A Muse Her

Chapter 38

"Are you both sure you don't want to include Adrie in any of this?" Maia said as she scrolled through the intel Willem and Lars gathered on Jorien and his band of loyalists scheme for the country. "Aren't some of these things going to affect her and Levis' area of work?"

"Yes," Eline said, yawning. "But we can't involve her. She's got enough on her plate with the wedding and this will stress her out."

"Adrie doesn't do well with confrontation. It's best if she and Levi are kept out of this and focus on the excitement of their nuptials," Mateo said, lighting a blunt. "Speaking of which, you should get some sleep, Eline. We've talked about this enough and you have a long day ahead of you with the hen do tomorrow."

"Yeah," Eline said, checking her watch. "I'm meeting Adrie in the morning and then I'll be back to go with you to the restaurant tomorrow evening for the hen do festivities."

"We can pick this up after the weekend with Willem and Lars," Mateo said, passing Maia the blunt. "There's no point in doing much more now."

"That's true." Maia nodded. "Is there anything I can help with for tomorrow?"

"No, you just relax for the day," Eline said, getting up from the chair. "You need it."

"Yes you do," Mateo said, kissing her head. "And you fell asleep before we could finish our afternoon together."

"That's because your massage was far too good, sir." Maia grinned. "But I'd like to know what else you had planned."

"Riiiight. I'm going to bed. I don't need to hear anymore of this conversation," Eline said, laughing. "Good night."

"Good night, Eline," Maia said, giving her a small wave.

"Good night," Mateo said, rubbing his hand over Maia's thigh. "Close the door on your way out, please."

"Uh huh." Eline shot a knowing look over her shoulder. "This house is big, but I don't want to hear anything, alright?" she said, closing the door behind her.

"She's a mess." Maia laughed softly, shaking her head. "But before we revisit your afternoon plans," she said, placing the blunt in the ashtray. "Are you okay?"

"Not really." Mateo sighed. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but deep down I think I knew. I just..." He pressed his forehead against hers. "I really thought I could keep you out of this and I'm afraid of what Jorien will do once he finds out I'm going to take the crown from him."

"I know," Maia said, sliding her hand to his cheek. "But we have time to figure this out and make sure we're all protected, right?"

"Yes," he said, sliding his hand over hers and caressing the back of her hand. "But you can still get out of this, Maia. You can go home. No one will think badly of you if you walk away from this life."

"Yeah, I could do that. We could break up and Faye could spin the story to keep my public image intact, but that's not what I want, Mateo," she said, caressing his cheek. "I don't want to spend my days wishing for you and thinking about what we could've been if we just had the courage to stay together. And I don't think you want that either, do you?"

"No," he said, kissing her softly. "I don't want to spend my days wishing for you, either," he whispered. "I want forever with you."

She smiled against his lips. "So do I."

Maia knew a life with Mateo wasn't going to be easy and the small glimpse of royal life she'd been privy to so far was probably nothing compared to what it was going to be like when Mateo officially announced his intention to be king.

But she couldn't imagine a life without him either. He was her match, the imperfect Prince Charming she'd hoped would leap off the pages of her novels to love her for all that she was and she wasn't prepared to let him go.