Page 37 of Royal Reluctance

He told me all along that I should tell Bo about Tema.

He was the first man other than Bo that I’d been involved with, and yes, there’s shame of betraying my wedding vows but Bo already did that years ago.

Bo telling me that getting married had been a mistake had torn a hole through my heart, so it was easy to justify my relationship with Timothy. I might have still been in love with Bo when I left Battle Harbour, but I didn’t really consider myself married.

Or at least not to someone who loved me like I should be loved.

Timothy loves me. Andhewants to be married to me.

With him, there’s no baggage of who my family is. He couldn’t care less about their reputation. Timothy belongs to a normal family, not royal, with both a mother and a father. I might have hesitated when he first talked about us getting married, but that was because of Bo. Because I knew I was going to have to finally end things.

When Bo proposed to me—the real proposal, not the many times he told me he wanted to marry me, or when we would make plans to live somewhere far away from Laandia, hiding from the world and Bo’s responsibilities—I felt like a princess in a fairy tale. I was the kitchen servant, covered in dirt and ash, pulled out of her life of drudgery to marry Prince Charming. My family was… not well off. Not respected. I’d been looked down on my entire life because of the opinions of my uncle. The choices my father had made. The behaviour of my brothers, and the way my mother abandoned us.

People looked at me and saw just another Crow kid, one who wouldn’t amount to anything.

They didn’t see that I loved to read and do crafts. That I babysat the neighbourhood kids—when I could convince their parents that I was trustworthy and would never abandon them by running off in search of a good time like my mother did. That I visited my grandmother every Sunday, at whatever street corner she had parked herself on.

No one saw that I wasn’t my brothers; that I was different from Mabel with her hard edges and sharp tongue that were her only defense against being taken advantage of.

But Bo saw me, and managed to push himself through my walls. The walls I had put up so I wouldn’t get hurt.

When he told me he’d marry me that minute if I’d only say yes, I finally did. I had been protesting for months, trying to come up with another, final excuse for why we couldn’t be together, and I was so tired of it. I wanted to be with Bo—wanted it more than anything. I was angry with my family for putting me in the position of not being able to have the one thing I wanted most.

So I said yes without thinking of the consequences.

And Bo married me days later.

And now, look at the consequences. I’m here, in the castle, and Bo is nowhere to be found. I have a child—we have a child that I refused to tell him about for some petty fear that Bo would take her from me.

He would never do that. I know that. I ’ve always known that.

I didn’t tell him because I was afraid he wouldn’t wantme.

A knock at the door brings my thoughts come to a screeching halt.Bo. Jumping to my feet, all I can think is thathe came back to meas I get to the door in record time.

It is Bo, with an armload of pizza boxes, but also—

“Spencer,” I say simply, and walk into his arms.

“Hettie Crow.” Spencer sighs. “My favourite girl.”

I can’t stop the tears and his arms tighten as I sniffle into Spencer’s coat.

His very nice coat. I always knew Spencer would be important, would make a difference, but seeing him like this—a smart, camel covered overcoat over a tailored suit—

I can’t see if it’s tailored, but I bet it is.

“It’s so good to see you,” I say into his lapel. My pain at leaving Bo had consumed me for so long and I had forgotten what else I missed from home.

Like Spencer.

“You too.”

We stay like that for long moment until I finally pull back. “I’ve got a new favourite girl for you,” I tell him, wiping under my eyes.

“I heard.” Spencer hands me a handkerchief and I stifle my giggle into the soft cotton because who his age carries handkerchiefs? “I can’t wait to meet her.”

“Abigail’s here, too,” I say like I’m giving him a gift.

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