Page 82 of The Royal in Room 3

“It might have taken some convincing, but I’m sure I would have realized he was being serious. We’ll never know, though, because he never bothered to tell me.”

“And now that you know the truth, what? Are you going to end things with him?”

“What other choice do I have, Phoenix?”

“You can come to Belvaria with me,” a voice said from behind me.

I slowly turned around, and every muscle in my body went stiff. Soren stood a few feet away from me, looking as handsome as the first time I’d seen him. But there was something different about him. I let my gaze wander over him, from his curly hair with the golden highlights to the shiny black shoes he wore.

He looked different, but it wasn’t just the quality clothes he had on. His shoulders were no longer slumped beneath the weight of everything he’d lost. He stood straighter, his chin raised, carrying himself with a quiet confidence I hadn’t seen in him before. For the first time, I could picture the man from the photographs I’d found online—a man born into the royal family and expected to become king one day.

The very thought was enough to make me start to freak out, but then his brown eyes met mine and I saw the fear in them. The confidence slipped, and I saw my Soren beneath it. The boy who burned toast, complained about taxes, and slept curled against my chest.

And somehow, seeing both versions of him at once hurt more than anything.

“Little prince,” I said out of habit, then laughed, the sound hollow as the absurdity of my nickname for him all this time struck me. “You must have had quite the laugh at me calling you that.”

“No, I liked it.” Soren started to take a step toward me but then seemed to think better of it and stayed where he was. “You have to understand that I’ve never found a reason to enjoy being called that in my twenty-two years until you did. You still treated me like a royal, Daddy, when my own royal family had turned its back on me, and that’s why I am here. I want you to go back to Belvaria with me.”

“Why would I do that?” I asked. “I’ve seen the way you came to Halo House because of how those people treated you. Why would I want to subject myself to that?”

Why would I subject him to that when I knew he would be targeted again if he ever went through with his intention of bringing me back to Belvaria? I had a criminal record, and no amount of good deeds would change that. I’d rather not indulge in delusions of grandeur, especially when the one who had the most to lose was Soren.

“When I was a crown prince, I was framed,” Soren said. “And when I came here as just a regular man, I was also framed. But I know better than to let that define me for the rest of my life. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“Sooner? Soren, you didn’t tell me at all. I was like a fool in that police station, giving my last dollar to be able to afford the best lawyer I possibly could for you when your father’s a king!”

“I’ll pay you⁠—”

“It’s not about the money, Soren.” My voice boomed off the walls, filling the space between us. So much space. I wasn’t used to seeing Soren and not having him within reach, and the distance made my heart ache. “You lied to me about who you were.”

“I had to, Jude.” This time, he closed the distance between us and reached a hand out to touch my arm. “I tried telling people who I was when I just got here, and it got me nothing but mocked. The police, whom I should have been able to trust, questioned whether I was on drugs or off my prescribed meds. After a while, I thought it best to put that past behind me since it wasn’t like I was returning to Belvaria anyway. My title was useless here. Not to mention, I was ignorant about so many things that I was afraid I would do something seriously bad again, and if it were known that I was the disgraced former crown prince of Belvaria, I would cause further problems for my father.”

“Were you ever going to tell me the truth?”

Soren hung his head, his hand tightening on my arm. “I don’t know because you were good at making me forget that life. And with you, I didn’t mind losing everything once I had you. Please don’t let me have to live without you, Daddy. I need you.”

My heart lurched, and it took everything in me to peel his hand away from me. “That’s the thing, Soren. You really don’t need me anymore, so my role as your Daddy has naturally ended.”

Soren’s eyes filled with tears, and he shook his head. “You said we were going off script.”

“That’s when things were simple between us.”

“It doesn’t have to be difficult,” he whispered, tears streaming down his face.

“You are a crown prince.” Unable to resist any longer, I took his face into my hands. “I love you, Soren. It’s too late to pretend I didn’t fall for you.”

“Then what is the problem?”

“You are going to be a king someday. You can’t love me. I am not enough.”

“But you are. Daddy, please. I don’t want to be without you.”

I gathered him to my chest, holding on to him for what I knew would be the last time. Clamping my eyes shut tightly against the tears burning behind my lids, I inhaled deeply, branding his scent and the shape of him forever in my mind.

“You don’t need me.” I put him away from me even when he resisted. “You are smart and sweet. Someday, you will find someone worthy of all the versions of you.”

“But I’ve already found him.”