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They were also friends. She cared for him. Respected him. She trusted him. He was the first person she thought of every morning, the last before she fell asleep. All she wanted on earth was his happiness. All she wanted was—him.
Because she loved him.
Beth sucked in her breath, covering her mouth with her hands as it hit her, the thing she’d tried so hard not to know. The thing she’d tried so hard to hide, even from herself.
“What is it?” Edith said gently.
Eyes wide, Beth turned to her in the back of the limo. She choked out, “I love him.”
“I knew it,” her sister said, then frowned. “So why did you leave?”
Beth’s lips parted. “Because...because he didn’t want me.”
“That’s empirically not true. All the evidence clearly shows that he cares for you desperately.”
She thought of the emotion in Omar’s dark eyes as he’d said in a low voice, Is there any reason why I shouldn’t divorce you?
Beth swallowed hard. “He’s King of Samarqara. He’ll always put his people first. And the people don’t want me.”
“From the stories on the news, that’s not true. They’re heartbroken you’re gone.”
“They threw rocks at me. Yelled I wasn’t worthy to be queen.”
“All of them?”
“Some men in a crowd.”
“And you agreed with those idiots, rather than trying to prove them wrong?”
“They weren’t wrong!” Beth protested. “I’m not you.”
“No doubt,” her sister agreed. “You’d be a better queen than I’d ever be. I’m sure you weren’t cooped up in a lab, but out in the community, taking care of people. Like you always do.” When Beth bit her lip sheepishly, Edith gave a sharp nod. “Right. If you love him, you have to fight.”
Fight for him? For a moment, hope lifted wildly inside Beth. Then it came crashing down. “But Omar doesn’t love me. He said so. He only loves his people.”
“But does he know how you feel? Did you tell him?”
Beth looked out at Houston’s passing city lights as twilight deepened. “No,” she whispered.
“So do it.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“What if I try, and fail?”
Edith whirled on her, her eyes ablaze. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve failed? More than I can count. Failure is part of success. You have to commit. That’s the magic. The only magic. You give everything. And when you have nothing left to give, you give some more.”
Staring at her twin sister, Beth felt her breath whoosh out of her lungs.
“You’ve never let yourself commit to anything, Beth. Not since we were kids.” Edith shook her head. “You didn’t want to risk becoming like me, closed off to everything beyond the lab. I was a cautionary tale.”
Beth stared at her sister.
“No,” she whispered. “You were my shining example. You found what you loved, what you were born to do. And you threw yourself into it, heart and soul. I never committed to anything because I was waiting to fall in love. I never found that.” Her eyes went wide as she sucked in her breath. “Until now.”
She’d always thought of herself as ordinary, a girl who wasn’t particularly good at anything. A mediocre student who couldn’t finish a degree or find a real career or attract a decent boyfriend. She’d blamed herself, for not trying hard enough. For not being good enough.
