Page 54 of Royal Player
I pull her close, kissing her again, and lower her to the mattress. There’s just no question—together is where we belong.
~ ~ ~
It’s Friday night, and I’m feeling desperate. The hurricane is expected to hit the main island of Beaumont early Sunday morning, and I refuse to let it take Polly from me. She won’t commit to a life here and refuses to let me join her there. The pressure for her to marry Peter or risk the downfall of her family is never far from my mind. The sale on my land still hasn’t cleared. There are no easy answers. Hell. I’m tired of fighting with her, so I go to a higher authority—her cousin and closest ally, Queen Anna.
It’s early still, only eight p.m., when I knock on the door of their suite in the west wing. A maid answers and lets me in.
Gabriel and Anna are in the sitting room on a beige sofa, watching TV.
I ask the maid for privacy and then burst out, “Anna, you have to stop Polly from leaving. Forbid her.”
Mila’s cry rings out from the bedroom.
“You woke the baby,” Anna snaps.
“Sorry,” I say.
“I’ll get her,” Gabriel says, striding to the bedroom. He returns a moment later with my niece, who’s red in the face and looks pissed off for being woken up. He paces the length of the room, patting her on the back. “Probably just gas,” he says. “Not you, Oscar. She’s used to lots of noise and conversation.”
He disappears back in the bedroom.
“Sorry I blamed you.” Anna rests her head back on the sofa. “We’re exhausted. Mila is a round-the-clock crier. Now what’s this you’re saying about forbidding Polly from leaving? You’re not making sense.”
“You’re the queen. Issue a royal decree to make her stay.”
She looks to the ceiling before meeting my eyes. The similarities between her and Polly strike me again—same dark curly hair, heart-shaped face, and brown eyes, but different. Polly’s spirit shines through, and something in it speaks to me. “Would you like me to lock her in the dungeon?”
I consider this. We actually do have a dungeon. How mad would she be?
“I was joking!” Anna exclaims.
What else would keep her here? “Move the christening to an earlier date. She’ll have to stay as godmother. I just need more time.”
“Time for what?” she asks.
I shove a hand in my hair. “To make her commit to a life with me here.”
“Oh, Oscar.”
My throat nearly closes at the sympathy in her voice. I know I sound crazy, but I can’t help it. Peter is still a threat, and I can’t share the sordid details. Polly doesn’t want other people to know. The only way to keep her safe is to keep her here. And I firmly believe that long term we’d both be better off together on Villroy. I can see that future clearly and it’s all good. I’m not being selfish. I want her to live in a place where she’s loved and respected, where she can soar without any restrictions on her.
I swallow hard. “I love her.” And I know she loves me back. She tells me in the privacy of my bedroom, whispers in the dark. Sometimes she texts me during the day too. Just a heart, but I know what it means.
Gabriel is back and must’ve overheard me because he and Anna exchange a look. He hands Mila to her, saying, “She may be hungry.”
She whips out her breast before I can look away. Oh-kay.
“Maybe I should go.” I turn and head toward the door.
Gabriel follows me. “Love can make you crazy,” he says matter-of-factly.
He’s my older brother by four years and he’s always looked out for me, so I’m really hoping he has some sage advice. “Did it make you crazy?”
He stops by the door, a wide smile lighting up his eyes. “Absolutely. I hit crazy when I thought I’d lost Anna forever. She’d decided she needed to leave so I could be the king I was meant to be and marry someone in the nobility.” Anna is a commoner and he had to convince my parents to allow the marriage and let her be queen. Our parents are reasonable, though, unlike Polly’s traditional parents. My parents recognized love and honored it. And Gabriel didn’t have someone blackmailing him.
Gabriel goes on. “I stripped down to my underwear, dove off our yacht, and swam in the frigid sea to board the public ferry she was riding out on.”
My eyes widen. That’s extreme for him. Gabriel has always been bound by royal protocol as the heir. Before he met Anna, my brothers and I privately called him Mr. Stick-Up-His-Ass. I know, we were the worst, especially since we never had the kind of pressure on us that he had, being groomed to be king.
