The Prince and I

by R. S. Lively

  I take one of the cups by the coffee machine and pour creamer into it first. I always add the coffee after, so I don’t have to dirty a spoon to stir it—it stirs on its own. “I can’t help it. I know I shouldn’t be looking at you at a time like this. You’re beautiful is all.” I pour some sugar in next. I need to keep my hands busy, so I don’t look at him again.

  “It’s exactly what I need in a time like this.”

  “Well, look what the cat dragged in.”

  I almost drop the coffee cup in my hand when I hear the high-pitched voice of my half-sister. What the hell is she doing here? I spin around and do my best to keep my shit together. Luca puts his arm around me and steadies me. He always knows when I need him.

  “Felicia. It’s good to see you.”

  “Cut the crap. Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be in New York City?”

  “Nope. What are you guys doing here?” I ask, trying to seem like I care. Hate is a strong word, but I do, I hate them. I want to never see them again, as long as I live. They have made my life miserable, until Luca.

  “Mom is here having her boobs done.”

  “They have plastic surgeons in Billings,” I say with suspicion.

  “Yeah, but she’s dating this one.”

  I click my tongue with annoyance. Of course she’s moved on already. When I say my next words, venom laces in every word. “Wow, already? Your mom doesn’t waste any time, does she.”

  Felicia takes a step forward, but Luca steps in front of me, saving me from my sister’s wrath, but it won’t even compare to mine if I set it free. “I believe it is best that you go.”

  Her attitude changes when she hears Luca speak. “Oh, French. How handsome. What in the world are doing with someone like my sister? You can have me. Plus, I have all of her daddy’s money. It’s so fun to spend”—she cuts her eyes to me—“by the way.”

  Right as I’m about to throw my fist into her face, Luca steps beside me again and wraps his arms around me. “Didn’t she tell you? Oh, forgive me. I thought you spoke every day. You are the stepsister, right?”

  Felicia’s nose twitches when she grows curious, and right now it is twitching like a rabbit looking for a carrot. “Yes. Why?”

  “Oh, I thought you told your family you got married?” Luca stares down at me with evident hurt and pain in his eyes. I can’t tell if he’s serious or not.

  Until he pinches my ass.

  “Yep. I’m married. To this guy.” I point to him. My bad acting is going to get us caught.

  “You got married and didn’t tell Mom!” she screeches, turning a few exhausted heads to us.

  “It isn’t anyone’s business what I do with my life. You guys made that very clear.” I grab Luca’s hand and pull him away, but before I go, I turn my head over my shoulder to give her one last parting word. “And tell your mom she is going to be hearing from my lawyer.”

  When we walk out of the cafeteria, all the anxiety I held back slams into my chest like a freight train. I gasp for breath. I’m between wanting to go back in there and kill her or pass out from the shock of it all. “Oh my god. I can’t believe she’s here.”

  “I have a feeling it isn’t that coincidental.”

  The words are unsettling, and I push myself off the wall and stand up straight. “What do you mean?”

  “It isn’t news that I’m here. If one of the photographers got a picture of us, maybe they followed us here. It isn’t unheard of.”

  None of it makes sense to me. They want nothing to do with me. Tabitha made sure of that when she took all of my father’s money. I rub my eyes with the palms of my hands, deciding to just forget about it. “Come on; let’s go back to the waiting room. Maybe there’s been an update on your mom.” I take his hand in mine and lead us down the hall, passing dark grey signs that tell us where to go.

  My footsteps are heavy. I feel like I’m sledging through quicksand before the weight of the world finally takes me under. I’m tired. I’ve done nothing but fight for months to keep my head above water, but it seems no matter where I turn, my family is always there, reminding me how much worse they can make my life.

  When we enter the waiting room, the king has finally sat down, holding his head in his hands. Jesse gives us a look of worry, but he knows there’s nothing we can do. No other patients are in the room. I’m assuming Luca bought it out and all patients are being diverted to other sections of the hospital, since we are supposed to be here in secret.

  “Any news?” I ask, handing him a coffee he said he didn’t want. He looks like he needs it, though.

  “No, nothing yet. I suppose that’s good, right? He is the best doctor. That is what you said. If he saves my wife, I will be in his debt forever. I will give him whatever he wants. I’ll make him his own research clinic or add a section to this hospital for his specialty. I’ll do anything. Absolutely anything.” Another tear escapes his eyes. “Thank you for the coffee. The warmth feels good in my hands.” He takes a relaxing breath, bringing the cup to his lips.

  Warm drinks always make me relax. Something about being warm always makes the soul brighter, in my opinion. “She will be okay.” I squeeze his hand, trying to make him feel somewhat better. But the situation is an impossible one. The only words that can make him feel better are positive words from the doctor.

  “I hope you are right.” He slumps in his chair, disheveled for a king. He swirls his fingers around the coffee lid. “You know, I had given up all hope. I should have kept fighting like my son did. He had every right to be mad at me. I deserved that punch to the face.” He rubs his jaw in memory.

  My jaw drops to the floor. Luca didn’t tell me he hit his father! “He hit you?”

  He scoffs, smiling like it’s a fond memory. “He did. He came in to talk to Caroline, saw me, and gave me a good punch across the cheek. He has a right to be angry at me. I kept him from spending time with his mother, making him do all my jobs, taking her to this doctor and that doctor. It’s time he may never get back.”

  “He is right here, and I forgive you.” Luca slaps his hand on the king’s shoulder.

  “You shouldn’t. If your mother doesn’t make it out of surgery, I don’t want your forgiveness.”

  “Father, it’s fine.” Luca tries to give him a hug, but the king pushes him away and stands.

  “That’s the end of the conversation. I don’t want forgiveness. From you or anyone. The kingdom will be yours. I don’t want it without her. I want nothing without her.” He slams his shoulder into the swinging door, disappearing down the hall we just came from.

  Luca makes a sound full of sorrow, like borderline lament. I apply pressure on his knee, buffing the area with my palm. “He’ll be okay. He’s just going through a lot of emotions right now.”

  He licks his lips, placing his palms flat against each other and pressing them against his lips. It looks like he’s getting ready for something, but he stares at the floor, not blinking. “We all are.”

  “Yeah, but that’s his wife. The person he has loved for more than half of his life. He doesn’t know life without her. Can you imagine how scared he must feel?”

  “That’s my mother. I’m in just as much pain as he is.”

  “I used to think like that, too, when my mom died.” I remove my hand from his knee and set it back in my lap, tapping the cardboard on the cup with my fingernails. “We have a different bond with our parents. I learned that. My dad grew really cold when my mom died, and nothing was the same ever again. I miss my mom terribly. I’ll always have this spot in my heart for her, but my dad, it was like—she was his heart. Without her, he turned so cold. She was his warmth. So, while I know you will be devastated and heartbroken, your dad doesn’t know how to be himself without her.”

  My fingers start to twist a piece of hair in a circle. He won’t be happy with my words, but they’re honest. And he needs to realize the truth of them. His hand curls around my thigh and gives me a reassuring squeeze. “I know. You’re right. It
’s all so…”

  “Convoluted?” I finish.

  “Yeah.” He slants against the seat, putting his elbow on the cheap plastic on the arm of the chair. “Convoluted is a good word for it.”

  The doors hit the wall again, and I think it’s his father coming back, but when the shadow stops over us, it makes my head turn.

  “Dr. Jackson?” I whisper. His appearance doesn’t look all that great. He has hard lines around his mouth and the dark circles from earlier are deeper.

  His face shows no emotion. No happiness. No sadness. He is a hard read. “Where’s your father?”

  “He left to walk off some steam, but he—”

  “I’m right here. Is she okay?” The king rushes to the doctor’s side, staring at him like he holds all the answers in the world.

  We wait for him to give us something, anything to resolve the grim emotions swirling around in our heads. His hand lands on my father’s shoulder and the breath he lets out is full of affliction.

  “No!” the king cries, sending us into a downward spiral of the hope we had relied on. And the fall isn’t kind. It slashes and rips, tearing the wounds open further.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Luca

  The steady, monotonous beeping fills the room. I haven’t been able to let go of my mother’s hand. I know the beeps are there, reminding us that she is still alive, but the pulse in her wrist is more of an affirmation. The doctor scared the hell out of us when he came out with a grim look on his face. My dad nearly fell apart, but the good doctor was just tired.

  We overreacted, which Dr. Jackson said was normal considering the circumstances. He warned us that she may or may not wake up. The thing with brain surgery is that it is always unknown. Everyone is different.

  Right now, there’s a tube down her throat, needles in her arm, and a bandage wrapped around her head.

  “Amour…” My father deviates from his standing position to bring his lips closer to her ear. “You better wake up. I’m going to take you to Tulsa. I never understood why you wanted to go there, but I’ll never question it again. I’ll take you anywhere, wherever you want.” He kisses her cheek, slicking her hair back as he pets her, just trying to comfort her, but I think he is trying to comfort himself. “She’ll wake up. She will. She will be fine, won’t you, Amour?” he pulls a chair closer to her side, taking her other hand in his.

  His gold wedding ring shines against hers. It’s thicker than hers. Wider, too. The ring is worn with wear and age. You’d think a king would keep it pristine, but he has never taken it off, he refuses. “Yeah, she’ll be okay.” I move my gaze to Rosie, meeting her eyes over the coffee cup she drinks from.

  A part of me thinks we are sitting here telling ourselves that. Seeing her hooked up to machines, monitors going off, drips from the fluids, hiss of the breathing tube, all of it is scary. It looks worse than it really is—doctor’s words—but is it? She already looks nearly dead.

  Maybe Rosie is right. Maybe my father will fade into a cold shell of himself if he loses her. I never thought of it that way before, but looking at him now, I already see it. “We need to think about transporting her soon,” I say.

  “What? Why would you say such a thing?” he asks.

  As gentle as I can, I give her hand one last kiss and settle it on the bed, hating that she doesn’t have the best silk sheets touching her skin. She deserves it. “You know we have to go home soon, and we can hire doctors to take care of her. This is the easy part now.” I realize the choice of words as they slip from my mouth.

  My father’s eyes speak of his irate nature building. “The easy part? The easy part… unbelievable.”

  “Father, that is not what I meant. I know that the recovery is going to be hard, but wouldn’t you rather be home and hire people we know to look after her?”

  “I’m not putting the Queen of Belgium, who just had a tumor the size of a baseball cut out of her head, in a plane. That is disgraceful. You should be ashamed of yourself. I’m not leaving this hospital until she wakes up. The best care she can have is with Dr. Jackson. He has saved her life. I would rather have her here, with him, someone who knows her brain inside and out, than with a stranger who never believed he could take out the tumor. She stays.”

  “You know how dangerous it is if we stay,” I say, standing up slowly. My hands grip the mattress with so much force it creaks. I let it go, just in case I really do break it. I will never want to hurt my mother.

  “Danger be damned. The only danger here is the chance she might not wake up.”

  “That’s not—”

  “Get out!” the king bellows.

  “Father, just—”

  “I said get out!” he yells as he stomps forward with an angry red face, one that promises bad omens.

  I step back from my mother’s prone body, keeping myself calm and collected. “She is my mother. I have every right to be here.”

  “That’s an order.” The king takes another step forward, until his nose touches mine.

  “From my father or from my king?” I ask with a slight sneer.

  His hot breath puffs over my face, preparing to fight like a dragon. “Your king.”

  Holding onto every single piece of my reserve, I make myself step back. Holding out my hand, I turn my palm up. I don’t have to say anything. Rosie knows what it means when I do that. Not a second goes by before my lovely sweet has her hand in mind. “I should have known you’d give me an order as my king. Let’s go, Rosie. I’ll check in with Mom soon.”

  He grunts, not approving or disapproving what I said, and turns his back on me. Just like all those years Mom raised me instead of him. “I’ll be back in a few hours,” I say as I’m walking out the door. I don’t give him enough time to answer me. Instead, I steer us down the hall, away from him.

  “A lot has happened. Give him time.” Rosie jogs to keep up with me since my strides are so much bigger than hers.

  Time. What a joke. Time will not fix the relationship between my father and me. No, excuse me, my king and I. My father has never been my father. It’s just how it is. I bring her hand to my lips and give her a soft kiss, something that has become an amazing habit. “The only thing I need right now is you.”

  “Luca—”

  “No. Whatever it is between my father and I is between us. It’s fine. When my mother wakes up, everything will be better. That’s what I am counting on.”

  “She will wake up. I know she will. She made it through the hardest part, Luca.”

  She has, but there can be complications. She could wake up with no speech, or slurred speech. She could end up blind. She might not be able to remember us, and fuck, that will hurt so much if she can’t remember who I am. She might even have body paralyzed on one side. There are so many things that can go wrong right now, and to be honest, the fact that she lived through that surgery is a miracle within itself.

  “I love you.” It’s the only thing I can say that can almost express the amount of love I have for this woman. Her positivity shines so brightly in my sky of stormy clouds. Love isn’t a high enough expression. There aren’t enough words to describe it. All I know is that my heart feels like it is about to beat out of my chest every time I am around her. Every time I touch her, it’s like she sends every nerve in my body into overdrive.

  “I love you, too, Luca. Are you sure you want to leave?”

  “No. I want to stay close. I think my dad needs to be alone with her.” We turn the corner that leads to the waiting room when her step-sister is there, talking to someone I don’t recognize. I hold out my arm to stop Rosie from going any further. I push her back against the wall and peek my head around the corner.

  Rosie tugs on my sleeve. “What are you doing?” she hisses.

  “Shhh!” I hold my finger up to my lips, telling her to be silent. Poking my head back out just enough so I can see what is going on, I notice Felicia talking to an older woman who looks like her.

  Jet black hair, wrinkled skin t
hat has been pulled back one too many times to try to look younger, and fake lips… Wow, I’m so glad Rosie is all natural. She doesn’t need to pay for any of that. She’s sexy all on her own.

  “You better find her, Felicia! She cannot know. Do you understand? She is too close.”

  “I know, Mom. I know. But she is with some guy. And he looks powerful. I don’t think we can stop her.”

  “I don’t care what measures you have to take. I don’t want any loose ends. Understand?”

  Felicia sighs, tapping her foot on the ground. “Yes, I understand.”

  “Good. Now, let’s get out of this dreadful place before she spots you again.”

  Their heels click as they walk down the hallway, signaling their retreat.

  “Luca? What is it?” Rosie has a grip on my suit sleeve, keeping her voice low.

  “I think I just overheard a conversation between your stepmom and Felicia.”

  “What?” she hisses a bit louder than necessary. It causes a few white coats to turn their heads to stare at us before they go back to jotting down in the medical charts.

  Making sure the coast is clear, I grab Rosie’s arm and pull her down the hall. “We need to get out of here.”

  “What were they saying? Luca? You’re walking too fast. It’s hurting me!” She tries to yank her arm from my grip, but I let go. I never want her to have to fight to be free of me.

  I hold her beautiful, angelic face in my hands. “They didn’t say great things. Your stepmom has a plan. She doesn’t want you here. In fact, I wonder if she has a more sinister plan, if I heard it correctly.”

  “What were her exact words?”

  “It doesn’t matter. I need to keep you safe.”

  “From what?” she demands, slapping her hand on the sliding glass door, stopping it from closing. “If you don’t tell me everything, I’m not walking out of these doors.”

  This woman is going to be the death of me! Why can’t she just trust me that I know what is best right now? “She said any measures necessary to make sure you are out of the picture.”