Page 61 of Claimed By the Crown Prince

His hands were curled into fists at his sides. He only relaxed them when she was on the boat and sitting down. And then it was pulling away.

He could see the other boat arriving in the distance. Just as Laia had promised.

Now that she was no longer in front of him. Dax’s gut swirled with emotions. He didn’t want to think about how it had made him feel to hear her say,‘I hope you’re going to let people see the real you now.’The fact that he’d revealed more to her, here on this island, than to anyone else in his life was terrifying.

She’d called him agood man. Even though he’d all but propositioned her to have an affair. A woman who would be crowned Queen in a matter of days. A woman who deserved so much more than a tawdry affair with a playboy prince.

Every residual feeling of being unworthy and guilty swarmed up from his gut, reminding him of who he was and what he couldn’t have.Her.And yet even now her voice came into his head. Telling him that he shouldn’t feel guilty. That he deserved more.

He hadn’t asked for that. He hadn’t asked for any of this. And yet he knew that if someone told him right now that he could turn back time and erase the last week and a bit he would feel sick at the thought. Not to have known her? Not to have felt her moving under him? Over him? And not just the sex... The talking. Laughing.Everything.

‘You’re a gift,’she’d said to him.

Dax cursed out loud. A guttural curse.Damn her. He turned his back on the sight of her boat disappearing. On her. He was no gift to anyone and it was time for him to remember that. It was time to move on and get his life back on track.

Laia resolutely faced towards where she was going. Even though it killed her, she wouldn’t look back at the island to try and catch a last glimpse of Dax. She’d just heard him confirm that there was no hope. He’d spelled it out clearly. Brutally.

‘I’ve seen enough of family life to do me for a lifetime. The world doesn’t need my genes passed down. Ari’s are enough.’

All he was interested in was an affair. And he knew that wasn’t possible. Not for her. It was time for her to be strong. She’d never needed to be stronger. Not even after her father’s death. It was time to face her future and all that was ahead of her. The job of being Queen to her people.

And what about Laia the woman?asked a little voice.

She was afraid that Laia the woman had been left behind on the island and she might never find her again. From now on she was Queen first, woman second.

Two days later, Isla’Rosa

Laia was back at her desk in the castle in Sant’Rosa. Somehow holding it together even though she felt as if she was unravelling inside. Sometimes she wondered if she’d dreamt the past ten days.

She’d arrived back a few hours before and had made no comment about her upcoming nuptials, saying only that she was preparing for the coronation.

She knew she had to try and figure out how to get Maddi back—but at that moment the door to her office burst open and, as if conjured out of her head, Maddi, her half-sister, appeared.

Laia’s insides dissolved into a pool of emotion. Relief and love.

‘Maddi!’

They ran across the room and straight into each other’s arms. Laia held on tight for a long moment, swallowing down her emotion. Then she pulled back and ran her hands all over her sister.

‘Are you okay? Did Aristedes let you leave today or did you have to escape?’ She wasn’t even aware of what she was babbling.

Maddi stopped her. She said, ‘Laia, it wasn’t like that. He found out almost straight away...but no one else knew. I agreed to slot into the engagement schedule because I thought that was the best way of letting you stay hidden...if I was distracting him... But the truth is—’ Maddi broke off and walked away.

‘Mads...?’

Her sister turned around. ‘The truth is that I fell for him. We were...together.’

So she’d been right. ‘I guess that was pretty apparent.’

Maddi frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

Laia took her hand and led her over to an open laptop, where she’d been looking at the pictures of her and Aristedes.

Maddi blushed. Laia could sympathise. At least there were no pictures of her and Dax.

‘I thought he was going to keep you on Santanger as some sort of a threat. That he wouldn’t release you until I agreed to the marriage. But he let you go...’

Maddi’s face turned to stone. ‘Yes, he let me go.’