wouldn’t care. You could wait out this storm like you did with all the other women who came before me because you were certain he’d quickly move on. This time, though, he hasn’t. Oh, and before you claim he was with India for some time before breaking up with her, I’ll stop you right there. He never loved India. But Xander does love me.”
Queen Antonia’s eyes narrow. Her nostrils flare.
I’ve nicked her back.
“You don’t care that you are an embarrassment to him, do you? That you are going to destroy his legacy and bring the entire monarchy down with you?”
“I know I don’t embarrass him,” I say as conviction and strength now take control of me. “And if the monarchy goes down, it will be more than a baker from Wales that does it. It will be because it has become obsolete and irrelevant, and taxpayers refuse to foot the bill for it anymore.”
“You make him look like a fool,” she spits out. “You should have seen him in front of his father, demanding that if he were to make you his wife, that you would have to have creative charities that allow you to teach people how to bake. That you would be hands-on in an endeavour to train at-risk youth or women looking for a fresh start how to decorate cakes and biscuits. It was pathetic.”
My heart pounds as I take in this new information. Xander did work out a solution. He found a creative way for me to still be a baker. It might not be a career I envisioned, but it is still baking. In a way that would be suitable for a future queen and would help others.
My love for this man grows deeper. And so does my resolve to protect him, and his siblings and cousins, from any more attacks and manipulation at the hands of the woman sitting in this room with me.
“Hmm. You don’t mention King Arthur being appalled by this suggestion,” I point out.
She blinks.
Bingo.
“Your reaction tells me King Arthur isn’t bothered by it at all,” I say, feeling like the shark instead of the prey now. “You and the courtiers in the palace are the ones bothered by me. But not the king. Not the man who is the leader of the Commonwealth.”
“The king,” Queen Antonia says, her words clipped, “wants to appease his difficult son.”
“I don’t believe that. I think the king understands the monarchy will move forward with his son at the head, and it needs to modernise before he even takes the throne for it to survive. Like he did with Christian, he wants Xander to be happy. I only wish you could want the same thing.”
“You are not what is best for my son. I won’t let you ruin Xander. Do you honestly understand that you can’t hide from the press forever here in Nott Cott? That you will be hounded and pursued and never have privacy again? Are you prepared to handle that?”
“I know it will be incredibly hard. It’s one of the things I admire about you, your ability to handle all of that so effortlessly. I would like to count on your help with that, but I know better. You want to break me. See me fail. And then sweep me into the rubbish bin like a vase that has shattered on the floor. A pity it broke, but forgotten as soon as the pieces are dumped.
“But I’m not going anywhere. I love Xander. I love him as Xander Wales, and I love him as Prince Alexander. I will go through hell to be with him. And there is nothing you can do or say to change that. You can bully me. You can make my life as miserable as you can within your control. You can continue to go to the press with your tabloid tales, but I can do that, too.”
“I call your bluff on going to The London News,” she says. “You would never do that to Xander. You would never create that kind of division within the family.”
“I might be an insipid little baker, but I’m shrewd when it comes to protecting people I care about. You’ve bullied Clementine and Liz. You have been atrocious to Roman. But that ends with me.”
She laughs so sharply it sounds almost like a bark. “Now, you’re being ridiculous.”
“Am I?” I carefully remove the strainer from my china teacup and set it aside. I pick up my teacup and lift it to my