Summary: Set just after TRR Book 1. No longer welcome in the Cordonian Palace, Riley finally gets to say what she really wants.
Riley pulled her arms away from the security guards the moment they dragged her palace gates, surprised when they let her go. She’d half-expected to be marched straight to the airport and put on the first plane out of Cordonia, but it seemed like stranding her in the city was enough of a punishment for now.
She wouldn’t be able to get back into the palace, not with the guards at the gate, but she didn’t really want to. She didn’t want to deal with the others at the ball, she didn’t want to go and explain the truth. If the nobles so easily believed one out-of-context picture, she wasn’t going to waste any more time on them.
But her passport and all her things were in her room, so she’d need to try and venture back inside eventually.
The evening breeze sent a chill through her, but she had nowhere warm to go and no money to get a cab to town and get a much-needed drink at one of the bars. Instead, she perched on the curb and wrapped her arms around herself, uncaring about the dust that was bound to be staining the satin of her dress.
“Lane?” She turned to see Drake striding through the gates. He seemed more flustered than her, his hair messy and his suit creased, and she wondered what must have happened for him to be so dishevelled. “Thank God you’re still here. I was worried that they would have-”
“I don’t think they care where I am as long as I’m not at the Coronation.”
Drake sighed, hesitating for only a moment before he draped his suit jacket over her shoulders and joined her on the sidewalk. “I didn’t want to be right,” he said quietly, grimacing when she laughed – broken, bitter – and pulled his jacket tighter around her. “The bastards didn’t even let you explain. Or me. I tried to get to Liam and tell him the truth and try to fix things, but-”
“It’s okay,” she muttered, her grip on his jacket so tight her knuckles had gone white. “Drake, it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.”
She sighed heavily, raising her eyes to the sky and blinking away tears. “You’re right. It’s not okay. I’m not okay.”
It was silent for a moment, so quiet they could hear the distant music from the ball continuing on as though nothing had happened. She watched Drake’s hand as he reached towards her, only for him to pause and draw his hand back. “So what are you going to do?”
Riley shrugged. “I don’t know. Hope I can get my stuff back from the palace and then fly home and beg for my job back?”
He scowled. “You’re not going to try and stay? Aren’t you going to fight for Liam?”
It was her turn to frown, an exasperated sigh falling from her lips. “I’d have preferred everything to happen without all the humiliation and victim-blaming, but I didn’t want to marry Liam. I spent the entire ball worrying about what I was going to say when he asked me to marry him. And he was going to ask me. He said he loved me, he said he’d be asking me even if it wasn’t his duty.”
“And that made you worried?”
“Yes,” she snapped, twisting around to glare at him. “I’ve spent months being told by everyone, including you, that this is what I should want and I know I’m letting down everyone by thinking otherwise. I didn’t want to say no in front of everyone, and I didn’t want to say yes just because it was what everyone else wanted, and I couldn’t stop thinking of how disappointed Maxwell and Bertrand and, god, even Olivia would be when I turned Liam down. And how offended everyone else would be that a waitress rejected the King of Cordonia. And, you know, the only time this entire evening when all that wasn’t weighing on me was when I was kissing you.” Drake’s gaze softened, and when he reached out to wrap his arm around her shoulders, she felt her anger ebb away. “So no, I’m not going to fight for Liam. And I’m definitely not going to fight for a role I don’t want in a country where everyone is so quick to turn on me.”
They were quiet again, but unlike before, she enjoyed the silence. It had felt freeing to finally admit everything, to say what she really wanted, and when she felt Drake’s lips press against her forehead, it was almost enough to make her smile.
“So this is it?” he asked, shifting so she could rest her head on his shoulder. “You’re just going to go home?”
Riley bit her lip, hesitating. She knew what she wanted to say, but it had become a habit to bite her tongue and stay quiet, to keep the truth of what she really wanted all to herself. It felt strange to realise that she couldn’t mess things up any more than she already had. “I don’t want this to be it,” she admitted, finally allowing herself to speak. “I want the court to know the truth. Not for me, but for Liam. I don’t want to be on the other side of the world while he marries that woman. I want to be here, I want to stay here and I want to stay with you. I…” She paused, her smile brightening. They didn’t need to worry about being overheard, they didn’t need to worry about a scandal. “I want to be with you.”
She heard him inhale sharply, as though he were surprised by her declaration despite the last few days of stolen kisses and careful words, and then he turned towards her. His fingers were warm on her skin as he lifted her chin high enough for him to easily lean down and press his lips to hers, softer, more careful than any of their previous kisses. His thumb brushed the curve of her cheek as his mouth moved over hers, and Riley clung to his arm, to him.
“But it doesn’t matter what I want,” she said when they parted, closing her eyes so she didn’t have to see his reaction. “I can’t afford to stay here. Not for long. And as much as I want to believe things will be different if I stay for you, I don’t have a good record when it comes to staying in a foreign country for a guy.”
He laughed, the dry ‘heh’ she’d grown to love, and pressed another kiss to her forehead. “It should matter what you want,” he said. “I’m sorry if it seemed like it didn’t. And I know I can’t give you as much as Liam, or even the Beaumont’s, but if that’s really what you want, I can give you all of that.”
“It’s what I want,” she said firmly. “Right now, it’s all I want.”
“Okay. So stay.” Drake kissed her again, a brief press of his lips to hers. “Stay with me. We’ll find a way to save Liam from Madeleine. We’ll be together. I don’t have a spare room as fancy as the one you have in the palace, but-”
She didn’t let him finish. She kissed him, one hand tangling in his hair, the other clinging to his shirt collar. He groaned against her lips, pulled her closer, and when she nipped at his bottom lip, he opened his mouth to her and embraced her even tighter
“You’re sure about this?” she asked when they broke apart to catch their breath. “I might not be in the running for Queen anymore, and I’m glad for that, but you know Liam will-”
“I’m sure,” he said, capturing her lips again for another deep kiss. “We can think about it more tomorrow. Not tonight.”
She stared at him, wanting to make sure he really meant it, and then she nodded. “You’re right. Not tonight. So much of this evening has been terrible. Let’s make sure it ends well.”
“I think it’ll end better if we stop sitting on the pavement,” he joked, releasing her from his embrace and getting to his feet, offering her his hand. “Give me ten minutes to get your things and then we can go home.”
“You can get my things tomorrow,” she said, tightening her hold on his hand as he tried to let go and walk away. “I won’t need clothes tonight.”