was unable to react quickly enough to catch it and it shattered at my feet.
I couldn’t tell if that loud squeal was in my head or if I had actually done it. I glanced around, mortified and ready to beg for Auntie Edwinna’s forgiveness, only to discover we had been left alone, the door closed behind us. I knelt quickly to gather the scattered pieces of the pottery. “What did you do?” I squeaked.
He laughed as he sauntered over to me, quite blasé as I recall. He knelt with that silly smirk. “Calm down, princess,” he soothed. “You’re going to cut your beautiful fingers.” He picked up one of the pieces from the floor, turned it over to reveal Made in China.
“What?” I fumbled, trying to gather my wits. He pulled me up and led me over to one of the thrones, sitting me down before I fell out onto the floor.
“The vase was fake,” he reiterated, looking deep into my eyes so that what he was saying would sink in. “We keep only replicas in here when we open the palace up for visitors.” He knelt beside the throne. “This, however,” he said softly, “is real.”
I glanced down at this open palm. There was a platinum ring with a unity stone surrounded by brilliant aldrite gemstones in the deepest, richest of purples. I knew in an instant just how much money the rare stones were worth, because this famous ring was once worn by his very own mother. He held it up.
“What I feel for you is real. As real as this ring. What we’ve made together, here, is real. Our bond with Jack,” he added softly. “That’s real. You ground me, Peaches,” he said. “You’ve made me more than a man. You made me a king. Be my bride. Be my princess. Let me give you your happily ever after in return.”
My mouth was agape as he slid the ring on my finger. It caught the light, sending rainbow sparkles around the room we were in.
The Throne Room, I remembered.
I was sitting on a throne.
Like, a throne throne.
I thought back to the day I met Auggie. I started my morning on the floor in front of a wildly different throne, throwing up half my guts because I unknowingly got pregnant from an embarrassing one-night stand with a drunk dickhead. I wouldn’t even tell the guy who knocked me up about the baby.
Now I was being proposed to. By a prince. On a literal throne. In a tropical paradise.
What the actual fuck?
I glanced up at Auggie, staring at that beautiful face that I truly did love with all my heart. I touched his cheek, his beard tickling the center of my palm. His arms had become home as he showed me the world. His world. A world of royalty and rules and expectations and traditions.
Nobody knew better than me that I didn’t belong.
“No,” I answered at last, before wilting blissfully to the floor.
Chapter Twenty-Three
When I came to, I realized that I was being carried in Auggie’s arms. I shielded myself from the sun as we cut back through the courtyard, crossing through another hallway and up the grand staircase, entering the private, residential wing. “The Royal Suites,” the placard read.
Forbidden, it said. But he kept right on going. He had that authority.
He didn’t stop until we got to the master. The pristine white sitting room sat under a domed glass ceiling, letting in all the natural light and beauty. Several white tufted sofas sat underneath.
Still, he pressed on. He carried me effortless all the way to the master bedroom, in a room that was four times the size of my apartment back in North Hollywood, which made it twice as big as our bedroom at Fifty Oaks. He paid no mind to the priceless artwork that lined the wall. He didn’t stop until we reached the four-poster platform bed that was draped with sheer curtains that danced with the breeze from the balcony doors.
He lay me atop the luxurious bed covers before he lay to my side. His eyes met mine. “Are you all right?”
“I had the wildest dream,” I said, holding up my hand.
There it was… the Sofia Ring, so named after his mother. I gasped when I made the connection. My eyes shot to his. It all came back in a flash. “You asked me to marry you?” I breathed.
He chuckled as he took my hand to examine the ring on my finger. “And you turned me