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A footstep echoed. Definite. Unhurried. As if whoever was coming towards her had all the time in the world. As if he didn’t care one bit that the attention of the entire nation was centred on him as he interrupted the wedding of the century.
But then he wouldn’t care, would he?
Matias might be the Prince and heir, but it was his older half-brother who ruled.
Rafael Navarro, the Spanish bastard. Prince Regent of Santa Castelia.
Don’t turn around. Don’t look at him.
She couldn’t. She didn’t dare. Because the minute she did, the second he saw her face and looked into her eyes, he’d know.
She’d never been able to hide anything from him.
Your father isn’t the only one who’s going to be disappointed.
A tremble shook her and she swallowed, trying not to give into her fear.
She was Santa Castelia’s Crown Princess, the title she’d been given when her betrothal to Matias had been formalised.
She was pure and good. Well behaved. Respectable. No hint of scandal touched her. No unseemly emotions were evident.
She was above reproach in every way.
The footsteps behind her halted.
Lia still couldn’t bring herself to turn. She concentrated instead on the stained-glass rose window above the altar, all blue and red and green.
‘Praying to God, Lia?’ That voice was much closer now, sounding like a night full of shadows and dark dangerous things waiting to rip her to shreds. ‘I wouldn’t. I’m not sure he’s listening. Not to you, at least.’
She said nothing, unable to hear anything over the frantic beat of her heart.
‘Your Excellency,’ Gian repeated.
‘Silence,’ Rafael said casually, his tone bordering on insulting.
Her father knew better than to argue and shut his mouth.
Lia’s heart ached and ached. But she still didn’t turn. She didn’t have the courage. Not here, not now. Not with her father present.
‘I see,’ Rafael continued. ‘So it’s to be like this, is it?’
Slowly, footsteps circled her and Lia was filled with the insane urge to turn away and keep turning like a ballerina in a music box, so she’d never have to see him. Never have to look at his face. Never have that rapier-sharp gaze meet hers, cutting everything away, uncovering all her secrets, all her shame.
Not that he didn’t know that shame already. There was no other reason for him to stop a wedding that had been years in the planning.
Rafael Navarro might hate scenes and scandals, but it seemed that even he had a line. And she’d just pushed him over it.
What did you expect? That you could hide this from him?
Yes, that’s exactly what she’d expected. How foolish of her.
She could sense him now, approaching from her right side, and soon he’d be in front of her. Soon he’d see her. Soon he’d know everything.
There was no hiding from Rafael, she knew that now.
Her only hope was to pray that she was wrong, that he had some other reason for stopping the marriage of the heir to the throne in full view of an entire nation. A reason that didn’t have anything to do with her.
Keep telling yourself that...
