Page 226 of Modern Romance Collection March 2025 (1-4)

He shrugged. “Yes. But you lived with them until only recently, it isn’t as though you have been long separated. And believe me, they will settle in just fine. In fact, your sisters will probably stay holed up in their rooms for weeks. What they have prepared for them is incredible.”

She frowned. “Don’t speak like you know my sisters.”

“They are about to become mine,” he said.

“Is that how you will see them? As your family?”

“Whether or not you believe it, I did choose you for a reason. And it wasn’t just PR.”

“But it is a lot PR. Because you like the way that we will look to your citizens.”

“Yes. I do. But I also think you’re going to add something of value to me. As you said, people, humans, we are all the same. But we have very different experiences that often make us feel as if we don’t. As if we aren’t. I am hoping that you will help me with my blind spots.”

That made her feel…better. She wondered if he knew that it would.

Because that made her feel as if she had earned the position. It was the work she had done before that made her valuable now. The life that she had lived was what made her valuable.

“Well. I hope I can do that.”

“You must be exhausted,” he said abruptly.

“I am.”

“Why don’t you go to sleep. I will have some cake and tea sent to your room, if you would like something sweet before you turn in.”

She wasn’t sure if he was being kind, or if he was dismissing her directly. She decided it didn’t matter.

“Thank you.”

And when she lay down in that bed, and actually went to sleep, she didn’t feel any more like she was dreaming than she had been when she was awake.

CHAPTER TEN

Thenextday, Adonis was up in a fury of determination. There was something about Stevie that tested him in ways he could not allow. He had things to accomplish. All of that was bearing down on him as he grappled with the reality of his father’s health. He wasn’t afraid of responsibility. He wasn’t afraid of much of anything, but the enormity of it was not lost on him.

And the need to be invulnerable.

One thing he knew for certain, that while his father had been a good king, and would be until the very last day he lived on earth, he had been affected by the loss of Adonis’s mother. And Adonis would not allow himself to be similarly affected. His father was a hard man, one that was difficult for people to connect with. Adonis wanted to give the people warmth. Adonis wanted to fill in the gaps that had been left behind by his father’s rather austere ruling.

It was an art form, one that he had been perfecting these many years. Because while somebody might look at him and see nothing but mindless indulgence, what he saw was a facade that was not easily cracked. Whatever he felt, he could always look like he was at ease. Whatever he wanted, he could always look as if he was wanting more of it.

His father was conscious of honor, of appeasing the more conservative members of the country, and Adonis acknowledged that had to happen, but, then he also knew that the country was in bad need of some levity. Of plans for the future that felt bright.

A feeling he understood. His father was every inch a Royal. In that untouchable, implacable way.

Stevie would be the people’s princess. There would be no doubt.

She would appeal to them in a way that the royal family simply didn’t. She would seem like someone who understood, and indeed she would.

But that meant controlling his response to her. Especially because…he trusted nothing. And why would he? He could not allow any feelings that he had for Stevie to have dominion over him.

And so he vowed to himself then and there that he would not touch her until after they were married. A chance for him to practice a bit of restraint. Because he was going to have to find that middle ground. And he was determined to do it.

Both for his own sense of control, and for her…

For her. She’d asked and he wanted to give her what she wanted, even when it wasn’t what he wanted.

Though, it might be what he needed.

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