Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,68
to sting. He knew the answer to that, and maybe it was a selfish one, but… yes. He did. For all the ways he may have failed them, he wouldn’t give up the last five years of guardianship over his siblings for anything, and he didn’t want to give up Leo, either.
Drizzling drat. He’d started the day with his heart overflowing, but now all the lovely, floaty wonderfulness that he’d been filled with ever since spending the night with Leo was gone, his confidence chased away by the doubts and insecurities that his coworkers’ gossip and speculation had stirred up inside him.
“It doesn’t matter what the papers say, Prince Leopold won’t be marrying any time soon,” Hans was saying to Maja now, starting to look impatient. Not surprising, since the conversation wasn’t about him. “We’ve heard that kind of rumor for years, but you only have to look at back issues of this—” he tapped the stack of newspapers Maja had been using as her eavesdropping cover, “—to see that Leopold’s not the settling down type.”
“Maybe he wasn’t, but he might be now,” Maja said stubbornly, darting another look at Edvin that made his eyes sting even more.
“Never happen,” Hans said with all the confidence of someone with a PhD in pretentious jerkery. “But at least Rosavia’s got a spare and then some, heh?”
Edvin bit his lip, his stomach starting to hurt. Maybe if he just agreed to help Hans with the restoration project already, they’d all go away and stop gossiping about Edvin’s boyfr… er, his… fiancé? His… well, maybe none of those titles applied. Not officially. But… but maybe it would get them to stop gossiping about Leo. Then Edvin could take a minute in the staff lounge to collect himself, re-read his text thread with Leo or stare at the picture he’d snapped when Leo had been sleeping and Treble had curled around his neck like a scarf, and try to bury all those doubts and insecurities of his deep enough that they’d stay put this time instead of constantly trying to worm their way up into his heart and ruin something wonderful just because his coworkers were inadvertently pointing out how unlikely it was that Edvin’s fairy tale romance was real.
Oh, right. Except he couldn’t help Hans with the restoration project over the weekend. The Royal Ball was on Sunday, less than a week away now, and Leo’s valet had arranged for all the Bloms to be “pampered” all day Saturday in preparation for it.
For the record, Edvin had no idea what that meant, but both Tilde and Oliver had squealed with excitement and Linnea and Astrid had immediately started talking about seaweed and mud, for some reason.
It was kind of amazing, really, how quickly his siblings had accepted that the crown prince was courting someone like him. They’d taken it in stride. Had giggled over the gossip and rumors without ever seeming to worry that Leo was going to suddenly get struck by love-lightning and fall for the Princess of Whereversville, or for that prince from Thedes who Hans thought was hot. They didn’t seem concerned that Leo might… might suddenly come to his senses. Break it off with no warning, the way Hans had, and break Edvin’s heart at the ball by suddenly announcing that his engagement was really going to be to someone else. Someone everyone would agree was more suitable. Someone who wasn’t Edvin. And honestly, Leo was so attentive and wonderful and romantic and fun, that Edvin hadn’t worried about those things, either. Not really. Not until just now, when he’d gotten stuck in this trainwreck of a conversation, at least.
Oh Lord. He needed some air, but he was boxed in on all sides, and Hans, Maja, and the director were still carrying on about Leo and his engagement plans. Didn’t they have anything else to do? Books to shelve? Donors to woo? That restoration project to badger Edvin about?
“Yes, but look at this,” Maja was saying with the glee of a true gossip addict, riffling through the stack of newspapers and pulling another one out. She spread it in front of them, tapping another article, dated a few days prior, under that horrid Ida von Tarr’s byline again. “There have been reputable sources in the palace who claim that King Alphonse and Queen Aubrey laid down the law this time. Told Leopold he had to do his duty, or else. And that’s totally unfair, don’t you think? I mean, what