Page 44 of Twelve Nights In The Prince's Bed

He shook his head, his frustration evident.

‘I wanted, more than anything, for them to hate me,’ he said, simply. ‘I wanted the papers to write,Prince Adrastos is the worst thing to happen to Stomland. If only Prince Nicholas were still here.’

Poppy frowned, as something like a flame flickered in the back of her mind.

‘You wanted their disapproval.’

‘I wanted them to realise that Nick would have been a great heir. That he should still be here.’

‘And so, while you couldn’t change the skills you have that make you perfect for this role, you could ensure you didn’t fulfil anyone’s expectations when it came to relationships. Marriage. Babies.’

His eyes flared dark when they met hers.

‘You’ve deliberately avoided relationships,’ she said quietly, as it all suddenly became so abundantly clear, ‘because you want people to disapprove of you.’

‘I have no doubt that Nicholas would have been married years ago,’ he said quietly.

‘Oh, Adrastos.’ Poppy shook her head. ‘Poor Adrastos,’ she repeated. ‘Even then, no one blamed you for your love life. If anything, it simply adds a roguish charm to your persona.’

A muscle jerked in the base of his jaw.

‘And as you pointed out last night, you have decades before you need to marry.’ The words were wooden in Poppy’s mouth. She pulled away from Adrastos, scanning the woods, which were dark courtesy of the thick canopy of branches.

‘The thing is,’ she said, slowly, ‘I only met your brother once, when I was much younger. I don’t remember him very well. But through your parents, and Ellie, and now you, I really do feel as though I have a sense of the man he was. I know he wouldn’t want you torturing yourself like this.’

Adrastos’s face was drawn.

‘You’re right. He kept competing with you. He must have known he couldn’t win half of the things you fought over, but he came back, to be beaten, to be eclipsed. I think he adored you. I think he probably worshipped you a bit. Don’t you understand,’ she added gently, ‘that he would want you to live your life without this guilt?’

He cleared his throat, shook his head a little.

‘You don’t need to atone for anything.’

‘Don’t I?’

‘Of course not. You couldn’t have saved him. He had leukaemia and he died. It’s tragic and awful but none of that is your fault. Adrastos, listen to me,’ she said, urgently. ‘I need to tell you—’ But she shook her head, because it was so hard to put her own feelings into words, so she sought instead to offer general advice. ‘You are a wonderful person, and you deserve to be happy. Truly happy. You deserve a partner, someone you can love.’ Her voice cracked. ‘I saw that with my parents, and I’ve seen it with your parents. You deserve that. You’re seeking to prove something no one will ever believe. That you’re not a suitable heir to the throne. But you are. Single or not, you will be an excellent king. So why keep fighting that? I beg you...please, stop pushing women away in the hope you’ll get some bad press. It won’t bring him back.’

‘I could say the same to you,’ he said, after a moment. ‘You have also made an art form of pushing away relationships. Our reasons are different, but the result is the same. You’re seeking perfection and, in doing so, you’ve closed yourself off to the possibility of happiness.’

Poppy’s heart twisted. He was right, yet he was wrong. It wasn’t just about ignoring other possibilities. It was that there was only one possibility she wanted to consider.

She nodded in the hope it might appear that she agreed with him, but the realisation of how much she felt for Adrastos was detonating inside her chest, making it hard to breathe.

‘I have never discussed this with anyone,’ Adrastos said quietly. ‘I appreciate how ungrateful it must make me sound. But you kept asking, and I simply felt—’ He frowned. ‘When I saw you today, I couldn’t bear the thought of having upset you. I needed you to understand...’

She jerked her face to his then looked away.

‘Iwasupset last night,’ she agreed quietly. ‘I didn’t like how it felt to know that we’d argued, but it was more than that today.’

‘Why? What happened?’ It was as if he hadn’t just bared his soul to her. Prince Adrastos was back, all mind-blowing control and power.

‘It’s nothing important,’ she said, quietly. ‘There was a paparazzi mob following Ellie and me. It was...frightening.’ She shuddered. ‘It made me very glad this is all fake,’ she added for good measure, pleased that she could speak those words with such apparent honesty even when she now knew she wanted, more than anything, for this to be real. ‘Because being tailed like that for too long would seriously suck.’

He didn’t say anything, and Poppy didn’t look at him. The air between them felt thick and heavy and Poppy’s heart was hurting, but she didn’t take the words back, even when she desperately wanted to.

‘And then, in the car, Ellie had some questions, about us.’

‘I see.’

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