Page 109 of 2 Books in One Bundle
‘Is that so?’
Helia was coming to understand Vasili. She could tell when he was trying to cover up his feelings.
‘Yes. The title suits you. You are the King, Vasili. But that office doesn’t suit you.’ She kissed him lightly on the lips. ‘You should make it yours. Like it is here.’
His arms tightened around her. She felt his lips on the top of her head.
‘I was barely out of my teens when I ordered the change. I needed somewhere to belong.’
Soft words that had the power to break a heart. Helia wanted to ease the hurt in him, but to do that she needed him to open up to her.
‘What was it like growing up here? Being a prince?’
‘Lonely. The only reason my parents had me was because they had to have a spare. Nannies raised me from as far back as I can remember. Well, one did.’
‘What was she like?’
Vasili smiled. Sad, yet fond. His eyes were focused on some faraway place. ‘Sophia was...warm. She was funny and playful. Kind. Smarter than anyone gave her credit for. And she took care solely of me.’
‘You two must have been close.’
‘We were.’
There was a gruffness in his voice that had Helia trying to move even closer to him. Trying to soothe an old hurt.
‘Until my parents ordered that she be fired when I turned fifteen. She said nothing to them. Refused to report to Andreas or thank anyone for having worked here. She broke all the rules of propriety by addressing only me before she left. She told me never to bow.’
Helia could see the connection between Vasili and Sophia. Kind, rebellious souls. ‘Do you know where she went?’
‘No, I wasn’t allowed to look for her. Not until recently, when I found that she had passed away a few years ago.’
‘That’s awful. I’m sorry.’
Helia could only imagine how hard it would have been for him to lose the person closest to him because she had been taken away. Forced to abandon him.
‘There’s a lot of that in these walls, Helia,’ he said, matter-of-factly.
‘You couldn’t lean on Leander either,’ she said, speaking her thoughts out loud.
Vasili sighed. ‘I was ordered by my parents not to waste Leander’s time. He was being raised to be King, so I kept my distance as much as I could.’
‘Except at night.’
She remembered his story from the beach, and thinking then that he had in fact been close with his brother, but maybe Vasili had never got to have the relationship with him he wanted.
‘Yes.’ He chuckled. A low rumble in his chest. ‘We once stole an entire tart. Sophia found it the next day.’
Helia laughed. ‘Did you get in trouble?’
‘No,’ Vasili said, as if the idea was preposterous. ‘We ate a little more of it before she got rid of the evidence. I couldn’t get in trouble.’
‘Because you were the Prince?’
‘Because someone has to care, and as long as I stayed out of the way no one did.’
‘But your parents—’
‘Were the King and Queen of Thalonia and had no time for me. I was an insurance policy, Helia. Nothing more than that. Being their son or behaving perfectly—none of it was worth anything. I wasn’t worth their affection.’
