Page 87 of Duty and Desire

My fault. I did that.

When nothing else was forthcoming, I frowned. “Well? Is this a love letter or can anyone know of its contents?”

“She says she’s back in the country. She wants to know if she can visit you.”

Claudia was in Eisenland.

I couldn’t suppress the joy that news brought me. I smiled. “Of course she can.” I paused. “Is that all she says?”

“She asks if she can stay here.”

I blinked. Claudia’s family had a big house near the river. “I think we can find room for her in the palace. How many bedrooms are there, after all?”

Franz fell silent, and the skin on my arms prickled.

“What else does she say?”

Franz cleared his throat. “The last part of the email reads, and I quote… ‘Dinner is on me. I hope Nick likes Italian.’”

I frowned again. “That sounds odd. Why would she?—”

Oh God.

I froze.

She’s bringing Gio.

I finally found my voice. “Franz, you said you didn’t report back on everything I did on the island.”

He coughed. “Not everything, no.”

“So my cabinet, my ministers… they don’t have a list of people I engaged with while I lived there?”

“My job was to keep you safe. My instructions were to report any threats.Hewasn’t a threat.”

So Franz had read Claudia’s last comment, put two and two together, and arrived at the same conclusion.

“No one knows?”

“No one,” he confirmed. He glanced at me. “Do I ask the palace housekeeper to prepare one room—or two?”

My heartbeat raced and my mouth dried up.

He’s coming.

Gio is coming.

“Two rooms.”

Franz bit his lip. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

I chuckled. “If you’d said that to my brother, my father would have had you taken outside and shot.”

“But you’re not your brother. And I’m only looking out for you. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

I had a plan.Maybe this is what we both need—closure.

Gio also needed to know how my life was going to be. I had to show him that he couldn’t be a part of it.

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