AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I would not call this duress, Madelyn.Paris Apollo had laughed at her, kissing his way back up the length of her body. He had stood, smoothing his hands over yet another exquisite suit, which he had not wrinkled even slightly. She was the one who was limp.More a religious experience, I think, given how often you called upon the Almighty, would you not agree?
And really, it would have taken a far stronger woman than she had ever been in Paris Apollo’s presence to argue.
She hadn’t. Just as she hadn’t argued when she’d come upon him unexpectedly in this hallway and watched his curiously green eyes light up—before he’d swept her into an alcove and showed her how easily he could make her come apart.
As if she wasn’t already aware.
Madelyn had felt a bit inside out, to put it mildly. She’d made her way back to her rooms, taken a long bath, and spent a few hours with Troy and Corrine.
When her attendants came for her and told her it was time to dress, she didn’t put up any resistance. Though she felt nothing but as she navigated her way through the palace, catching glimpses of her lush and glamorous dress in every mirror and gleaming surface she passed.
The usual deferential staff beckoned her along as she walked down the marble halls. Madelyn practiced her best friendly yet not-too-approachable smile as she nodded at each of them. She braced herself for the usual mix of Ilonian aristocrats and bureaucrats as she walked out into the raised courtyard that was already glowing with the lanterns strung from end to end.
And then, instead of practicing how to be graceful and regal, she stopped dead.
Because her parents were standing not far from the entrance, looking overwhelmed and ill at ease.
For a long moment, Madelyn could only stare at them. They stared back. She waited a long, agonizing moment, that same rash thought that had seized her up on that dais with Paris Apollo dancing through her again. Would they see that she had not let them down so badly after all? Would the fact that she was marrying an honest-to-Godkingmake them proud of her at last? But another moment dragged by. Then another.
Only then did it dawn on her that they did not intend to rush to her or embrace her.
The way she did when she hadn’t seen Troy for all of an hour.
She felt as if she was on some kind of roller coaster, racing through too many long-held emotions to name. And she realized that when she thought about her parents, she always thought about them as the daughter she’d been when they washed their hands of her. The daughter who had always longed to earn their approval.
The daughter who still hoped they might be proud of her again.
But while she would always be that daughter inside somewhere, that wasn’tallshe was any longer. She was also a mother now.
A mother who would never treat her son the way they had treated her.
Or were treating her right now.
She decided on the spot that she was proud ofherself, thank you.
“Mom. Dad.” Madelyn didn’t know what else to say. She could see the palace staff moving in, warding off anyone who might try to venture near, and for once she was grateful for the damage control. The endless concern aboutkeeping up appearances.
Her father cleared his throat. “We thought we would see the child,” he said stiffly.
Madelyn blinked. She felt the searing heat of a deep, raw fury wash over her, but all she did was smile. “Did you come all the way here to see Troy? How funny. When you could have traveled far less distance and seen him in Tahoe at any time.”
“Really, Madelyn,” her mother said in that chastising tone of hers. “This is hardly the place.”
Madelyn bit her tongue and did her best to glare at her parents without seeming to do so, because she knew there were eyes on her tonight. And would be forever, once the wedding happened.
She’d known full well that the wedding would mean she’d see her parents. The stern ministers had been firm on that.Optics,they’d said.Appearances.The truth of her relationship with them mattered far less than how that relationship might be perceived in the press.
There will be those who feel the King married below him, one of them had told her, but in a brusque sort of way that had made it impossible to tell if he was one such person himself.Analysis of other royal relationships with commoners has led us to conclude that the best defense is an offense that includes a united front, especially during the spectacle of the wedding.
Never fear, another had added.Your role will no doubt require as much separation from your former life as you could wish.
But Madelyn hadn’t put together that said united front would begintonight.
Why have you convinced yourself that you can brush everything aside if it doesn’t feel like this fairy tale you want so badly?she asked herself.
It was a rhetorical question. Because she knew the answer to that already. She and Corrine had discussed her parents just the other day.
I can’t help but wish I hadn’t disappointed them so terribly, Madelyn had said while Troy walked with Paris Apollo down the length of the great gallery, gazing up at so many paintings of boys who looked just like him.
