Against All Odds

Chapter Fifteen

I'm seated on the bed in my new bedroom, my suitcase fully packed beside me. I've changed into my Rolling Stones t-shirt and ripped jeans and I can't seem to get ahold of myself. Cigarettes didn't help. Not even a bath.

I've been hit with sense, feelings I wish I could ignore. I'm aware that I'm living a lie and that I really don't want to. I haven't wanted to since I met him, but I tried. I damn well did try- but this is not me. It's too much. This life, what he's trying to make me be, what I'm trying to conform to, it's only going to get worse... and it's just not me.

I'll never be her. I'll never be able to be what he needs, what his brother needs.

I wipe the tears from my swollen eyes, trying to stop my trembling lips before he gets back. I don't know how to leave. I love him. I didn't expect to, this fast. But I do.

I feel only dread when the door opens fifteen minutes later, a quarter to ten.

"Richard, I really don't have the time for this now," I hear Henry say, frustratingly. "You need to go home."

"Is she in there?" Richard asks, quietly. I stand up, walking over to the door quietly.

"Yes, Rich. This is her apartment."

"That you're paying for." I hear papers. "Henry, you danced with her tonight. You fucking chased after her while she was in tears. Are you completely insane? You have lost your mind."

"I'm not going to marry Anna, Richard. You can stop trying now," Henry growls and I hear the door slam.

"Then marry someone else that's from a good British family."

"You haven't even met her! Are you really such a fucking ass that you won't even meet her?"

"Henry, she is lovely. I'm sure of it. For you to be this smitten, I'm sure she has amazing qualities... but she is not the kind of woman... the kind of woman you make a princess."

Henry sputters. "I-I honestly can't believe you just said that... Are you really that near-sighted? Mia has true worth, Richard. She's not a carbon copy debutant. She has substance- and she loves me. Not for my money, not for my status- for me. Why can't you be happy for me?"

"Because I know it's not going to last. She won't last two days in our world and you'll tire of her within weeks after you're settled down and the forbidden part of this ends!"

"That's not going to happen."

"Isn't it?"

"No!"

"And how the hell do you know th-?"

"God dammit, because I LOVE HER, Richard!" Henry shouts, his voice echoing off the walls. I press my hand to my chest, finding it hard to breathe.

"You... you love her? You barely know her."

"I'm not going to explain it to you, Richard. But I've never felt this way. I cannot do this- without her."

The tears are simply streaming down my face now, I don't reach to stop them.

It's quiet for a long while, before I hear a sigh. "Henry, you know I love you, right?"

"Richard."

"You know I love you. You know I want you to be happy, more than anything. I want this as your brother... but as your new king, I have expectations to uphold. Traditions that have lasted for centuries, Henry. There have been sacrifices in our history, in my history... Do you think I want to be married to a woman who can barely stand to be in the same room as me? No. But, the public approved of her. They liked her, they felt like she was England for them... your Mia can never be England. She just can't. She wasn't born here."