I had to come clean and reveal I was nothing but a decoy, a reflection of the real Royal Prince.
Then I would have to see the beaten expression on her face when she realized I had lied to her, had pretended to be the Prince even though it was initially an honest case of mistaken identity.
I hadn’t done it on purpose, but it would not come across that way.
She would take it badly but I was confident that, eventually, she would accept the truth.
We were fated mates and there was nothing we could do but for her to forgive me.
And I would promise to spend the rest of my life making it up to her.
It was a sacrifice I was very willing to make.
There was only one thing that could trump the duty to a member of the Royal Family and that was the duty to forever have faith in your fated mate.
I was not about to let her go — not even to my Prince.
I looked over at the messy bed once more.
It was obvious much lovemaking had taken place there.
I set to tidying it up, remaking it with all the precision of a military soldier.
No sooner had I finished making it than a knock came at the door.
My stomach fell between my feet and through the floor.
I suddenly felt extremely nervous.
It could only be one person.
The Prince.
He would have raced here the very instant he’d finished with the negotiations.
Although I would have preferred to meet him at the dock upon his arrival, it was too risky.
Someone might see the two of us and know one of us was a decoy, the other the real Prince, and that would immediately put him in danger.
I approached the door and took a moment to check the monitor on the wall.
It was, indeed, the Prince.
Although he wore a hood over his head to hide his features, I could recognize his natural body movements anywhere.
I took a deep breath and tried to bury the deep well of disgust at myself for having broken my duty to him.
I had to remind myself that fated mates were an even greater duty… but that did not make it any easier.
I opened the door.
Prince Aslas’s broad grin froze for a moment before he frowned and said:
“Feon? What are you doing here?”
I was meant to find his mate and then make myself scarce.
My presence could only mean one thing: