Page 46 of Royal Catch
“I won’t,” he says. “Because my heart is already taken.”
It’s so romantic I want to swoon. But one look at Francesca sitting stiffly while the two royals argue over her place makes me realize what I need to do. The honorable thing. The only way out.
“My name isn’t Polly Lyon,” I announce. My legs go wobbly and I sink back to the sofa. Gabriel will never forgive the lie, and I know I’ve lost him forever. I can’t look at him. I stare at my hands and try to gather the strength to walk out the door.
“Who are you?” the queen demands.
I turn to her. “My name is Anna Hebert. I pretended to be Polly, and I’m very sorry.” I risk a look at Gabriel, and his face is twisted in fury. “I tried to be as much myself as I could with you, Gabriel. That part was real.”
His lip curls and he turns his head away like he can’t bear looking at me.
I clear my throat, blinking rapidly. “So it’s clear Francesca is the right choice.”
Security enters the room, rushing toward me.
“I pressed the alert button,” the queen says. “You’re a danger to us, and you must be detained until your departure.”
I gulp, my fingers gripping the sofa cushion. “Detained?”
Two guards haul me to my feet, and then my hands are cuffed behind my back.
Panic shoots through me, my fight-or-flight kicking in hard. “Hey! I’m an American! I have rights.”
“The dungeon,” the queen commands.
“Dungeon!” I shriek. “With spiders?”
Gabriel grimaces.
Francesca remains the picture of decorum, her gaze downcast. Bitch.
The queen says nothing, her expression pure contempt.
I kick and scream, but the four guards easily overpower me. They drag me out of the room, through an endless maze of hallways, down a long flight of stairs to an underground space that’s dark and damp. It smells like swamp. There really are jail cells. The air is deathly cold, and I swear I can hear the cries of tortured spirits left to die down here.
“Don’t you have a police station?” I ask desperately. “A real prison? Take me there.”
“The queen wants this kept quiet,” a guard says.
And the queen has absolute power here. My heart races as they drag me along to the farthest cell in the darkest corner. There are thick cobwebs in the corners of this place. Spiders. Probably rats too and whatever crept in from the underneath. I’m shaking from cold and fear, my teeth chattering uncontrollably.
“Please don’t put me in there,” I cry as one of the guards takes my handcuffs off.
They put me in there. The door clangs shut and he locks it from the outside.
I cross my arms, hugging myself in my thin sundress. The men leave me to my solitary confinement. The only light is through high narrow windows, too narrow for a person to fit through, and there’re bars across them anyway. By sundown, it’ll be pitch black in here. The spiders and God knows what else will slither across the floor and down the walls undetected, making their way to live prey. Me.
A hysterical laugh bubbles up. I’m living the nightmare I feared for Polly, trapped in a cage. Two princesses walk into a prison cell…I got nothing. The joke falls flat. It’s just sad.
There’s no one working from the outside for my freedom. The one person who could has turned against me. And who could blame him? I’ve betrayed his trust.
I sink to the ground in the center of the space, bend my legs, and rest my head on top. Something brushes my arm and I scream, leaping to my feet and slapping at the creepy spider I’m sure touched me.
I will stand all day and all night. I’ll be like a horse and sleep standing up, eyes open. I cross my arms, vigilant for whatever might come at me. And then I burst into tears. I’ve lost Gabriel and there will never be another like him. Not for me.
I gave him his freedom, gave him what he needed to live his life. I don’t get to have needs.
I am Anna Hebert, and I am a liar.
