Page 115 of The Thing About My Prince
Not wanting to ruin my sister’s wedding with the scandal of me assaulting a long-serving member of staff, I channel my fury into sarcasm. “I am deeply honored that you would deign to extend me such a courtesy, sir.”
“But now at least I can see right through this arrangement you two have.” Giles turns his attention to Lexi. “This relationship is obviously a fraud and a contrived means of getting you into Glenwither in order for you to work together. Frankly, that’s something of a relief. Because, God knows, you’d never fit in around here.”
Shit. If Giles hasn’t already pushed enough of Lexi’s buttons, that one will hammer the big red flashing one—the one attached to her awful experiences as the odd one out among her privileged classmates at private school, and to all the rich wankers around the world that she’s reported on.
Sure enough, she wriggles out of my grip, shoulders square but her jaw trembling, eyes bright with hurt.
“How dare you?” The words scrape out of her, her knuckles white as they grip her handbag. “You’re not actuallyroyal yourself, you know. And even if you were, so what? They’re all just people. And most of them are not very nice.”
I slip my hand around her waist and pull her tight to my side.
“Don’t be so fucking offensive, Giles,” I spit. “Our relationship is anything but a fraud. And my sister’s wedding is not the place for this conversation.”
“It would be a shame, wouldn’t it, sir”—he straightens his tie and lifts his chin—“if Miss Lane didn’t leave and then the press happened to publish more disparaging stories that might harm hercareer.” He says the last word as if it’s shit on his tongue.
“Iknewyou had to be behind that,” Lexi says through her teeth.
I look from Lexi to Giles. Oh my God. “It wasyouwho got hold of those photos and leaked them to the press?”
“All I’m saying, sir, is that if you were still a fully fledged member of the royal household, then of course we would do our very best to protect you and your, um”—he coughs—“loved onefrom damaging stories. But since you’ve chosen not to be…” His raise of an eyebrow says everything else.
Is this sarcastic fucking arsehole for real?
“So you’re saying that either Lexi leaves or you’ll tell my parents and grandparents about the bookanddig up more shitty little stories about her and have your pals in the press publish them?”
He laughs as if that’s an outrageous concept. “Of course not, sir.” He’s reverted to his patronizing voice. “I’m merely suggesting that it might be best for all concerned if she leaves. The wisest thing. The most judicious decision, if you will.”
Christ, this is like a Mafia shakedown. And from someone who’s supposed to be on my side, but who I’ve always known really isn’t.
Lexi was right all along. The call has always been coming from inside the house.
“Yeah, right. Of course that’s what you’re saying,” Lexi says. “And it was obviously you who bugged our room. What was that for? To get more dirt on me to pass to your unpleasant tabloid pals in the hope it would make me go away? Or to get something on Oliver to make it look like he’s the one in the wrong for leaving the country? So you can preserve the family’s reputation and no one will ever know the problem is actuallythem? And, clearly, also you.”
“A bug?” Giles says in his best pearl-clutching voice. “If there were any monitoring of the prince’s surroundings, I can promise you it would only be for his own good.”
“Since when the hell did anyone around here ever do anything formyown good?”
Giles ignores me and continues to stare at Lexi. “For his own good. And his own protection. We wouldn’t want him to fall victim to”—he pauses to circle his hand in something resembling a royal wave while he comes up with an appropriately superior noun—“interlopers.”
“She is not a fucking interloper.” My words echo around the church. That was obviously a lot louder than I intended.
“No, sir. Of course not. She’s the love of your life. You mentioned it.” Giles raises his eyes to the vaulted ceiling.
“Look, Oliver.” Lexi touches my arm. “Me being here is obviously causing way too much drama and embarrassment. I should go.”
“Absolutely fucking not. I want you here with me. Screw Giles. It doesn’t matter a damn what he thinks.”
“I believe it matters to your parents,” Giles says. “They trust me to look out for everyone. And that’s all I’m doing, after all.”
“The stupid pictures in the stupid article, I can deal with,” Lexi says, ignoring him. “That’s my world. I get it. I can cope with it. Butthis.” She points first straight at Giles, then gestures to all the surrounding wedding paraphernalia, then toward my family and the great and good who’re gatheredoutside, smiling and laughing in the afternoon sun. “Thisis not my world. I have no frame of reference for a system where the people who work for you spy on you and feed embarrassing photos to the press in order to drive away your friends that they don’t approve of. This is a world so fucked up it’s impossible to deal with.”
“Glory be.” I throw my arms in the air. “That’s what I’ve been saying for about twenty years, and no one will listen. But you’ve figured it out in less than a couple of weeks.”
While it’s the most reassuring thing in the world that Lexi sees the bullshit that I see, there’s also a new kind of panic inside me. One that shakes me to my bones. A panic that the system, the Firm, the way things work around here, is going to drive another person away. And this person is definitely not disposable.
I need her to understand that we think the same, that we are as one, that she really absolutely mustn’t walk away.
I clutch her hand in both of mine. “That’s exactly why I left. You see we’re in total agreement.”
