Page 49 of Twins for the Secret Prince
“He is my son, too, Alex. I’m not going to allow you to banish him from his home.” His mother’s voice carried a stubborn tone he hadn’t heard before.
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. Pieter said finally, “I can hear that you don’t agree about this. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry to be causing problems. But I have to do what I know is right for me.”
His father groaned. “We’ve raised a selfish young prince, Madeleine. If we give into him again, where will it end?”
Pieter bit his tongue. His father was the selfish one, he thought — not willing to compromise his stance so that Pieter could serve in the military and part-time as a royal.
His mother’s voice was emotional when she said, “Pieter, I love you. You are my youngest son, and you belong here. If you come back, I promise we’ll find a way to work this out so that you can do both. Just please come back home.”
“Madeleine, I’m telling you, if you give into him now, you’ll just make it worse.”
“Alex, you know I don’t like doing this, but I’m pulling rank. As queen of Laagestein, I insist, Pieter, that you come back. I also insist, Alex, that you accept my authority to arrange the situation so that Pieter can continue his military career whilst undertaking some royal duties throughout the year.”
“Madeleine!” Pieter’s father admonished.
“Pieter, did you hear me?”
“Yes, Mother.”
“And will you sort things out there and come back home as soon as you can?”
“Yes, I will.”
“We love you, Pieter.Bothof us,” his mother said, making kissing noises into the phone before disconnecting.
Pieter stood in the same place for the next few minutes, playing the conversation over and over in his mind. He couldn’t quite believe it was happening; he was getting to go homeandgo back to his military career in Laagestein.
He’d need to tell Derek, at first light, to get the plans in motion for his transfer out of the base. Pieter felt a sharp pang of guilt, thinking about how accommodating his friend had been, and how supportive.
He’d need to tell Eva that he was leaving, too. Pieter imagined telling her that he was going home and asking her to reconsider giving a fully-fledged relationship a try. In his heart, he knew he didn’t want this to be the end of things for them. But Eva’s hostility towards him hadn’t abated even slightly, and she’d made it clear she didn’t want anything to do with him.
Convinced that Eva would prefer it if he just left the base quietly, without dredging up any more painful feelings, Pieter decided to make plans to return to Laagestein as quickly as he could, drawing as little attention to himself as possible in the process.
CHAPTER 16
EVA
After a fitful sleep, Eva awoke on the morning of her promotion interview with a feeling of dread. Bad dreams, in which she was the only candidate for the job butstilldidn’t get the promotion, had plagued her. She figured the dreams stemmed from her lack of knowledge about who else was up for the promotion. When she’d known that Pieter was her rival, she’d known exactly who she had to beat to the job. But with Pieter gone, she didn’t know who else she was up against.
With Pieter gone.She’d tried not to think about it in the days since he’d left, telling herself to stay strong and focus on preparing for the interview. She hadn’t found out about his departure until after the fact, when Lieutenant Marshall had called her into his office to give her the news. Although Eva didn’t blame Pieter for not saying goodbye to her, especially given that she’d refused to speak to him after learning his true identity, the fact that he hadn’t told her he was leaving only compounded her hurt feelings.
She knew it was for the best, because any relationship between the two of them didn’t stand a chance. A clean break was alwaysbest. Without Pieter around, the temptation to throw herself at him was completely eliminated. She didn’t have to be ever-aware of his presence, trying to avoid him, worried about other people seeing how he was looking at her.
Although she wasn’t proud of it, she’d felt a quick, sharp thrill when she’d found out that he’d left. She had felt, for one glorious moment, that she would be certain to get the promotion with Pieter out of the running. It had only taken ten minutes for reality to come crashing in — namely that there was still the chance she wouldn’t get the promotion. Sure, she wouldn’t have to see Pieter gloat about beating her to it, but she’d be forced to suffer the humiliation of her senior officers and colleagues knowing that she’d been deemed not up to the job.
Eva believed that giving formal presentations belonged in one of the circles of hell, so when she’d learned she would have to give one as part of her interview, she’d felt queasy. She would be asked to speak about her five greatest achievements since joining the military, which objectively seemed like an excellent subject. However, Eva knew she had to walk a tightrope of diplomacy and tact, somehow figuring out what the interview panel wanted her to say about her achievements.
She couldn’t say that surviving for a decade in a male-dominated system was, in and of itself, a huge achievement. She couldn’t say that persevering through years of blatant sexism without giving up and quitting proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there was steel at her core.
Shewantedto tell the panel that Private Sully and all of the new recruits she’d met who were like him — damaged, angry, desperately seeking their purpose in life — were individual triumphs that gave her untold pleasure whenever she thought of them. She was concerned that by being honest about theseachievements, she’d open a seam of vulnerability that the panel might interpret as weakness, and she wasn’t about to let that happen when the stakes were so high.
Instead, what she’d practiced was a carefully crafted presentation that drew attention to her strengths, her record of commendations and the actions that had led directly to previous promotions. She’d rehearsed the presentation so often that she knew it by heart, but now, as she dressed for the interview, she told herself to put it out of her mind and focus on staying calm. There was absolutely no room for error.
When she was invited into the interview room, she set up for her presentation as the stern-faced panel watched in silence. Although their faces gave nothing away, Eva thought the presentation went as well as she could have hoped under the high-pressure circumstances.
“Who, more than anyone else, has inspired you to be the sergeant you are today?” was the first question asked by Major Tom Adams.
It wasn’t a question that Eva had anticipated, and she took a moment to compose her thoughts before answering.
