Page 72 of Modern Romance June 2025 5-8

But his expression as he surveyed the room suggested he wasn’t thinking of her.

She racked her brain for everything she could remember about the now dead Queen. An American who’d increasingly spent more time overseas than in Prinzenberg. She’d borne the King one live son and one stillborn. In the last few years before her death she’d appeared at the King’s side only at a few key royal events.

Had she been unhappy? Was that why Benedikt looked pensive? Annalena had barely had time to adjust to the possibility when he turned that bright stare on her, sending heat arrowing through her body.

‘We need to discuss the future.’

She nodded, subsiding gratefully into a chair. Time to finalise this.

Wary eyes met his. ‘Have you looked at the material about the dam? It proves—’

‘We’ll talk about the dam soon. Our first priority is the crown.’

Benedikt watched her stiffen, the corners of her mouth crimping down.

‘The issues are linked. I told you, if you kill the dam project, I won’t press my case to be Queen.’

‘Saving that valley means more to you than ruling the country? With all the wealth and influence that brings?’

If so, she was remarkable. Through the ages, all around the globe, people had struggled and connived, even killed to win a crown.

A vast chasm carved open his belly. Was that what his father had done? Killed for a crown?

He’d probably carry that suspicion for the rest of his life. Another weight to add to his already heavy burdens.

‘Yes, it does mean more to me. There’s no benefit to Edelforst from the project, only destruction. The power generated will be diverted elsewhere and so will the profits. There are better, more cost-effective ways of generating power than flooding the valley. We’d lose our heartland. We can’t allow that.’

Was that a royal ‘we’? With that spark in her eye and tone of condemnation, she was every inch the displeased monarch.

‘What about the next project you don’t like?’

Her brow knitted in confusion. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘If the government decides on a future policy that affects your province, a policy you disagree with. What will you do?

‘Bring forward our concerns, of course.’

‘If that doesn’t work and you lose the argument, what will you do then? Reassert your claim to the throne? Threaten a constitutional crisis to get your own way?’

‘This isn’t aboutme.’

Benedikt shook his head. ‘It’s absolutely about you. No matter what you say about altruistic motives, if it’s proven you have a right to the throne, what’s to stop you wielding that against me, or my heirs?’

‘I’m not interested in being Queen.’

‘But youareinterested in what happens to Edelforst. Look how far you’ve gone to protect it.’

She opened her mouth then snapped it shut. ‘I’ll sign a document written by your lawyers, giving up my right to the throne, on condition—’

‘Yes, I know. On condition the dam doesn’t proceed.’

He’d heard more than enough about that. What heneededto sort out was whether he could legitimately rule Prinzenberg or be forced to hand it over to a woman who wasn’t interested in it, and who had few if any of the skills to run it.

Not because she wasn’t intelligent, but because she’d never learned. How long would it take a novice to come to grips with what he’d spent a lifetime learning? Especially with so many so-called advisers ready to lead her into decisions that would serve them rather than the country. Cronies who’d benefited from his father’s rule and administrators with a vested interest in stifling public scrutiny.

Could Prinzenberg afford to wait years for her to catch up?

Benedikt thought of the problems he’d uncovered in just six weeks and knew they didn’t have that much time.

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