was this morning before Eliza, Wolfgang, and Iskandar came and messed up everything. Now look at me. I was sitting in bed, watching him on television with wine. Iskandar had told me to call, but I couldn’t. It was too soon and—
“No, it is fine. Do not worry about her.” A voice came from the living room.
Rising from the bed, I slid open the double doors but didn’t see anyone. However, I still heard another voice.
“Sir, this is—”
Turning the corner, I saw him. “Gale?”
There he was at my front door, dressed in the same suit, minus the sash, gloves, and medals on his chest. His hair was still the same color brown with the same curls, his eyes still the same blue-green, his jawline now clean-shaven, and he stood tall and proud as ever. He looked even more handsome than he had on the television and also more tired. But still, it was him. He was standing right in front of my now partially opened door. Still outside of it was Iskandar, and one other man I did not know who was dressed similarly to Iskandar, so I assumed he was a guard, too. He gave me a strange look but didn’t say a word.
“That is all for now,” Gale said to them, but his eyes never left mine.
Iskandar and the other man bowed before closing the door. Gale turned fully to me, his eyes looking from my naked feet before getting back to my eyes. I had so many things I wanted to say. But I couldn’t comprehend how he was in front of me right now.
“Is there wine?” he asked, stepping in farther.
And that was when the words came back to me. “We haven’t seen each other in months, and the first thing you ask me about is wine?” I couldn’t believe it.
“You’re right. That was rude,” he said gently, walking up to me.
“Being rude isn’t the point, Gale. How could you—”
“My first question should have been, how are you, Odette?” he whispered, placing his hand on my cheek, and it was like he had shocked me. Electricity flowed throughout my veins, and the hair on my arms stood up, so I had to step back away from his touch.
“What do you think you are doing?” I snapped.
He dropped his hands, his gaze softening. “Can we save our argument for the morning? It has been a very long day, and I really need some sleep.”
“What?”
He didn’t answer me; instead, he took off his jacket and walked to the bedroom.
“What are you doing?” I rushed to stand in front of him. “If you want to sleep, go back to your palace!”
“My wife isn’t in the palace. She is here, and I can hardly let her spend her first night here alone, now can I?” he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Like oh, of course, you shouldn’t look directly at the sun.
“So, there is the wine.” He snickered and walked around me again into the bedroom, tossing his coat onto the ottoman at the end of the bed, grabbing my unfinished glass to drink from it.
“Gale!”
“Hmm?” He looked at me, still drinking.
He—I—What was he doing right now? Breathe, Odette. Breathe. “Gale, you cannot just break into my bedroom, demand to sleep, and drink my wine like nothing has happened—like we don’t need to talk.”
“I know we have to talk. I would just prefer to do that after I have slept,” he stated, taking a seat by the side of the bed, already kicking off his shoes.
“I do not care what you prefer!”
“Yes, I am well aware.” He snickered now, lying back on the mattress. “Which is why you flew thousands of miles to divorce me.”
“Exactly! Now, please get off my bed.”
“Our bed,” he corrected, closing his eyes.
“No, my bed! As in, I paid for the room.”
“Our bed as in, husband and wife, what’s yours is mine.”
I bit my lip and stretched out my fingers to keep from strangling him. “If you agree to a divorce, we will not be that anymore. And what’s mine is mine again.”
He did not answer.
“Gale?”
“ZZZZzzz,” he pretended to snore.
Marching up to him, I pinched his nose and put my hand over his mouth. His eyes snapped open, and he ripped my hands away.
“Hey! Attempted murder of a royal is considered high treason here! It is the only law that still carries a death penalty!” he said seriously.
“Even for the wife of a royal?” I shot back.
“Yes, you can