Page 14 of Scandal Queen

“What’s up then?” I asked, a lump forming in my throat. Please tell me he hadn’t changed his mind. Maybe my need for stability for Daisy had scared him off eventually.

No… he’d always known that. He’d wanted it as much as me…

I waited.

He sat on the sofa next to me, a careful distance apart. “You seem to be under the impression that Daisy will be able to go back to her school.”

“Well no, not straight away. I’m not exactly in a hurry to go back to London. I’m pretty sure Janine would rather I didn’t go back to the office.” I cringed when I thought of Janine; one of my oldest friends and the woman who’d looked after me when all else had been desperate. The woman who’d found my nana when I thought I had no one.

Oliver reached for my hand, careful, slowly, as though approaching a wild pony he didn’t want to scare. “Leia. There is no going back.”

Four

“What do you mean?” I looked at our tangled fingers, unwilling to meet the severity of the expression on his face.

“Once we are official, no matter how private we are. No matter how much we keep our lives to ourselves, there are things that cannot remain the same. Your safety, Daisy’s safety will fall under the remit of the palace. Daisy will need to go to a school that’s safe and private. I don’t think you will be able to go to work in London anymore. People will want to see you, talk to you, take photos with you.”

He paused as though he expected me to say something. I’m not sure what, because I had nothing.

“It wouldn’t have been this quick. Maybe if I’d handled things better, we could have had a few more months.”

I nodded almost dumbly.

“Everything about me is a circus, Leia. You knew that the moment we met. I crept into your office, just to have some private moments with people whom I thought I could help. That should have been a good indication.”

Another nod.

“I guess me lying and paying for secrecy has made the reality worse.” He dropped his head and the little motion kicked me into action.

“So I can’t ever go home?”

He shook his head, the proud prince unable to meet my gaze. “Not with me, no. Not now.”

I wished I could make myself do something other than nod.

“And Daisy has to go to a new school, a posh one with posh people?”

“It’s probably safer. The royal family have always used St George’s.”

I knew the school he meant. Their uniform was grey and red; the smaller children wore straw boaters.

“And work?”

“You’d create a media frenzy. The press would never leave you alone.”

I stared at the wall, for the first time noticing how truly awful the pictures in frames were.

“I think maybe I should have said all this on the doorstep. That way we wouldn’t have confused Daisy by me coming in and seeing her if you changed your mind.”

I reached for his fingers and gripped them while I slid from the small sofa and knelt on the floor at his feet. My prince. The man I loved.

“So I have to give up those things?”

He nodded, just once. “Yes.”

“But I get you? You’re the prize?”

“I’m hardly a prize, Leia. The people hate me. I’ve given them nothing to like. I’ve let them down. I give them bad headlines and failed relationships, when I should be giving them optimism and hope.”