‘Become something more?’ She knew that this was meant to have been nothing other than an escape for them both. But that didn’t explain everything. And, heaven help her, she couldn’t stop herself from asking. ‘I can’t walk away from you without being honest, Alvaro. And I won’t allow you to do that either.’
‘You won’t allow it?’
‘You encouraged me to speak up for my own desires. To demand what I wanted from you. So tell me.’
‘Tell you what?’ he suddenly exploded. ‘And for what purpose? What possible benefit is there to this?’
For all his demands of her, that encouragement of her, he didn’t talk. And now she was furious.
‘Why did you do it?’ she yelled at him.
‘Do what?’
‘Christmas Day on steroids. Why?’
He gaped. Then breathed. ‘I didn’t. I told you. I just phoned up a company and they set it all up.’
‘At your suggestion,’ she pointed out, her emotions slipping away again. ‘But you thought of it. You went to that expense and the effort, because you took the time, you had the consideration. Why did you want to do that for me?’
He glanced away then. ‘Maybe it wasn’t for you. Maybe it was for me.’
‘You?’
‘You know I never had those things either.’ Frustration ripped out of him. ‘We have more in common than you might think, Jade. You had everything, but not the treats. I had nothing, and certainly not the treats. I figured we could both have them for once.’
‘And that’s all it was?’ She didn’t want to believe him. She’d wanted it to mean more. For it to have mattered.
‘You only had three weeks, Jade,’ he said, almost plaintively. ‘Only a few days. It was your one Christmas of freedom. I wanted to make it good for you.’
‘So you only took me there because you knew I was leaving?’ she asked. ‘You wouldn’t have bothered otherwise? With any of it? So, really, it was pity?’ He’d done it all because he felt sorry for her.
‘No. It was a gift.’
A gift? Something nice for the poor, little rich girl?
Christmas Day had just been a favour, a benevolent, charitable act? Hell, it had basically been a job for him. And sleeping with her in the first place had been a favour too.
Bitter disappointment broke her heart. He broke her heart.
And then she saw it on his face—the apology. She didn’t want his apology. She wanted his love.
‘Jade—’
‘It’s time for me to leave, Alvaro.’ She tried to open the car door but it wouldn’t open.
‘Jade.’
‘Now, Alvaro.’ She needed him to let her leave.
And this time he listened. The car door locks unclicked. The door swung open. And Jade escaped.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE SALON IN Monrova’s Palace Monroyale was still decorated with tall fir trees dressed in scarlet and gold satin ribbons. The same way it had been decorated for the month of December for decades—or at least, for all of Jade’s life. Everything was the same—as if she’d never been away or, indeed, never been there at all. She passed the antique furniture knowing she should feel pride in their craftsmanship, their preserved glory...instead they stifled her.
Jade wheeled her trolley case herself, smiling at the footman’s astounded expression as he held the door for her.
‘Good morning.’ She smiled tightly.
‘Your Highness.’ He blushed as he bowed.
She walked towards the west wing, where her private apartment was situated within the palace.
‘Your Highness.’ Major Garland halted midway along the wide corridor, a perplexed look wrinkling his very high forehead. ‘I thought you were—’
‘In Severene, I know.’ Jade kept walking. ‘I apologise for the confusion.’
‘But—’ His eyes had bugged almost out of his skull. ‘You are in Severene, right now. With—’
‘Clearly, I’m not,’ Jade said crisply. She wasn’t about to waste time debating her identity with this supercilious advisor who’d always seemed to sneer at her. ‘The princess who is currently in Severene is my twin, Juno. I am Jade.’
Major Garland’s mouth hung open for an unflattering few seconds. ‘But—’
‘No buts, Major. It is truly me and if we need to get the palace physician to verify it we can, or you can just take me at my word. Juno and I switched places for a few weeks but I’ve returned a couple of days earlier than we originally planned.’
‘You...what?’ A purple hue tinged the expanding frown on Major Garland’s face. ‘You switched places? As if you’re twelve?’ He straightened to glower down at her from his full height. ‘May I remind you, Princess Jade—’
‘You may not,’ she interrupted him. Because calling her ‘Princess Jade’ revealed exactly what he thought of her. That she was still a child. She wasn’t. She was the Queen. And she was also tired and devastatingly heartsore and she grasped for the control expected of her. But, she realised, control didn’t mean meekness and mildness. This was a time for honesty and assertiveness and getting what she needed—which was support and clarity. Neither of which, she finally realised, she was probably ever going to get from Major Garland. ‘I’m the Queen, Major Garland, and I know what my obligations are and I do not need you or anyone else to tell me what I should or should not have done in the past, be doing now or, indeed, do in the future.’
His eyes widened and his mouth hung ajar for another moment. ‘But—’
‘I need you to gather my senior staff,’ she said firmly. She raised her eyebrows at him when he didn’t move. ‘Now, please, Major.’
‘Uh...’ He swallowed. ‘Of course, Your Majesty. I shall assemble everyone in the Rose Room.’
The Rose Room was a large, cold, uncomfortable conference space where her father had always met with his pompous advisors sitting before—and literally beneath—him at unfriendly rectangular tables. The hierarchy of the palace had been defined by the seating positions. The King himself had sat like some despotic dictator at his own table on a raised platform above them all. Jade had always hated sitting up there for them all to talk to her as if she were still two. ‘Actually, I’d prefer not to use the Rose Room for this meeting, thank you, Major.’
His expression puckered as if he’d sucked on something sour. ‘But—’