Page 75 of The Prince and the Puck
“Oh, well, that’s… better.”
“It is.” I grinned. “I should have told you before, I’m sorry things have been so hectic. But now everything can go back to normal, Lizzy.”
“Declan, no, it can’t. Everything is different. Now you really are the heir.” Her beautiful face was creased with concern.
“That might be true, but hopefully, Celeste and Lambert will produce their own heirs, and nobody will need me. I’ll be just like Prince Harry, and you can be Meghan.”
“I don’t want to be Meghan.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant by that—Meghan Markle was amazing—but we could talk about that later. Right now, I needed her to understand. “I’ve been talking to the coach.”
Lizzy’s face did not take on the gleeful expression I had hoped for at this point in the conversation. But I realized that telling her I had spoken to the coach did not equate to me sharing all of my hopes and dreams with her.
“I’ve been talking to the coach, and my place on the team is still there.”
“You’re thinking of going back to Virginia?” Lizzy’s eyes widened in surprise, but then her face fell again. “I guess that’s great. If that’s what you want.”
I was royally messing this up.
“I do want to go back, but as you pointed out, I’m the heir.”
Lizzy shook her head, and a tendril of dark hair escaped her elaborate updo, falling to frame her face. I lifted a hand and pushed it behind her ear. “I don’t understand.”
“I was hoping you might come with me.”
Lizzy held my gaze for a long moment, and then one of those unshed tears actually spilled onto her cheek. “Declan, whatwould I even do in Virginia? It’s not like I could take back my position as PR consultant for the team.”
“Actually, John emailed and said that the calendar has been selling like crazy. Joey did a great job producing it, and the wombat is ridiculously popular. They’ve even made plushies of him now.”
Lizzy smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. I could see that I still hadn’t said the right words. Part of me was scared to say them, but I knew what they were.
I took a deep breath. The woman in front of me was the bravest person I knew. If she could take down dictators in foreign lands, I could tell her how I felt.
“Lizzy, the thing is… I won’t go without you. I can’t. I love you. I’ve always loved you. You’re the only woman I can imagine spending my life with, and I’ll do it in Murdan, I’ll do it in Virginia, I’ll do it wherever you want to live.”
I watched her face as I spoke. Her eyes widened, a small smile playing at her lips. But disbelief flared in her expression, and she still did not look convinced. “That’s all I want,” she whispered, but her voice broke, and she sounded sad.
“Then why can’t you just say yes?”
I reached for her, but she didn’t lean into me. Instead, she sat still as I rested a hand on her shoulder, stroking her collarbone with my thumb and hoping with everything inside me that she would fall into my arms and tell me forever was possible.
“Declan, I love you too. I probably have since I was a little girl, for whatever that’s worth. But our lives are so different. We are worlds apart. You’re… you’re royalty.”
“That has never mattered.”
She shook her head. “That’s easy to say?—”
“That’s because it’s true,” I interrupted. “My family might stand on tradition, and yes, I was born into royalty. I’m a prince, for whatever that’s worth. But I will never be king. And my lifewill not be dictated by the regency into which I was born. I will live my life for me, and for you. And maybe that’s selfish.” I let my gaze drift to the head table, where my brother sat, Celeste at his side, the two of them laughing with their heads pressed together. “But I actually don’t think it is.”
“What will we do?” Lizzy asked.
Hope blossomed inside me. “Well, I’m going to need security if I go back to the states. Now that everyone knows who I really am.”
“You want me to come as your security?” Lizzy’s face fell.
I shook my head. “No, I want you to come to be with me. But your background suggests you might be capable of managing my security detail.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, and I still wasn’t sure what she was going to say. Lizzy’s lips trembled, her eyes filled with tears again, and my heart plummeted.
