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“It’s Sabina who’s leaking the photos of me,” I admitted. “I confronted her.”
“Confronted her where? Aren’t you at Rozem?”
“I am.”
“Gale…” He sighed. “Please, please do not tell me you brought your lover—”
“Former,” I interjected.
“Former lover, on your honeymoon.”
“When you say it like that, it sounds bad.”
“It sounds bad because it is bad.”
“What was I supposed to do? Just let her disgrace me…the family? And it wasn’t as if I came up with this plan on my own. The team thought it would be best.”
“With all due respect, sir, the team should be sacked for that plan,” he said sternly.
“My father handpicked all of them. They are trusted advisors who have seen this family through a lot.”
“That’s the problem, Gale. They are King Lionel’s advisors, not yours. And no, I do not mean to tell you what to do or how to rule—that is your call. I also am not saying I believe you should fire everyone who worked under your father. But you should be aware those men come from a different era. What they planned may have been fine under your father, but it might not fit now.”
“Where were you during the meeting?” I muttered.
“Home with my family. Thankfully. I’m guessing Odette was not pleased with the plan?”
The fact that he automatically believed she knew of the plan was all I needed to know that I was clearly…an idiot.
“Gale?”
“Yes, I am here. Just coming to terms with my stupidity…it’s nothing. But I should ask…if you were in my shoes and did not tell Lydia the plan at all, only for her to find out later on her own, how would she react?”
“The Reapers would be going to Eliza to let her know she’d be Queen, as I would be dead. Very dead…extremely dead.”
I could hear him cringe over the phone. Reapers were what some in the family called the men who came to see us after the passing of the monarch or a senior royal, like the men who met me at the airport to tell me about Arty.
“I don’t think you know this…but wives are just a tad crazy. One minute everything’s fine, and the next, they are ready to put arsenic in your soup. I like living, so I do not do anything to tempt her.”
I chuckled. He was completely wrapped around her finger. “You are whipped, Hadrian.”
“As are you, or you wouldn’t be calling me. You two had a fight? And now you are in the doghouse.”
“She’s hurt,” I groaned. “I wasn’t trying to hurt her. I was trying to fix everything. I’ve told her it was bothering me. She just keeps trying to defuse the situation. It wasn’t her fault. What else could she do? However…”
“It was bothering you.”
“Exactly.” I nodded.
“Like I said, marriage is hard, Gale. Sometimes it takes a lot of effort. Other times, it is a game of patience. Stay close but allow her some space. Sooner or later, you will talk again.”
“It’s hard for us to have space when we are in front of cameras, and everyone wants to see us in love.” Honestly, I believed part of it was the pressure from everyone always wanting our attention, wanting us to comment or not comment. The wedding was the only day we were really just able to focus on each other. Since then, it had been one thing or another.
“Yeah, I have no advice on how to do that.”
“I figured,” I said, finishing off my glass. “Thank you for answering.”
“Thanks for calling. I’m here, should you need me. Truly.”
