My love. My life. My queen.”
He gathered me into his arms and held me close.
Chapter Thirty
I winced as I awoke the next morning. I heard rattling and soft talking just outside the canopy. I slipped it open to see uniformed staff rolling a cart out onto the terrace while Auggie supervised. I waited till the servant left.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” he smiled as he approached. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been hit by a train,” I answered honestly. I touched my fingers gently to my face, which still smarted like the dickens. “How do I look?”
“Like you’ve been hit by a train,” he quipped. He took a few steps over to the vanity to retrieve an antique silver mirror. He held it up.
I gasped when I saw my reflection. I had a bruise that covered my cheek all the way to the corner of my eye.
The Jubilee was in three days. “Oh, my God,” I breathed.
He assisted me to my feet and walked me to the terrace, where breakfast awaited. “I can’t go anywhere like this,” I wailed. “What are people going to say? What’s my family going to say?” Another gasp. “My family!”
“They’re at Shimmering Falls.”
“They stayed all night?”
“Grandmother insisted,” he said as he placed a napkin in his lap. “From what I understand, she’s quite taken with Dash.” He sent me a wink.
“He’s everybody’s favorite,” I mumbled. Even the auberry Danishes didn’t appeal. My stomach was turning itself over in dread what I would say to my family, to explain my behavior, and how I looked.
“It looks like I’ve been hit.”
“Yes,” he said, taking a deep breath. “It does.”
I realized how complicated that could be for him. “They’ll think it was you.”
“Yes,” he acknowledged with a nod. “It’s likely they will.”
“I have to come clean about Christopher,” I decided at once. It was enough Auggie was stepping up to the plate as a dad, doing something Christopher could never do. But to bear the responsibility of his violent attack? That was too much.
He put his knife and fork on either side of his plate to glare at me. “No, you will not.” He took a breath to center himself. “It’s bad enough that Fern knows the truth.”
“But why? Do you really want them to think you’re capable of this?” I asked, pointing to my face.
His eyes hardened as he surveyed the damage. “No. But what have I to prove to anyone who might think that I could be?”
“But Auggie…,” I started, but his silverware crashed against the table.
“I said no!”
I gasped as I sat back against my chair. He softened immediately.
“Things are different here, Pea. Christopher Tyler is a liability. One that we cannot afford. It’s best we just forget he ever existed. I have enemies here who would love to find someone deeply invested in tearing us apart. In tearing me apart.”
“The Byrnes,” I said softly. His eyes met mine.
“I see Audra has been chatty again.”
“And the Queen,” I added, which caused Auggie’s jaw to clench. “It sounds like things could be bad for a lot of people if the Byrnes were to rule.”
He sighed. “They’re not wrong,” he agreed at last. He pushed his plate away, almost unconsciously. “These are not good people, Pea. They’re the worst kind of the worst people. They find a way to put an arm around you just to plunge a knife in your back. A beautiful knife, but one that always hits its mark.”
He hesitated. I could see how he still debated if he should share his story. But once upon a time, he had ‘hired’ me for that very reason. “Tell me what really happened, Auggie,” I said softly. “You say you trust me. Trust me with the truth.”
He studied me silently before he sighed. “Cillian and I grew up together. Same age. Same families. Same schools. Same expectations. His father, Allan, is a ruthless lout who believes the ends always justify the means. They can’t have the throne, so they possess everything else. They’re powerful. They will do anything to get what they want. And they don’t care who they hurt in the process. Each new generation is expected to surpass the last until the one day they can take over Aldayne altogether. That is the expectation Cillian grew up under.”
“And you were being groomed to be king.”
He nodded. “We met when we were five years old. Too young to know what the friendship between us might mean. Yet, we were constantly put together, endlessly compared by having the