about Juliet’s speculation that it is her own royal guard responsible for what was done to me. But then why bring me to Edenvale? Why drop me outside the hospital when they could have left me for dead, and no one would have been the wiser? I would have been another headline. Another mess for my family to clean up. If it was Nightgardin who did this to me, they must have some other motive for which I am some pawn.
“Do you really believe it was your people who almost killed me?”
Her breathing hitches. “I will never forgive myself if it is.”
I skim my fingers along the line of her hair, and she turns to kiss my palm.
“Why?” I ask. “Why after all that has happened do you still want me like this?”
She kisses the scar above my eye, then the one on the side of my face. She brushes her lips gingerly over the bridge of my broken nose.
“Because I know you’re still in there,” she says. “I know the man I spent a magical three days with will find his way back to me.”
“What man is that, Juliet?”
She smiles softly. “A man whose first instinct was to take care of me the moment you saw me. A man who let me choose and put me first.” Her lips sweep across the line of my jaw. “A man who said he’d come for me when my own guards tore me away from you. And I have to believe that if you could have, you would have.”
Something in me sinks. “Even before what happened to me, I never recognized myself as the guy you remember. What if he’s gone for good? What if I can’t ever be who you thought I was? You claim we were intimate like I’ve only ever been with one other person, but we both know how that ended. I am not some knight in shining armor that can save you from the evils that lurk in this world.” Her expression falls, and I know I should stop. She feels something for a version of me that doesn’t exist. “Juliet—I am the evil that lurks in this world. You were a fool to believe I could be anything other than what my true nature is.”
I roll her off of me, pull up my jeans and stand. “We should return to the horses.”
She pulls a small handkerchief from her pocket and walks to the riverbank to clean herself up. Then she rights her own clothing, transforming into a perfect princess at lightning speed.
“When will you stop punishing yourself, Damien?”
I blow out a long breath. “I‘m pretty sure my life in purgatory is permanent.”
I turn to leave the clearing, but she grabs my wrist with a strength and ferocity I cannot ignore.
“You do like a challenge, Damien Lorentz, Prince of Edenvale and future King of Nightgardin, do you not?”
I bark out a laugh. “I married my enemy’s future queen as both our guards readied to take one or both of us down. I’d call that more of a death wish, would you not?”
“Answer me, husband. Do you or do you not love a good challenge?”
Her dark eyes burn with a fierceness that tells me she will make a most excellent queen—if her head isn’t mounted right next to mine.
“Yes,” I relent. She knows that part of me well enough, at least.
She tugs at each side of my leather jacket. “I challenge you to let me show you that your heart is good and true, that you deserve more than you give yourself credit for.”
I raise a brow. “And what’s my end of the bargain?”
She shrugs. “Just believe that this child is yours and swear to protect it with your life. I’ll prove to you and your family that my intentions for coming here are none other than to do the same. Because I know your restraint also comes from a lack of trust.”
I wrap a hand around each of her wrists. “Don’t take it personally, Princess. I don’t trust anyone.”
She rolls her eyes. “Do we have a deal, Your Highness?” Then she yanks her hands free and snakes them under my open jacket and around my waist. “Because I know exactly how we should seal it.”
She is relentless, and I want nothing more than for her to be right. About all of it.
“I will protect this child,” I say. “But you’ll never change my mind about myself. Still, I’d sure as hell like to see you try. It’ll be a good distraction from failing miserably at trying to get back those last three days.”
“Or maybe it will help.” She raises her brows, and I am fucking powerless against her earnestness.
I smile.
“You don’t give up, do you?”
She shakes her head. Then she rises on the toes of her riding boots and kisses me. It is not the hunger-filled need from before but something brand-new. And it’s as if the very air around us shifts.
She returns to the ground, and the spell is broken.
“We should get the horses,” she says. Then she laces her fingers through mine and pulls me from the clearing.
It’s when she mounts Puddin’ that the first flash almost blinds my vision, and the horse’s front legs rise frantically in the air.
The photographer for the photo op.
“Whoa!” Juliet calls out while I still see spots of color. “Whoa, boy. That’s it.”
When my vision clears, she’s already calmed the horse, but that doesn’t stop me from stalking toward the photographer, ripping the camera from his hand and readying to smash it to pieces either on the ground or over his head.
“Damien!” Juliet cries. “Don’t!” Her voice makes me pause. “This isn’t the message we want to send to either of our kingdoms,” she says softly. “If you do something you’ll regret and word gets out...”
I look at the camera in my hand. It’s a good one from what I can tell. Probably cost the guy a small fortune.
When I glance up at him, his eyes are wide with terror.
I step toward him, camera in hand, and he flinches.
“You can’t surprise people like that, especially with large, unpredictable animals.” He nods as I hold the camera out for him to take. “Two pictures and no flash,” I add. “You almost killed my wife.”
I hop onto my own horse and sidle him up next to Juliet. Her eyes are wide and her cheeks pink.
“Can we be on the record now, Your Highness?” the photographer asks.
I nod once. “Write whatever you want to write about the princess and me.” I hold the reins in one hand and cradle Juliet’s still-pink cheek in the other. “You like when I call you wife?” I say softly.
She grins. “I like when you want to burn the world down to protect me.”
I want to tell her I’m not that guy. But instead, I turn toward the photographer and wink.
“Here’s
