This wasn't Sicily. This wasn't our private villa where we could pretend that love conquered all. This was reality, harsh and unforgiving, where princesses married dukes and bodyguards knew their fucking place.
"Whatever happens in there," Evangeline said as we approached the palace gates, "We face it together."
I squeezed her hand, knowing it was likely the last time I'd touch her with anything resembling affection. "Together," I lied.
The palace corridors felt like a gauntlet. Staff members who'd always been professional but friendly now avoided eye contact, their embarrassment of the situation palpable. We were a scandal walking through the halls, a constitutional crisis made flesh.
Queen Sophia—I reminded myself bitterly, since we were apparently past formalities now—was waiting in her private study. The same room where she'd first offered me this assignment, where she'd trusted me to protect her daughter. The irony did not escape me.
"Evangeline," she said, rising from behind her desk. Her voice held all the warmth of winter steel. "James."
"Your Majesty," I replied, my military training kicking in automatically. Even now, even knowing what was coming, I couldn't shake the ingrained respect for the crown.
"Sit, please." It wasn't a request.
We took the chairs across from her desk, and for a moment, the three of us sat in silence heavy enough to suffocate. Then Sophia's gaze fixed on me with laser intensity.
"Mr. Banks, I think we need to have a private conversation."
Evangeline stiffened beside me. "Anything you need to say to James, you can say in front of me."
"I'm afraid not, darling." Sophia's tone brooked no argument. "There are some matters that require... discretion."
"No!" Evangeline's voice was sharp. "I will not be excluded from decisions about my life," she declared.
"Evangeline." I kept my voice carefully neutral, already beginning to distance myself. "It's fine. Let me speak with your mother."
She turned to look at me, confusion and hurt flickering in her eyes. "James?—"
"Please." The word came out harsher than I'd intended. "Just... wait outside."
The betrayal on her face was a knife to the chest, but I forced myself to remain impassive. This was how it had to begin—with small cruelties that would build to something unforgivable.
After Evangeline left, closing the door behind her with barely controlled anger, Sophia and I stared at each other across the expanse of her desk. She looked older than I remembered, the strain of the past few days etched in the lines around her eyes.
"You love her," she said finally.
It wasn't a question, but I answered anyway. "Yes."
"And you think that's enough."
I said nothing, sensing a trap in whatever direction I chose.
Sophia leaned back in her chair, studying me with the calculating gaze that had made her one of Europe's most respected monarchs. "Tell me, James, what do you know about Charles Pemberton?"
The name made my stomach drop like a stone. Charles Pemberton—I'd seen references to him in the security files, but only as a footnote. A minor incident from years ago that the palace had quickly contained.
"I know enough," I said carefully.
"Do you? Do you know that there was once another man who thought he could elevate his station through my daughter's affections? A palace employee who saw an opportunity where there should have been only duty?" Sophia's voice was deceptively calm. "Charles lasted three weeks before security discovered his true intentions—photographing private areas of the palace, documenting Evangeline's routines, selling information to tabloids while posing as a devoted servant."
Her painted images were meant to wound. Another palace employee. Another man who'd used his position to get close to her.
"The similarities are striking, don't you think?" Sophia continued, as if reading my thoughts. "Another palace employee. Another man from a different world, with access to my daughter that others don't have."
"It's not the same thing," I said, but the words felt hollow.
"Isn't it? You've spent weeks isolated with her, away from reality, telling her what she wants to hear. Making her believe that love is enough to overcome every obstacle." Sophia stood, moving to the window that overlooked the palace gardens. "Charles did the same thing. Made her promises he couldn't keep, painted pictures of a future that could never exist."
