in his eyes, but this wasn’t the hill he was willing to die on. With a motion of his hand, the crew began shutting down the set.

“Your Majesty,” Celani started to grovel to the queen, but her stare cut her words short.

“I’m afraid I don’t feel well.” She set her napkin on her plate. “And despite the many jabs dealt by my nephew, I still have the power to end a dinner party. Thank you for coming. Goodnight.” She turned as if to leave but hesitated. Turning back, her lethal stare locked on me. “To be clear,Miss Caldwell,” she strained the word so that she could emphasize my lack of nobility, “my son is wrong. Youdon’tbelong here. You never have. You never will. And I willdiebefore I ever see you in a crown. I am determined that you are here to destroy my son’s future and I will do everything in my power to rid you from his life once and for all. Understood?”

I clenched my jaw as the tears welled up in my throat. I’d known it for a long time, perhaps before I’d ever accepted Fitz’s invitation, but to hear it firsthand to my face, to be forced toswallow the vitriol like poison, that was new and horrible in ways I hadn’t imagined.

“The queen has spoken to you, child.” Queen Mariah refused to let my silence stand. “Will you answer her? Or dare you defy the crown openly?”

“Apologies, Your Majesty.” I dropped my chin to my chest. “I never meant to offend—”

“And you’d speak back to—”

“Enough!” Bishop rose to his feet so fast his chair toppled backward. “You’ve made her cower. You’ve played the bully, Aunt Mariah. Congratulations, you’re the beast we all knew you were!”

I dared not look up. The rush of fabric told me she’d left, but if I raised my chin, they’d all see the tears. Bishop’s hand curled around my forearm, but I jerked away from his grasp. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

Gripping my skirts, I rushed from the room, needing to breathe air that hadn’t been filled with the venomous breath of a woman who hated me more than anyone ever had. My heels hit marble and I set my sights on the staircase. I needed space. I had to put my mind together again and try to understand how—

“She’s right you know.” I whirled around to see Esmerey and Sadie in the doorway that led to the hall. Esmerey cocked her eyebrow to challenge me. “You don’t belong here.”

“Esme, please.” Sadie tugged on her arm. “Things are out of control. You don’t want to say things you don’t mean. You’ll regret them.”

“Oh,” she wrested her arm free, “but I do mean them. And for once, the cameras are off and the prince won’t hear me. At last, I can tell the precious American how incredibly pointless she is in this competition.” Her arm flung toward Sadie. “At least the poverty-stricken wretch has some right to the kingdom, but you? You are a gold-digging thief here to undermine the entiresystem, and I am absolutely ecstatic that the queen let everyone in the kingdom know it. You deserved every bit of that, Michaela. You brought it on yourself.”

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