Lone Prince (Royally Unexpected #7) - Lilian Monroe Page 0,73

I felt far from the same.

Everything is different. I’ve gone to work every day, in the same office I left behind, but it’s like I’m seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. I see the awards I’ve won and the degrees hanging on my wall, but they don’t mean anything.

My baby means something. Everything. I spent every evening trawling through books and online forums about what to expect, preparing myself for every possible eventuality—yet still feeling completely unprepared.

But I’ve had Grandma with me, and she’s reminded me about the importance of family. Her presence, along with the baby growing in my womb, have shown me everything I’ve been missing.

Work doesn’t seem quite so important. Apart from the Summer Palace, I haven’t taken on any more projects. I’m planning on taking some time off once the baby gets here.

I still care about the business, of course. I still love architecture. It just doesn’t hold the same weight as it did before.

Plus, in a way, it feels wrong to think about another project while the Summer Palace design is still ongoing, like a strange, misplaced kind of infidelity. This palace deserves my full attention—or maybe I just don’t have the energy or desire to think of anything else. I cling onto the last thing that reminds me of…of him.

As the car drives up to the tall, wrought iron gates, I glance at the spot on the ground where I first collapsed. That’s where the Prince first saw me. Where he first held me in his arms and brought me back to life.

Have I ever been the same?

That moment, everything changed. I’ve been staring at my life through a kaleidoscope, wondering how I could have ignored all the beauty and color of the world around me. How did I exist with only work and business on my mind? How did I miss all the other things that make life worth living?

We drive through the gates, and my heart clenches. I slide a hand over my abdomen, smiling as my baby moves. I grunt, feeling a foot kick me in the ribs. My stomach bulges to the left as the baby shifts, and I rub my hand over it.

We’re home. Even after spending all winter in Farcliff, coming back to this palace feels like the homecoming I’ve always wanted. I belong here. This landscape took a piece of me, the Prince grabbed another, and my baby took the rest. There’s a chunk of my heart kept captive here, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get it back.

All I can do is just enjoy being here while it lasts.

Grandma must feel me tense up as we get closer to the palace, because she squeezes my hand. “I called Vikki, and she told me the Prince left last week,” she whispers. “In case you were nervous about seeing him.”

I force a smile, but a spear of sadness pierces my heart. He left—again. Didn’t even want to see me.

But it’s for the best, right? Keeps up the appearance of nothing ever happening between us. Why would the Prince stay here during a large construction project? That in itself would be suspicious.

It hurts more than I’d like to admit. Call it weakness, but somewhere deep in my heart, I hoped I would see him at least once.

We arrive at the castle but instead of stopping at the front entrance, we’re driven to the side door reserved for the staff. My throat tightens, and I know that I don’t have special status here. I’m not the Prince’s lover or someone who will be given free rein in the building.

I’m an architect. A contractor. A pregnant nobody.

Isn’t that what I asked for when I left? This is the choice I made.

Vikki’s just inside the door, waiting to greet us. She wraps her arms around me and coos over my growing belly, beaming at me.

“Have you picked a name yet?”

I shake my head, smiling. “Decided to wait to find out the sex of the baby, so I want to hold the baby in my arms before I decide on a name.”

“Smart,” Vikki replies, wrapping me up in a tight hug. I let out a sigh as she holds me close, realizing how much I missed her. My time in Farcliff was full of work and not much else—not that I’ve made many friends over the past ten years, anyway. I’ve been too focused on the business.

But Vikki is a friend. She kept in touch with me while I was away. She