Page 98 of Royal Affair
"Perhaps," I said, because what else could I say with Mother watching?
As I moved toward the door, I heard him speak to my Mother, just loud enough for me to hear:
"Broken birds are so much easier to tame, don't you find? All that fight knocked right out of them."
I kept walking, my hands clenched into fists at my sides, but his words followed me down the corridor like poison. He was right, and he knew it. James had shattered me so completely that I barely had the strength to object to being handed off to the next man in line.
That night, I sat in my private sitting room with a cup of tea growing cold in my hands, staring out at the palace grounds where James had once patrolled. Where he'd kept me safe from threats, I hadn't even known existed. Now the only threat was the one sleeping in the guest wing, already planning my subjugation with the casual confidence of a man who'd never met a woman he couldn't break.
Unable to stop myself, I opened my laptop again and typed his name into the search engine. James Banks. The same results as always—old military records, the brief mention of his employment with elite security firms, and then nothing. Radio silence for six months, as if he'd fallen off the face of the earth.
Had he changed his name? Left the country? Was he somewhere warm, laughing about the naïve princess who'd thrown herself at him? The not-knowing was almost worse than the certainty of his indifference.
A soft knock at the door interrupted my spiral of self-torture. "Come in."
Mother entered, still elegant even in her dressing gown, her expression more troubled than I'd seen it in months.
"We need to talk about this afternoon," she said, settling into the chair across from me.
"About Prince Dmitri's charming personality?" I asked bitterly. "His wonderful way with words?"
"He was... inappropriate," she admitted, something like shame flickering across her face. "I didn't expect him to be quite so... direct."
"Direct?" I laughed, a sound with no humor in it. "He practically called me a whore to my face, Mother. Is that the caliber of man you're hoping to marry me off to?"
"His family connections are impeccable?—"
"His family connections?" I slammed my laptop shut with enough force to make her flinch. "That's your defense? That his bloodline excuses the fact that he's clearly a predator?"
"You're being dramatic?—"
"Am I? Did you see the way he looked at me? Like I was a piece of meat he was considering purchasing?" I stood, pacing to the window. "He knows about James, doesn't he? That's why he's here. Because he thinks I'm damaged goods, that he can get at a discount."
The silence behind me told me everything I needed to know.
"My God," I whispered. "That's exactly what this is. You told him about James. About how thoroughly humiliated I was. And he saw an opportunity."
"Evangeline—"
I spun around, months of suppressed rage finally finding a target. "What did you tell him, Mother? That I was so heartbroken I'd marry anyone? That I was so desperate for approval I'd settle for a man who treats women like property?"
"I told him you'd been through a difficult period," she said quietly. "That you might appreciate a fresh start."
"A fresh start." I laughed again, the sound echoing harshly in the formal room. "With a man who made it clear within five minutes of meeting me, he considers me a conquest. A broken bird to be tamed."
Her face went pale. "He said that?"
"He did. Right after he made it clear he knew all about my ‘taste for rough trade’." The words tasted like poison. "Is that really what you want for me, Mother? A marriage to a man who delights in my pain?"
She was quiet for a long moment, staring at her hands folded in her lap. When she finally looked up, there was something like guilt in her eyes.
"Perhaps I misjudged the situation," she said carefully.
"Perhaps?" I moved back to my chair, suddenly exhausted. "He's not here to court me, Mother. He's here to claim a prize. The broken princess who'll be grateful for any scrap of attention."
"Then we'll send him away."
I looked at her, this woman who'd shaped my entire life around duty and sacrifice, and felt something die inside me. "Will we? Or will you find another Dmitri? And another? Until you find one who's better at hiding his true nature?"
