Peaches & the Duke - Ginger Voight Page 0,123

I guessed.

“I lied,” he admitted. “But not consciously. I went to New York to see if I had what it took, but I knew my future was already planned for me. I just wanted one little vacation from it all. Imagine it. We headed to New York City for a special concert, Audra, Cillian, Eloise and me. We were all brand-new adults enjoying our first taste of freedom. Sean, notwithstanding,” he added with a chuckle.

I smiled and hugged him tighter.

“Ironically, that was the first time I felt like a king. I had the perfect girl. The perfect friends. The chance to make my dream come true. The world was mine. I felt unstoppable. Immortal. That concert? I killed it. The stage was the one place I could be anything I wanted to be. I was fearless. Courageous. Jasper was practically begging me to sign with him that night. He made me every promise he could make. Suddenly, I had a choice. A real choice. Did I want to make music? Or did I want to return to Aldayne, marry my princess and live happily ever after?”

“I’m sure Old Mother had a few opinions on the matter.”

He chuckled. “She did. But after we came back from New York, we found out the choice had been made for us. We had to get married. For the baby’s sake.”

I stumbled back. He turned to face me. “El told me she was pregnant. And it was mine. And it was the happiest moment of my life.”

I couched my question carefully. “Until?”

His voice was dead. Flat. “Until Old Mother produced a video of Cillian and Eloise that had been taken in New York. Sean had caught them kissing.”

“Oh, Auggie.” My heart broke for Audra, too, no wonder she had been so closed up when we met.

“I was angry at first, but they both played their parts well. They said they had been set up, that the queen never wanted me to marry. And I believed them. I had to believe them.”

“You still wanted to marry her?”

He shrugged. “I couldn’t be alone. I was an eighteen-year-old kid, Peaches, and I didn’t want to be alone.” He sighed. “Old Mother had to be smart enough for the both of us. She demanded a paternity test to give her permission for us to wed. It was scheduled within weeks of our return from the States, when El was still pregnant. That one test blew my world apart, and Audra’s. But, oh, the moments until then,” he said. “When I dreamed of a baby, a son, a family. I thought I’d never feel them again.” He took my hands in his. “Until you.”

I squeezed his hands in mine. It all made sense now. The way my pregnancy hadn’t deterred him, how he had thrown himself into the role of father. The way his eyes lit up when he heard Jack’s heartbeat for the very first time. He was still looking for his own happily ever after.

“You were the truth. They were the lie. All the time they were setting me up no matter what choice I made. If I ran away to make music, or if I had an heir,” he trailed off.

“That heir would be a Byrne by blood,” I supplied. It was so evil and so vile, my stomach rebelled.

“She was already pregnant by the time she slept with me for the first time. That first time and it was already a lie. It was all planned. Like a fucking soap opera,” he gritted. “I knew I had to get far away from it. Let them have it if they really wanted. It wasn’t worth the price.”

“Let me guess. You flew back to America and accepted Jasper’s offer.”

He laughed. “Are you kidding? If he could do business with the likes of a Byrne, I knew I wanted nothing to do with him. They always seem to gravitate to their own kind. From the time I was eighteen years old, I wanted nothing to do with any of them. Ever again. I flew right to Noxbury and lived like a wild man for three months, until Audra came to find me. By then, I had made my choice. I would make my own way. And I would owe nobody.”

My voice was soft. “And Aldayne?”

He chuckled. “You sound just like Audra.” He glanced out over the lake. In the distance we could see King’s Keep. “It’s not like I haven’t thought about it. That’s the sacred burden of royalty.

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