Page 44 of Prince She Shouldn't Crave
Gabe’s blood froze. How could anyone know? They’d been careful. Whilst there was some element of protecting himself, he wanted to protect Lena from the vultures who’d descend. There was nothing wrong with what they were doing. They were two consenting adults. Whilst he’d once been sure it would burn itself out, he wasn’t ready for it to stop now.
In fact, he wasn’t sure he wanted it to stop at all.
‘You havenorights to be having this conversation with me.’
‘I’mQueen. I have every right. What’s happening here is plain. A change. A new look. Words about love on the front page? Tell me, Gabriel. What’s brought about that change? You havefeelingsfor the woman. Heaven save us from doe-eyed commoners who seek a station higher than their entitlements. She’s youremployee. What did we tell you? Stay within your circle, where everyone understands what’s possible and what’s impossible. Yet here we are.Again.’
A fire burned inside him. He wasn’t some teenager who didn’t know his own mind. He was the Crown Prince of Halrovia, the country’s future, as Lena liked to remind him. Whilst Gabriel didn’t want a war within his family, he’d demand to be treated like an adult. This remained no one’s business other than his own. He didn’t have to admit anything. Especially not to his parents.
‘Your Majesty, I respect you as my mother but I’m an adult. Stay out of my business. My love life is my own. I will not be speaking about it with you. You’re jumping at shadows whereas I’m here, settled in reality.’
In a reality where he no longer saw why he and Lena couldn’t continue to see each other. This was supposed to be a modern monarchy. When Ana’s engagement had been agreed, she’d simply left with her fiancé before they’d even set a wedding date. He’d been a commoner. Things like bloodlines didn’t matter any more, not to Gabe, anyhow.
‘The woman is a menace. What of her mother, her father? Do you know anything about them?’
‘Conversations about parents are irrelevant. I enjoy Lena’s company. Her professionalism and how she’s acquitted herself are impeccable. I’m in no hurry to marry and, once again, I am an adult capable of managing my own life. You have no place there.’
His mother’s lips narrowed as if preparing to spit out the next words.
‘Did she tell you that her mother is said to be a notorious mistress, to a man who kept two households? One legitimate, one illegitimate. Who’s to say Lena Rosetti isn’t wanting the same from you? Her father’s not named on her or her brother’s birth certificate, yet the rumours abound about his identity. Did she tell you that as well? Lena Rosetti is unclaimed. She’s a stray. And she is entirely unsuitable to be the partner of Halrovia’s Crown Prince and next King.’
Lena froze in the front foyer of Gabriel’s apartment. She’d forgotten her mobile when she’d left this morning and hadn’t been thinking. She’d simply walked into his rooms without any care until…
Unclaimed? A stray? Entirely unsuitable?
She’d caughteverything.
‘Enough.’ Gabe’s voice was like she’d never heard before. Forceful. Cold, with a crack of anger. ‘You will not speak of Lena, ofanyof my employees, like that ever again.’
She should leave immediately and yet remained frozen to the spot, wanting to listen to it all in some masochistic desire to hear Gabriel’s responses. And yet when she had heard… The pain of it all knifed deep. He’d made it clear. No matter what they might have shared, she’d always been his employee.
What had she been thinking?
The truth was, she hadn’t. It was all a blissful fantasy till reality invaded, because she wanted belonging. She wanted someone to wanther. She wanted that man to be Gabe. Was that what had happened to her mother? Falling into a trap that she’d been unable to extricate herself from, wanting to feel wanted too? By a man as unavailable to her mother as Gabe was to her? She didn’t know. But in this moment, Lena finally understood her mother a little better.
There was movement ahead of her and yet she was fixed to the spot. Not understanding why every word had been a knife to her heart. As though she were bleeding out here. There’d been no talk of a future between them. She and Gabriel had been living in the moment, hadn’t they? But hearing it said out loud,‘I’m in no hurry to marry…’made her finally face the truth, that maybe it was marriage she’d wanted all along. That she’d wanted Gabe, not for the short time they’d agreed, butfor ever. Even if for ever hadn’t been promised to her.
The Queen swept into the hall with Gabriel following, striding behind her. He cast Lena a brief glance, eyes widening for a second in surprise at her presence before a cold impassive demeanour slid over his face once more.
Any words choked in Lena’s throat. She gave a quick curtsey as they passed, refusing to allow anyone to see her pain, holding it deep inside. Her Majesty didn’t even deign to look at her. It was as if she simply didn’t exist. Was that how her mother had always felt? Ignored? Invisible? She’d believed her only true parent had enjoyed her position, having been in it so long. Now Lena was coming to understand what might have held her mother in place, and what it had cost her.
Lena couldn’t stay still now. She walked further into Gabe’s apartment, found her phone. Not willing to face the Queen, or even Gabriel. She could slip out again, into the secret passageway that ran through the walls here, and melt away. When Gabe had first shown it to her, she’d thought it exciting. The thrill of walking through it from her own room in the employee’s quarters, to his own. Heart pounding with every footstep as she got closer to the secret latch that opened a door into his rooms.
She’d imagined all kinds of things on those walks through the dimly lit corridors behind the walls. The thrill of two lovers, meeting in secret. Lena realised now that this was what had kept her going through the brutal walk back to her own room each morning. When all she wanted to do was to stay, not leave before daybreak and pretend until night fell again and the fantasy could begin once more. Because that was all it had been.
A fantasy.
Now, reality slapped her in the face. This hadn’t simply been about ‘living in the moment’ or losing her virginity. She had feelings for Gabriel. She wantedmore. Looking back, she probably always had.
‘What did you hear?’
She gave a bitter laugh. ‘Enough.’
Especially his mother’s comments about her and her family. The ones that cut to her marrow.
‘Is it true, about your parents?’
Thatwas where he first went to? But of course. She was simply a commoner. One who’d done the unforgivable and fallen for a prince. She lifted her chin. Seeing things clearly now when she hadn’t understood before. ‘My mother’sonlysin was to love a man. My father’s, such as he was, far greater. But they had a long relationship that lasted till he died. Most people can’t say the same.’
