Page 63 of Claimed By the Crown Prince
‘Dax...?’
Dax looked at his brother. ‘I’m sorry, Ari.’
‘For what?’
‘For not bringing Laia back in time. We were... She has this island...in Malaysia. That’s where we’ve been. I couldn’t leave.’
He hated even having to tell his own brother where he’d been. It was as if he was betraying the memory.
And then Dax looked at his brother as a thought occurred to him.
What if he was going to still insist—?
‘You know you can’t marry her, right?’
‘Yes, I know.’
Dax’s tension levels dropped. He said, ‘You’ll find another princess.’
Then his brother said, ‘What happened between you and Princess Laia?’
Dax felt guilty. It must have shown, because Ari said wearily, ‘It’s not as if I can’t put two and two together, Dax. I had no real hold over her. It was an ancient agreement. I barely knew her.’
Dax looked at him. How could he explain the unexplainable. How she’d become the centre of his world? ‘I tried not to, but...’
Ari asked, ‘Did you know Laia was Maddi’s sister?’
Dax sat down on a chair. Legs sprawled out. He nodded. ‘But I couldn’t get in touch with you. She threw my phone in the sea.’
To Dax’s surprise, Ari let out a sharp laugh.
Dax leaned forward. ‘What’s so funny? This is a disaster.’
Ari wasn’t laughing any more. And neither was Dax.
Two weeks later, Isla’Rosa
‘So how do you feel,Princess Maddi?’ Laia asked teasingly.
Maddi smiled shyly. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. Being a princess.’
They were walking through the grounds of the castle in Sant’Rosa, enjoying the lull after the craziness of the coronation a week ago.
The world’s press had descended on the small kingdom, lured by the pomp and the pageantry and the seismic announcement of a secret princess. Luckily, with the help of Laia’s closest aide, Giorgio, it had all been handled with the utmost care and discretion, and after an initial flurry of headlines and shock the people of Isla’Rosa seemed to be coming around to the existence of Maddi.
She and Laia had done a small walkabout the day before, and the people hadn’t been able to help but be charmed by their new Princess.
They hadn’t held anything back about the King’s affair. Maddi’s mother had come back for the coronation, and she’d given an interview to one of Isla’Rosa’s most respected newspapers. The people had sympathised with her heartbreak, and the outcome was not anger at the old King but a sense that he should have been brave enough to weather the storm to marry her.
‘How are your mother and stepfather?’
Maddi smiled. ‘They’re good. It’s been so lovely to see my mother here. Back in her home. They’re already talking about moving here. Thank you for the house you’ve gifted them.’
Laia shook her head. ‘Your mother deserves everything, Mads. She’ll have whatever she wants for the rest of her life.’
She stopped when she saw tears in Maddi’s eyes. ‘Oh, Mads, I’m sorry—’
But Maddi shook her head. ‘No, it’s not that... Well, it is...and I’m so happy that she’s happy. But...’ she trailed off.