Page 43 of Princess Bride Swap

Then she looked away, pulling her chin away from his touch. “Would it look unseemly if I missed dinner tonight?”

Lyon had no idea how to fix this. Except to give her whatever she wanted that he was able. This was one of those things.

“No, of course not. There are no events scheduled. I’ll make sure a meal is brought up.”

She nodded.

More of that oppressive silence he didn’t know what to do with, so he made a move to leave. Not sure why that felt so dissatisfactory.

“Lyon?”

He stopped, turning back to face her, even if she wasn’t looking at him.

“Do I make you happy?”

Happy was not what he felt. Happy seemed simple, and nothing about what she did to him, what was rioting through him washappy. But it was...good. Positive. She was a positive in his life. So he nodded. “Yes, Beau. Very happy.”

Her mouth curved then. He could hardly call it a smile, but it was better than bleak and blank and all the ways it had felt like she was withering before his eyes.

“All right then,” she said with a nod. “If you’ll have Mr. Filini forward me a copy of the etiquette document guests receive for the parliamentary dinner, I’ll go over it with my dinner.”

“You have the one for the crown princess.”

“Yes, but I’d like to understand what’s expected of the guests as well. What they see, so I can make sure I can put them at ease in whatever ways I can.”

“You don’t have to do all that.”

“I’d like to,” she said firmly.

“All right. Well. It will be done then.”

“Excellent.”

Then they stared at each other. She said nothing. He didn’t have the first clue what to say. So...he left.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

BEAUCOULDNOTpretend she was happy. Misery seemed to seep into every corner of her life. Every moment felt like more of a chore than it should. She tried to maintain a positive outlook on everything, but the only thing that made her even feel remotely happy and alive was video calling with Zia and the twins and reading the most outrageous books she could find. Dragons and alternate universes. Time travel and postapocalyptic worlds that allowed her to forget all about her very boring world.

A world where she felt increasingly in love with her husband, and increasingly miserable for it. Even though she’d only had one panic attack since the one at the chalet, and she’d hidden it easily, she couldn’t even be happy about that. She was living in a world where she did everything she swore she’d never do.

Bend and twist and hide in an effort to make a man happy.

All because he’d said she was the best wife he could ask for. All because he’d said she made him happy. Day in and day out, no matter how many nights she spent chastising herself, she twisted herself into a more miserable pretzel because making him happy felt like...like...

Oh, she didn’t know, so after she finished up her usual morning call with Zia, she picked up a book about a young woman who went through a portal to a land full of dragons, fairies and evil. It was far better than wondering if her husband was ever going to touch her again for those heirs he claimed to need.

The countess chose this moment to sweep into the library, the usual disapproval in every line of her face. Beau wanted to groan aloud.

“Well,” she sniffed. “It must be nice torelaxwhen the entire palace is readying itself for tomorrow’s dinner.”

Beau smiled as she always did. Not out of politeness, but because when she didn’t bristle it only seemed to make the countess more angry.

Well, at least she hadn’tcompletelylost herself.

“What a welcome interruption then,” Beau said brightly. “I was under the impression I had prepared in every way possible, but is there something you think I’ve missed?”

The countess sniffed. “Iwould be ensuring that I knew everything I was supposed to know, backward and forward. Not reading...filth.”

---