Page 149 of The Grosvenor's Ghost
I don’t move, breathe, blink—nothing. There’s nothing there anymore. And there won’t be for the rest of my life.
Arthur clears his throat, squeezes my shoulder and then walks past us.
Digby leads us outside to the patio and I can see it—the bulge of the box in his pocket. I look up, can the others standing on the balcony in my room because it’s the biggest. I scream but they don’t hear me. I fall to my knees and beg but they don’t see it.
He pulls my chair out for me and I sit down.
He starts talking but I’m not interested.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Arthur walking along the beach, kicking the sand. We’re a couple feet apart but it doesn’t feel like it—feels like I’m all the way up here and he’s all the way down there.
And suddenly it’s too hot and I’m not hungry and my heart is beating really really fast—unhealthily fast—and I’m thinking about the time he chased me through his garden maze at his birthday party and kissed me. And all the times he made me feel like I was the only person in the world. And how special he made me feel because it was him and he loved me and he’s never loved anyone before. We loved each other first and I think that trumps everything.
My eyes go back and forth between Digby and Arthur. I’m running out of time. Now or never, flight or fight. It’s up to me. For once, I feel in control.
My heart is pounding, every beat, a tick on an imaginary clock that reminds me just how little time I have left.
I don’t even realise I’m running until my feet hit the sand and it kicks up into my eyes.
“Phoebe?”
Arthur is in front of me and now Digby is all the way up there.
“I love you.”
He frowns for a second. It’s all so fast and it feels like the sun is setting and rising all at the same time. And I sort of can’t believe I just did that.
“You love me?” He laughs. “But you were just about to be engaged?”
“Arthur,” I pant. “I love you—not him.”
He nods, can’t stop laughing which makes me laugh too. and then, quick as a flash, he grabs my face, kisses me with everything he’s worth.
“I’ve always fucking loved you.”
I pull back, catch my breath.
His face drops, the colour drains.
“But I need to tell you something.”
I shake my head. “Please, no, Arthur, I—”
“I killed someone.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Prince Arthur
I didn’t know a dead body could make so much noise but it did, on that night.
I don’t remember a lot.
It sort of comes at me in snapshots, moments from the night that I can never tell are dreams or reality. However, it’s important for you—and everyone else—to know that I didn’t know. Jude and I, we didn’t know and if we had, things would be a lot different now.
I woke up, in a bed, at Phoebe’s house up in Hampshire. I didn’t recall falling asleep in the first place so I had no idea how I’d made it to a bed.
Naked. I remember pulling myself up and being naked. The room was tilting and my head was fuzzy. For a few minutes, I couldn’t remember where I was. I had no memory of taking my clothes off but I saw them folded neatly on the dresser so I guess maybe Phoebe took them off me—maybe I was sick?
