Page 39 of Princess Bride Swap

But she didn’t know how to broach the topic with him. She didn’t know how to apologize or make this right. And still, she couldn’t stand the silence any longer.

She slid into bed, searching for the right words. “Are we going to awkwardly toss and turn all night or can we discuss the elephant in the room?” Definitely not the right words.

“There is no elephant,” he replied gruffly.

She snorted. Hardly. “I accept that you find our...chemistry...appalling.”

“I didn’t use that word.”

“Horrifying?” she asked, because she didn’t know how to have a conversation that wasn’t her poking at someone. She didn’t know how to just be...open and vulnerable.

“It isn’t the chemistry itself, Beau. It is how it makes me behave.”

She supposed if there was anything she respected about this entirely frustrating and nonsensical thing it was that he blamed himself. Not her. Usually she was the easy target for blame in an argument.

Which didn’t help with all this...softnessin her heart when it came to him. But instead of continuing to think about her mother, she shifted her focus to what she’d learned about relationships. She knew things only intheory, but that was something, she supposed.

Mature adults had mature conversations. Just like the ones Lyon bemoaned had been missing from the book he was reading.

“I read about your uncles and your cousins. What the book glossed over, I looked up on the internet.”

There was nothing but silence from his side of the bed. She could take that as a sign to stop talking, but she didn’t want to return to the palace like this. Or worse, have to fake smiles and conversation for the staff, and then retreat to stony silences when they were alone.

“It helped me understand better, I think. It is quite a lot of bad behavior from one prince to another, and it makes your place all that more...challenging. To prove you are not like them.”

It was not in her nature to apologize. She generally thought she was correct in everything she did. But this wasn’t actually about being right or wrong. It was about a promise she’d made, and something he felt strongly about.

It was about, like him, the need to do the right thing. It wasn’t about caring for him so much she needed to smooth this rift over. It was simply the right thing to do.

“I apologize, Lyon. I...may not agree with everything you’ve said today, but I understand where it’s coming from now.”

Lyon did not move. He continued to stare blindly at the darkness in the room. Apologies were a dime a dozen, his grandmother had always made sure he understoodthat.

But the way Beau said hers made him want to...believe her.

“I made a promise to you when we arranged this,” she continued. “I would be what you needed. I promised to give you heirs and be a steady, respectable presence for your country. I’ll admit, I don’t understand why there needs to be such a hard line on decorum when people are meant to believe we’re...in love, but I don’t need to understand to respect that this is howyoufeel.”

He finally rolled over to face her. She was sitting up in the bed, knees drawn to her chest. She was mostly a shadow, but he could tell her hair was free around her shoulders.

There was a humming need to reach out and touch, but he did not indulge himself. If he gave in tonight, not only was he a complete failure to himself, but he would be failing her.

She was apologizing. Saying she understood. He could hardly be the reason that didn’t matter.

“My grandmother used to say apologies are pointless. Pretty words meant for the recipient to ignore what can’t be fixed,” he said, pushing himself into a sitting position like she was.

“That’s a rather dire view of apologies. Particularly ones honestly given. Besides, I don’t wish you to ignore anything. I’m only...reassuring you that I have not forgotten the promises I made. I can’t promise to be perfect, that hasneverbeen in my nature. But I promise to try.”

For a moment, he couldn’t find any words. Couldn’t understand this. He’d expected icy silences and perhaps another fight before they returned to the palace. He’d expected to have to make good with his threat and keep her as much out of view and away from him as possible.

But she undercut it all. With anapology. One that sounded so sincere, he did not know how to ignore it. One that felt like a bridge, past the struggles they were currently facing and toward a mature relationship of mutual understanding.

“No one has ever apologized to me in a way that felt genuine. I have always agreed with my grandmother’s estimation. Until this. I accept your apology, Beau. Thank you for understanding.”

She inched a little closer. Hesitantly. Until her shoulder pressed to his. He didn’t want to push her away. This was agesture,to go with her apology. To bring them back to accord. So he carefully placed his arm around her shoulders. Not pulling her in, but not pushing her away either.

There was a danger here. In the warmth of their bodies comingling, in the sweet, floral scent of her. But there was also a strange, sweet comfort. If they worked through this so early in their marriage, that was an excellent precedent to set for the future.

She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I do not wish to return to the palace at odds.”

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