The Most Powerful Of Kings - Jackie Ashenden Page 0,62

she’d watched slowly and relentlessly become encased in stone and ice. For the burning flame in his blue eyes that was snuffed out, to be replaced by a cold, jewel-bright glitter.

He was becoming the king. Becoming his father.

And she’d been wrong. He hadn’t come to his senses at all. He’d told her he loved her and, far from that being the thing that brought him to her, it had only driven him away.

He was afraid; she could see that now. Afraid of what he felt for her. And maybe he was afraid of what she felt for him too, because telling him she loved him hadn’t changed things, either. She didn’t know why.

He did love and he loved passionately, but he’d spent so many years fighting it there was clearly nothing she could do to change his mind.

Just like when her mother had cut off all contact, Anna hadn’t been able to change her mind either.

You’re not enough for him. You’ll never be enough and you know it.

The thought was so painful that she eventually took herself into the shower, ending up sitting on the floor weeping for a lonely man who couldn’t acknowledge his own need for comfort and love. A cold and unyielding mountain.

Eventually, she hauled herself out and dressed, just as someone knocked on her door. Her heart leapt and fluttered like a bird inside her chest, but when she pulled it open it wasn’t Adonis, but his brother.

The disappointment was so bitter she could hardly bear it.

She wiped ineffectually at her cheeks, but was too tired to pretend she hadn’t been weeping. ‘What do you want?’ she asked, not bothering with any proper form of address, despite his being a royal prince and she nothing but a banished nun.

Prince Xerxes was tall and ridiculously handsome, his dark eyes glinting with gold as they surveyed her. ‘Are you going to invite me in?’ he asked eventually, his tone neutral. ‘Or are we going to have this conversation in the hallway? I am a prince, you know.’

Anna sighed and gestured for him to enter, since it didn’t look as if he was going to go away.

‘Why are you here?’ she asked, closing the door after him, her voice raw and scratchy.

He gave her a long, considering look, then without a word vanished into the bathroom, coming back a minute later with a box of tissues. ‘Here,’ he said, handing it to her. ‘You look like you need these.’

Not in the mood to argue, Anna took the box and sat down on the edge of the bed, blowing her nose determinedly and wiping her face.

‘So,’ Xerxes said slowly, ‘my brother stormed out of here a little while ago looking like he wanted to chew through a palace wall with his teeth. And, since he told me earlier that apparently you were going to marry him, I thought I’d better come and see what all the fuss was about.’ His gaze settled on her, concern in his dark eyes. ‘What’s happened, Anna?’

Her throat closed at the gentleness in his tone. ‘There is no wedding. He just told me he’s going to send me away.’

Xerxes frowned, muttering something very rude under his breath. ‘I see. Did he say why?’

She could feel her eyes getting sore, more tears beginning to gather. ‘He made the mistake of falling in love with me and apparently that’s a cardinal sin.’

‘Ah,’ Xerxes murmured, as if that explained everything. ‘I expect he mentioned that emotions are bad.’

‘Yes.’ Anna wiped away another tear. ‘I told him it didn’t matter that he couldn’t love me back. That I didn’t need it. I just wanted to love him, because he needs it so badly...’ She stopped, because there was no point going on. ‘It doesn’t matter now. He won’t change his mind; I know that much.’

Xerxes was quiet a long moment. Then he muttered, ‘My brother is a fool. He’s taken on too many of our father’s lessons, that’s the issue. And he’s so damn stubborn.’

‘I know.’ She blew her nose again, debating whether to tell him that she was pregnant and then decided not to, since Adonis obviously hadn’t mentioned it to him. ‘He wants me to leave tomorrow morning.’

Xerxes frowned. ‘Do you want to go?’

She thought about it. She thought about insisting on staying, on fighting for the man she loved, crushed beneath the crown he wore. But she’d tried that before and it hadn’t worked, so why would it work now? She’d thought her love would be