Page 121 of Three's A Crown

She smiles. “Do you think if he were allowed to marry Greyson, he would have?”

“Yes, I believe he would have.”

Her face falls. “Thank you for being honest with me. And thank you for …” she struggles to find the words she’s looking for, “… for putting your chance of love on hold for my son’s.” Emotion swims behind her blue eyes, and they shimmer under the light.

“I believe it will be hardnotto fall in love with your son …” I confess, turning the champagne glass in my hand, this seems to perk her up a little bit, “… or Greyson,” I add, but this makes her frown.

“I don’t want to pry any more than I already have, but could you explain more about that?”

This is the territory I didn’t want to delve into, but I guess I brought it up and we are going there whether I want to or not.

“It is early days, and now that Greyson has been sent away, I’m not sure how it will work, but—”

“Greyson has been sent away?”

This is news to her?I would have sworn she would’ve known about it.

“Yes. He said the king asked him to go to the Winter Palace till the wedding to give Augustine and me time to grow together without distractions.”

“Oh, that man,” the queen grumbles. “He’s incorrigible.” She shakes her head. “I’m going to tell you something, and no one knows.” She looks around the room to make sure we are alone before shifting forward toward me. “The king and Joss, Greyson’s father, and I grew up together,” she explains. “My mother was the queen’s best friend, and Joss’s family were the guards of the kingdom,” she clarifies a little more. “As the three of us were the same age, we did everything together.” She lets out a long sigh. “It wasn’t until we became teenagers and hormones came into play that things changed.”

She takes a gulp of champagne.

“One night, I stumbled upon the king with one of the staff, and that broke my heart because I had feelings for him as I did for Joss.” She shrugs her shoulders. “Joss found me crying in one of the secret passages, and that’s when things changed between us. The attraction we felt for each other blossomed.

“A year after that, on my sixteenth birthday, our parents called us into a room not too dissimilar to this one, and decreed the king and I were now betrothed, and on my eighteenth birthday, we would marry.”

Oh no.

“I was devastated because of what that meant for Joss and me. All three of us understood our duty and the stations we came from.” She sighs. “Joss distanced himself from me after that while the king and I found ourselves being pushed together more and more. Feelings rose again for the king, and I found myself in a little bit of a triangle.”

Ahh, I see.

“The king knew about Joss and said that we could continue seeing each other until the wedding, and then that was it.”

Oh.

“I was devastated,” the queen confessed. “My wedding day was equal parts the most amazing day of my life and yet the cruelest because I married the love of my life, but I had to say goodbye to the other love of my life.”

Her hands shake as she takes another sip of her champagne. “I believe the situation you find yourself in now is similar, but with a twist.” She smiles widely at me.

I guess you could say that.

“If that were an option for my life, I would have taken it,” she candidly confesses to me.

“You don’t think there’s something wrong with me because I want them both equally?” I ask her honestly.

She shakes her head while reaching and squeezing my hand. “I feel that Auggie is me in the scenario. That the king is asking him to give up his love for duty. Not saying that he won’t love you …” she quickly adds.

“I understand … I mean, it’s only been a little while and a complete whirlwind.” She nods in understanding. “I don’t want Augustine to give up Greyson.”

The queen’s face softens.

“But I understand that they can’t have the relationship that I can have with Augustine.”

She nods once again.

“That night at the party, it was Greyson who caught my attention. I never thought in a million years the prince would pick me. I didn’t mean to flirt with Grey.”

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