Page 62 of Claimed By the Crown Prince

Maddi told Laia that Aristedes had come to terms with the fact that his marriage was off the table. That he’d realised he’d been complacent, expecting Laia to marry him.

‘That’s good. Did he say anything about the peace agreement?’

Maddi nodded. ‘That you could discuss it at some point.’

‘Maybe I didn’t give him enough credit,’ Laia said.

Just like his brother.

Her conscience stung.

Maddi took her hands. ‘What matters is that you’re back in time for the coronation and there’s nothing and no one to stop you becoming Queen.’

Laia immediately thought of Dax.

Maddi clearly saw her face. ‘What is it? What are you not telling me? Did Ari’s brother find you? Did something happen?’

Laia felt like crying and laughing all at once. He’d helped her find herself.

But she just shook her head. ‘It’s okay. I’ll tell you about it later.’

Or never—because she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to articulate what had happened.

She said now, ‘I’ll draft a statement and send it over for Aristedes’s approval. It will say that by mutual agreement we’ve decided not to marry. I hope he’ll countersign.’

Maddi looked emotional. ‘I’m sure he will. He’s a good man, Laia. I think you’ll like him when you do have your talks.’

Laia focused on Maddi to stop thinking about Dax, who was also a good man. She touched her sister’s cheek. ‘Oh, Mads, I’m sorry... Is there any hope...?’

Maddi shook her head. ‘No, he made that clear. And it wasn’t as if I didn’t know.’

Laia said, ‘Well, you’re back where you belong. And I want everyone to know who you are—if you’re ready?’

Up till now Maddi had been shying away from coming out as Laia’s sister. As a princess.

But now Maddi nodded. ‘Yes, I’m ready.’

Laia hugged her sister tight again. Then pulled back. ‘I’m so happy, Mads. I’ll need you by my side.’

They smiled at each other, but their smiles were distinctly wobbly.

The same day, Santanger

Dax was bleary-eyed and dishevelled in jeans and a shirt after the long transatlantic flight. He hadn’t shaved since that morning. But he’d known where he had to come first. He was in the palace in Santanger, following the way to his brother’s rooms without even thinking.

The guards let him into Ari’s inner suite and Dax didn’t even notice their wide-eyed looks at his appearance. He went in and stood at the inner doorway. His brother was on the other side of the room, drinking. A sight asun-Ari as anything he’d ever seen.

Suddenly Ari turned around with a look of such hope on his face that Dax knew it wasn’t because he was expectinghim.

His expression immediately closed off. ‘Where the hell have you been?’

Dax went in and gestured to the glass in Ari’s hand. ‘Drinking before noon, Ari? Have you decided to join my gang?’

Dax heard himself saying the words, still perpetuating the myth of his infamy even now. He hadn’t drunk before noon in years.

Laia’s voice sounded in his head.‘You’re a good man, Dax.’

Dax drowned it out by pouring himself a shot of whisky and downing it.