Page 50 of Wed for their Royal Heir

‘No, of course not.’

‘Then I fail to see the problem.’ Augustine waved a hand. ‘Just...give her the love she deserves.’

‘What? You think it happens on command? That it’s that easy?’

‘If you say she’s worth it, then I don’t see why not.’

It was clear neither of his friends knew what they were talking about, and Galen opened his mouth to tell them that, when the door opened again and this time it was Solace who came in.

He felt as if someone had hit him over the head.

She was dressed in the beautiful silver gown she’d worn the last time he’d seen her, only this time her hair had been pinned on top of her head in a soft bun, tendrils around her ears. A delicate platinum tiara set with diamonds glittered on her brow and around her throat was a matching diamond collar. There were small diamonds in her ears, and she glittered and sparkled as if she’d been set with stars.

She looked every inch a queen and she was here. She hadn’t left. She washere.

‘You’re mad,’ Augustine muttered. ‘It is that easy. I’m in love with her already.’

‘Indeed,’ Khalil said, his voice getting deeper, a definite appreciation vibrating in the word.

Possessiveness turned over inside Galen. Solace washisqueen, not theirs. ‘Out,’ he ordered. ‘Now.’

Solace lifted a brow as the other two sauntered towards her.

Augustine paused beside her. ‘Allow me to—’

‘You can introduce yourself later,’ Galen growled. ‘Get out.’

His friends glanced at each other and, for some reason, both smiled. Then they left the room, closing the door firmly after them.

Solace came over to him and stopped. Then she lifted her hands and smoothed the black fabric of his jacket, making sure the decorations and awards pinned to the breast were lying flat. Then she fussed with the black bow tie he wore, touching him as if she had every right, as if he were hers already.

His chest ached and ached. It hadn’t stopped aching since he’d left her a week earlier. He felt as if something inside him, a part of him, had broken beyond repair and now the jagged edges were grinding together, causing him agony.

‘What are you doing?’ His voice was rougher than it should have been.

‘Making sure my fiancé is presentable.’ She looked up at him, grey eyes shining. ‘Did you think I wouldn’t come?’

‘I...’ He couldn’t finish. His voice refused to work, his fingers icy.

‘Of course, I came,’ she said, as if there had been no doubt whatsoever. ‘But I’m not here for the crown, Galen. I’m here for you.’

‘Solace, I can’t—’

‘I know,’ she said simply. ‘You were clear. There’s something wrong with you. You don’t want to fail me, and you don’t know what love is, I get all of that.’ She reached for his cold hands and gathered them in her small ones, her skin so warm against his. ‘But like I told you last week, you haven’t failed me, and you haven’t failed Leo either. You haven’t failed your country. And I can show you that there’s nothing wrong with you. I can teach you. Perhaps it will take time, but I don’t care. I have the time. Also, and most important, I know what love is.’ She lifted his hands and brushed a light kiss over his knuckles. ‘And I love you. Our marriage won’t be loveless, Galen, because I can love enough for both of us.’

‘Just give her the love she deserves,’Augustine had said.‘If you say she’s worth it, then I don’t see why not.’

He stared down into her lovely face, into her grey eyes, and, as they had over a year ago, as they did every time he looked into them, they pierced his soul.

And it came to him like a revelation straight from God that if there was anyone in his life he trusted, it was her, and if he didn’t trust her to teach him about love, if he didn’t trust her vision of who he was, then his father had been right all along.

That all he was was an unfit king and a hated son.

Except Solace shouldn’t have to teach him. Solace shouldn’t have to love for both of them.

‘There’s nothing wrong with you,’ she’d told him, before listing all the things that were right about him, all the good things. ‘Your father was wrong.’

Why would you believe him when you have her?

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