Royal Mistake #6 Page 20

  “Even if it meant peace between your countries?” My brow furrows. “Even if it meant avoiding certain war? Even if it meant getting everything you wanted?”

  He glares at me for only a moment before his gaze softens. “But Victoria, I did not get everything I wanted. Can’t you see that? I would give up everything—everything—for you.”

  “Your people?” My brow furrows with confusion. “You’d send your citizens to war?” I shake my head. “I don’t believe you. And the reason I don’t believe you is because unlike you, I listen to everything you say. Your duty to your country is the most important thing to you—”

  “It was the most important thing to me.” He pauses, looking deeply into my eyes. “Now, the most important thing is standing here in front of me.”

  I shake my head again. “You can’t possibly expect me to believe that, Andrew. Not after everything we’ve been through. Not after everything you’ve told me.”

  “But it’s true—”

  “You’re honestly telling me that if Reginald offered you the same deal—to leave me in exchange for peace between your two countries, that you wouldn’t have taken it? I’m not sure I can believe that.”

  “But you should believe it. Because I would have negotiated a settlement. It wasn’t necessary for you to involve yourself in this at all—”

  “Wasn’t it?” I stare at him for a moment. “I entered the dueling competition to try to win you back the love of your people. I was the one who was trying to bring back some small amount of honor—”

  “But you did it of your own accord. I never would have sent you into the ring, especially if I had known Reginald was going to treat you like he did.”

  “Andrew, I…” I want to tell him that Reginald didn’t treat me poorly—that I really did do this of my own accord. But more than that, I want to tell him how much I love him. How sorry I am that it had to end the way it did. How it makes me ache inside seeing him again and knowing he can never be mine.

  But I don’t say any of those things. Instead, I just shake my head at him again.

  “Victoria, we should discuss this. We can invite Reginald and his father to sit down with us… Reginald got what he wanted. He wanted me publicly humiliated, which I most certainly have been. And I’m quite certain that was his only aim. If we sit down with them, explain that we are truly in love and meant no harm to Justine or to their family—”

  “Either you’re delusional or you don’t know him very well, Andrew.” I frown. “He’s not going to let you get away with just glossing things over. He wants our relationship ended. Over. Dead. And that’s what I promised him. That’s what I promised him in exchange for peace. In exchange for Montovia not having to go to war over the stupid valley. I did what you would have done, Andrew. I put the people of Montovia first. I put the needs of the people of your country before my own. And isn’t that what you’ve been saying you have to do all this time? Isn’t that what you’ve been saying is your only duty since the moment I met you?”

  He pulls my hands into his and closes his eyes. He finally opens them to meet my gaze after a long moment. “Yes. That is what I’ve been telling you since the moment I met you. It’s what I’ve been telling myself my entire life. But Victoria…” He pauses, shaking his head. “There’s so much I didn’t understand then that I do now. So much more I need to tell you. So much I need to explain. But the only thing that matters—the only thing that truly matters—is that I love you. And that has to be enough to get us through this.”

  “Andrew…” I don’t know how to tell him that this issue is so much bigger than the two of us. It’s so much bigger than our love. And I just can’t see a way out other than to leave him for good. “Andrew, I’ll always love you. But sometimes love just isn’t enough.”

  Andrew

  How can I make her understand? Make her see that my heart, my life, revolves around her now?

  Before I can answer that question, though, she sweeps by me, back into the ballroom.

  “Wait!” I grab for her, but she slips away, running back through the door and into the crowd. I dart after her, but the room has already swallowed her up—I don’t even know which way she went through the dancers and revelers.

  I stride through the crowd, looking for her among the swirling skirts and ornate masks. But I don’t see her anywhere. I consider calling out her name, but I know she won’t answer, even if she could hear me above the music and laughter.

  The musicians are playing another waltz. Someone grabs my hand and tries to pull me into the throng of dancers, but I escape her grip and continue on through the ballroom. It’s too crowded in here. People press against me on all sides, their voices right in my ears, the scent of cologne and perfume drowning me from every direction. It makes me dizzy, the swirl of smells and colors and noise.

  Where is she?

  Maybe she’s already escaped outside. Maybe, this time, she’s actually heading to the train station, determined to leave Montovia forever. I can’t let that happen.

  There’s a dais at the far end of the room, where we, the royal family, will lead the unmasking at the end of the night. I head there now—maybe from the raised platform I’ll be able to spot Victoria. I push through the crowd and climb the steps, looking out across the room.

  There are too many people. I’ll never find her, even from here.

  But I refuse to give up. Not until I’ve tried everything to get through to her.

  There’s a microphone at one end of the dais. I walk over to it and switch it on. It crackles slightly, but the sound is mostly lost beneath the music and noise. I lean closer, and my eyes scan the room as my finger adjusts the microphone’s volume.

  “My I have everyone’s attention for a moment?” I say. Even at an increased volume, my voice is still nearly inaudible. A handful of people nearby turn and look at me, obviously confused. A member of the Royal Guard starts toward me from his post at a nearby window—he clearly doesn’t recognize me.

  I clear my throat and try again, louder this time.

  “Good people of Montovia,” I boom into the microphone.

  This time, more people quiet and turn to look at me. A couple of the musicians falter and fall silent, then nudge their companions. Slowly, in waves, people stop talking and dancing and turn to look at me.

  My gaze is still searching for Victoria, but I don’t see her. Meanwhile, the guard has reached me, and to simplify things, I quickly pull off my mask, revealing my face.

  A murmur moves through the crowd. Everyone knows I’m breaking tradition, but I don’t care. I give the guard a nod of reassurance, and after a moment’s hesitation, he gives a bow and then returns to his post at the window.

  “Good people of Montovia,” I start again. “Forgive the interruption, but I have some important business to address.” My eyes are still scanning the room, still looking… There! Is that her near the south windows? I can’t tell from here.

  “You’ve probably heard a number of rumors these past few days,” I continue. “Rumors about my father, about our royal visitors, and about me. I only wish to set things straight.”

  The room had gone dead silent. Everyone is watching, waiting for me to go on. The woman-who-might-be-Victoria on the far side of the room is as silent and still as the rest.

  “You may have heard a rumor that Victoria Simpson called off our engagement,” I say, never taking my eyes off the woman. “That rumor is true—but I want to make one thing clear. Victoria acted in what she believed to be the best interest of this country, because though she may not have been born here, her respect and love for Montovia and its people runs as deep as that of anyone here. And I love her all the more for it.”

  The woman by the window doesn’t move. She, like everyone else in the room, seems transfixed by what I’m saying.

  “I want to make one other thing clear,” I go on. “I still love her with all my heart. And I will continue to do so until the day I die. Never have I met anyone as selfless, as
deserving, and so fit to be a future queen. And I will fight for her with every breath, for as long as it takes.” My eyes move from the woman to sweep across the rest of the room. “I won’t let King Maximilian or Prince Reginald bully us. I will fight for Montovia and for its people with all my heart and all of my strength, but I won’t sacrifice our honor and integrity to do so. At the end of the day, those things are what make us proud and great—and no matter what happens, those things will remain. If Prince Reginald and King Maximilian have a problem with that, they can take it up with me.”

  My gaze finds Victoria again. “I love Victoria Simpson. And I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to marry her.”

  I know this little speech might not make a lot of sense to those who don’t know the entire story and the extent of Reginald’s manipulation, but I don’t care. Victoria knows, and that’s all that matters.

  But even as I release the microphone, the woman by the window is moving, sidling toward the door. I must stop her. Must speak to her.

  I leap down off the dais, and people gasp and jump back, apparently startled by my wild actions. I can only imagine what the people in this room think of me right now.

  But I’ll worry about that later, if at all. Right now, I need to get to Victoria.

  I make it halfway across the giant ballroom before the microphone crackles again. At first I think it’s just someone turning it off, but then I hear a familiar voice come through. A voice that makes my blood run cold.

  “Prince Andrew,” comes Reginald’s sneering tones through the loudspeaker system. “I believe you and I have some unfinished business to attend to.”

  Victoria

  My heart is pounding in my ears, and I’m sure I didn’t hear Andrew right when he made his little speech at the microphone.

  He thinks I’m worthy of being a future queen. His future queen.

  I know he proposed—I suppose I knew all along that he must have believed I was worthy of him. But there’s something about hearing him say the words out loud that makes my heart thrash in my chest and my stomach twist with something that isn’t guilt for once. It feels a lot more like…hope.

  Until I hear Reginald’s voice a second later and remember why my relationship with Andrew can never happen.

  I head for the door—if I can somehow manage to get away, maybe Andrew will let this all go. He might think our relationship is worth fighting for, but it definitely isn’t worth going to war for. Why can’t he understand that?

  For some reason, the crowd parts for Andrew and he rushes toward me. I’m not quite to the door before his hand is on my elbow, and he spins me to face him.

  “Victoria.”

  I stare at him for a few moments before shaking my head slowly at him. “Andrew. Go have your words with Reginald. Remind yourself of why—”

  “Andrew.” Reginald is nearly singing Andrew’s name into the microphone. “You aren’t afraid of what I have to say, are you? If you’re truly a man of the people, as you’ve stated since your birth, you’ll come up here and finish this. Explain to the good people of Montovia exactly why you won’t be marrying your precious Victoria.” He clucks his tongue. “Though, I imagine you aren’t half the man you think you are. Perhaps I could show Victoria exactly what she’s missing.”

  His crass comments draw gasps from the crowd, and the partygoers seem to be turning their attention back and forth between Andrew and me at the back of the room and Reginald, who still stands on the stage.

  Andrew’s voice is a low growl. “I will kill him.”

  I reach out and grab him by the forearm, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Andrew.” I shake my head. “Don’t. It isn’t worth it. He isn’t worth it.”

  “No, but you’re worth it.” He gazes into my eyes for a long moment. “Don’t you see, Victoria? We cannot allow him to bully us into not following our hearts. We cannot allow him to threaten our relationship or our country.”

  The crowd around us has heard every word and starts chiming in their opinions.

  “Prince Andrew is right. No one interferes with Montovia.”

  “He’s right. We cannot let Prince Reginald have his way.”

  “We should all stand up for what is right. We can take back the Amhurst Valley on our own.”

  “Montovia! Montovia forever!”

  Several people start singing the national anthem of Montovia and after a few moments, nearly the entire ballroom has broken into song.

  People are taking off their masks and crowding toward the stage as the song comes to an end. They begin jeering at Prince Reginald. “We’ll fight for Montovia! We’ll not stand for this!”

  “War it is then, people of Montovia.” Reginald laughs into the microphone. “Unless, of course, Prince Andrew would like to come fight this battle on his own.” He grins in our direction again. “What do you say, Andrew?”

  Andrew doesn’t even glance at me this time. I reach out to try to grab his arm, but it’s too late. He’s already charging toward the stage, though the crowd doesn’t part for him nearly as easily on his way back as they did before.

  He hasn’t quite reached the stage when a masked woman, dressed all in white, comes out of nowhere and places a hand on Reginald’s arm. She probably doesn’t intend it, but her voice is audible through the microphone, and I recognize it immediately as Justine’s. “Brother. We cannot do this. There has to be another way.”

  Reginald growls his response. “I’m going to see that Andrew and Montovia get exactly what they deserve. And it’s going to start with me beating the hell out of Andrew, just like I should have done years ago.”

  “Reginald.” The warning in Justine’s voice is clear as day, but it doesn’t seem to reach his ears at all.

  Instead, Reginald charges toward Andrew, nearly jumping into the crowd to reach him before he gets to the stage. He pounces on top of Andrew, knocking him to the ground before he slams a fist into his jaw.

  “Prince Reginald. Princess Justine.” A new voice comes from the microphone, and this time I recognize it as William’s. He pulls off his mask and looks over at the woman standing near the edge of the stage. “I believe I have worked out a different solution with your father.”

  Justine turns to him slowly and narrows her gaze, but says nothing.

  The two men on the ground seem to freeze, waiting for William to finish his statement.

  “You see,” William continues. “After the events of the past few days, I’ve been in discussions with your father, King Maximilian.” He clears his throat, almost like he’s trying to hide his disgust at saying the man’s name. “And I believe we have come up with a solution where everyone benefits.”

  Andrew rises to his feet, straightening his clothing, and Reginald does the same. Both men turn to the stage to listen to William.

  The crowd goes silent as well, and everyone in the room is listening in rapt attention, waiting to hear the solution William and King Max have come up with.

  William is silent for far too long, glancing over at Justine a little too often. He finally clears his throat again. “Right. Well, we have reached an agreement that will satisfy both our countries. In exchange for the scepter and the rights to the valley, I will be marrying the Princess Justine. Her father requests that the marriage take place in three weeks. It will be a celebration, uniting our two countries for the first time in more than a century.”

  Justine’s mouth falls open, and her hands ball into fists. She looks like Andrew just did, ready to throw a punch.

  Andrew shakes his head at his brother. “William…” He shakes his head again. “You can’t. You just…can’t.”

  William nods. “But I can. It’s already arranged. And this leaves you and Victoria free to pursue whatever it is you wish to pursue.” He smiles, but I can see it’s forced. “You’re free, Andrew. You’re finally free.”

  Andrew

  William is out of his mind. And to think I used to consider him the sane one of the family.

  “You can’
t do this,” I tell him again. “It’s absolutely absurd.”

  “It’s already done,” he tells me. “The contract was signed this afternoon.”

  How long has he been planning this? I glance at Victoria, who looks just as stunned as I feel.

  “Why didn’t you discuss this with me?” I demand of William.

  “It all happened very quickly,” he says with a dismissive shrug. “I thought it better to settle it quickly and quietly, without further embarrassment for either of our countries.”

  So much for avoiding that, I think, glancing around us. The revelers are watching this scene intently, and I can only imagine how quickly this news will spread.

  My eyes move to Reginald. He looks as shocked as the rest of us, but there’s still a tightness to his expression, and I know he’s barely containing his anger. My gaze darts about for Justine, but she seems to have disappeared.

  “Perhaps we should continue this conversation somewhere private,” I say. “I’d like to hear exactly what you’ve agreed to.”

  I know this disappoints the crowd, but none of them are bold enough to say so out loud.

  William, at least, seems to see the wisdom in taking this discussion elsewhere. He nods and descends from the dais, coming over to where Victoria and I stand. I turn back toward the crowd.

  “Please let us through,” I tell them.

  They obey, if reluctantly. Victoria and William follow me across the ballroom. I’m furious with my brother—but if I’m being completely honest, I’m also relieved. He’s right—this does solve all of our problems. Our two countries would finally be at peace. And Victoria and I would be free to marry, without any guilt over the consequences.

  I glance over at her. Her eyes are cast down, focusing on the floor a few steps ahead of her, and she’s chewing on her bottom lip as if deep in thought. Now that the initial shock has worn off, I wonder what she truly thinks of this brave move of my brother’s.