The Rebel Prince (The Season Series #3)

Chapter 35 - Part 2

I stilled. The flowery, flirtatious innuendos I'd rustled up for whatever story I'd thought Beatriz would ask me to share all disappeared. Lie, some part of me cried. But I could already feel my lips parting and my gaze falling away from hers. She was going to read the truth all over my face anyway – a lie would only break this fragile trust building between us.

But where on Earth had she come up with Adelaide's name?

I rolled up to hug my knees and escape Beatriz' impenetrable gaze. "Why?" I asked finally, hating that my voice came out rough.

After all this time. Just when I thought I'd be free of...her. Of that cursed name and how it interfered with even my best laid plans.

"You were supposed to marry her, were you not?" Beatriz replied softly.

I laughed and it tasted just as bitter as it sounded. "She hoped to marry a rival. Then my brother. Then me. I suppose she thought the third time would be the charm."

Her cloak rustled as she sat up to study me. "Did you want to marry her?"

"No." The word came out too quickly. I scraped my hand through my hair and amended, "A long time ago, yes. But not anymore." I let my hand fall to the shingles as close to hers as I dared.

"What happened?" Beatriz asked.

Every instinct told me to dodge the question. To shift the attention away from that broken piece of my past, the part I was so ashamed of. The part that still haunted me. The part I wanted to rip out and forget about, but never quite could.

I pulled my hand back. "Is there really no other story I could tell you? None of my daring exploits or wondrous triumphs?"

She simply shrugged. "You don't have to answer. But if you'd rather brag than be honest with me, you won't get my story in return."

Curiosity rippled through me like a shiver. Despite everything Adelaide's name had dredged up, despite how it made me squirm to discuss her with Beatriz of all people, I couldn't resist the temptation of Beatriz's truth. Even if it meant sharing a piece of myself I'd kept buried deep, beneath bitterness and sorrow and heartbreak.

I couldn't bear to look at her as I tore open my heart, so I stared off towards the campfires in the distance instead.

"I lied for her, a long time ago, when I thought she was everything I wanted. She was mother's best friend's daughter and I don't think I understood how I felt about her until it was too late to stop myself from falling for her. She loved every minute of it, stringing me along and toying with me. Even after she passed me over for someone else and broke my heart, I lied to protect her. I thought it would make her see me as her shining knight. The saviour of her virtue. Someone worthy of her.

"But it didn't. And I've never told anyone the truth because it would ruin her, even more than the story that I spun to protect her. All that did was see her shipped off to some finishing school, only to return so she could chase my brother's crown instead of chasing me."

Promise me you'll come back for me...

I pressed my eyes closed against the echo of Adelaide's voice.

"Now that your brother has chosen his bride...is she waiting for you?" Beatriz' voice was a whisper, barely louder than the cricket song.

I took a moment to consider my answer before I turned to look at her. "Even if she is, it doesn't matter anymore."

She studied my face, then sighed. "Genevieve was right. You do leave a trail of broken hearts in your wake."

My hands hit the shingles as I pivoted towards her. Instantly, my mind was generating rebuttals, smooth words to change her mind, to make her think I wasn't indeed that person. But before I could so much as open my mouth, let alone decide on the words that would most effectively assure her that I wasn't out to break her heart, she spoke.