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The princess’s kindness brought tears to Brooke’s eyes. “How badly have I messed everything up?”
Olivia’s eyes grew thoughtful. “Your pregnancy has created quite a stir as you can imagine, but you shouldn’t feel responsible. I doubt either you or Nic planned this.”
“I don’t mean that. I mean how mad is the queen that I yelled at her?”
“I didn’t hear anything about that.” Olivia’s lips twitched and her eyes glinted with merriment. “What happened?”
“It’s a bit of a blur. She said something dismissive about Nic needing to forget about the rocket and I straight up lost it.” Brooke cradled the teacup, hoping the warmth would penetrate her icy fingers. “I started ranting about how he worked so hard because he wanted to justify his being away from his country for so long.” Brooke shook her head as her heart contracted in shame. “It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“You were defending the man you love. I think the queen understands.”
“You didn’t see her face.” Brooke squinted and tried to summon a memory of the queen’s reaction, but all she recalled was the garden pitching around her and the descent into darkness. “I was so rude.”
“You are being too hard on yourself,” Olivia said. “No wonder you and Nic get along so well. You’re both such honorable people.”
“I don’t feel very honorable at the moment. But I’d like to change that. I made arrangements for a flight leaving the day after tomorrow at nine in the morning. I could use some help getting to the airport.”
“You can’t really mean to leave.”
“You can’t possibly think it’s a good idea for me to stay. The longer I’m here the more likely it will leak that I’m pregnant. Better if I disappear from Sherdana so Nic can move forward with his life.”
“What makes you think he’s just going to let you go? When faced with the same choice, Gabriel fought for me. Nic is no less an Alessandro and I don’t think he’s any less in love.”
Olivia’s words provoked many questions as Brooke realized that the princess had been confronted by a similar choice of whether to marry her prince when doing so put the future line of Alessandros at risk. But as much as curiosity nipped at her, Brooke feared asking would insult the princess.
“I think Gabriel is more of a romantic than Nic,” Brooke said. “Your husband’s heart led him to choose you and he will never question whether he made the right decision. Nic approaches matters with logic, listing the pros and cons, assigning values so he can rank what’s most important. I think he takes after his mother in that respect.”
Olivia’s beautiful blue eyes clouded. “You know him well so I will just have to accept that you’re right, but I hope for your sake that you’re wrong.”
Eleven
Both Olivia and Ariana had ganged up on Brooke and convinced her to go to the prime minister’s birthday party the next evening. As it was her last night in Sherdana—she was due to fly out the next morning—the princesses were opposed to her spending any more time alone. Their concern was a balm to Brooke’s battered spirit and because Ariana had tapped into her contacts in the fashion world and found Brooke the perfect Jean-Louis Scherrer gown to wear, she’d caved with barely a whimper.
Trailing into the party behind the crown prince and princess with Ariana beside her for support, Brooke experienced a sense of wonder that made her glad she’d come. The gown Ariana had found for her had the empire waist Brooke loved and a free flowing skirt. With every stride, the skirt’s bright gold lining flashed and showed off the most perfect pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes with tasseled straps. The bodice was crusted with bronze beading that made her think of Moroccan embellishment and the gown’s material was a subdued orange, gold and pink paisley pattern that exhibited Brooke’s bohemian style.
After meeting the prime minister and wishing him a happy birthday, Brooke relaxed enough to gaze around at the guests. With Ariana at her side, no one seemed overly interested in her. It wasn’t that she was ignored. Each person she was introduced to was polite and cordial, but no one seemed overly curious about the stranger from California. Brooke suspected that Ariana’s social nature brought all sorts of individuals into her sphere.
Of Nic she saw nothing. The party was crowded with Sherdanian dignitaries and Brooke was determined not to spend the entire evening wondering which of the women Nic might choose to become his wife.
