29. Gabriel
GAbrIEL
HAD I BEEN slightly difficult since returning from Solterra a month ago? Maybe. But I wasn’t going to shake this mood if everyone upstairs and downstairs continued to avoid me like the plague.
Surely I was improving. Time healed all wounds, right? And I hadn’t thought about Alejandro in at least twenty minutes.
Shit. No. There he was. I needed to start the clock again.
With Nicholas occupied with boring affairs upstairs, I decided I needed company—play some cards, have a few drinks, find out the latest gossip around here to take my mind off the fact that it’d been four weeks and a day and Alejandro hadn’t reached out to apologize or say he missed me or whatever stubborn asses did when they finally realized they were wrong.
Fuck. Start the clock again.
I made my way downstairs, and it immediately felt cozier.
Even with the same Valorian artwork and designs that carried through the rest of the house, it was different down here.
Not so stiff and quiet. There were voices, pots and pans clanging, the scent of fresh bread and tea between meals.
Montclair’s lower level had always felt more like home to me than most of the gilded rooms upstairs.
Upstairs I was “Your Royal Highness.” Downstairs I was “Gabriel, if you steal another scone, I’m kicking you out of the kitchen.”
Well, at least I used to be. Now I’d become “Uh oh, it’s Prince Gabriel, avoid eye contact and get lost.”
I pushed open the door to the main staff sitting room, but instead of the usual faces, there were only two people inside, talking in animated voices over a couple of notebooks opened between them.
Noah spent more time downstairs than I did, and definitely more than any prince consort should, but this was where he felt more comfortable too after all his years as a footman in royal houses.
It was something we had in common, so it wasn’t a surprise to see him down here talking to his good friend Violet, one of the housemaids.
She was shaking her head about something as Noah said, “He needs to know eventually—”
Violet looked up at me, and she must’ve kicked him under the table because Noah’s words cut off suddenly and he followed her stare.
“Oh hi, Gabriel,” he said smoothly, and nodded at the deck of cards in my hand. “Poker today?”
“Was thinking about it.”
I clocked Violet closing the notebooks when I walked into the room. I did love a good secret, and that had my bad mood perking up slightly.
“Who needs to know what?” I said.
They both looked at each other and then back at me, and I rolled my eyes.
“Really? You two are about as subtle as a sledgehammer. What are you sneaking around about?”
“Not sneaking,” Violet said, though she’d moved her arm to cover more of the sheets of paper poking out from the notebook.
Just not enough.
The words Arts Initiative Launch were typed out at the top of one of the pages, and the bits of the others I could see looked to be drafts of a schedule.
Noah followed my gaze. “Just getting things organized. You and Nicholas have been so busy, I thought I’d get things moving.”
Busy. Ha. He was being polite again, because while my brother rarely had a free hour, I’d had nothing but time to kill. I should’ve been the one heading this up, reaching out to Solterra, getting the ball rolling, but I’d been too depressed to want to do anything lately.
Yes, depressed, there it was—I was in a miserable funk and I couldn’t get out of it. If I had to look at the launch and schedules and Alejandro’s name on every page, I’d probably throw myself out of a palace window.
Still, I’d been excited about the initiative, and I still was… I just didn’t know how to deal with the Alejandro of it all. I sure as hell wouldn’t be the first one to reach out, and he’d clearly not done that either, so thank God Noah had the forethought to get things done.
“Can I help?”
“Uh, no, we’ve got it all under control, but thank you,” he said quickly.
Translation: You’re not fucking needed, so go crawl back into your hole and we’ll summon you when we need you to show up and wave at the crowd.
Noah would never be so crass to say it that way, though.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” I asked.
Noah’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “No. I just thought it might be easier for you if I—”
“If you what? Took care of the project I abandoned? Go on, you can say it.”
“That’s not it.” Noah walked over to where I stood and said in a lowered voice, “I just thought it would be easier for you if I dealt with Alejandro.”
Violet turned her attention to the notebook and flipped it open, pretending to be occupied by what was inside.
My eyes came back to Noah’s, and the sympathy swirling in them made me ball my fists. “He’s been organizing this with you?”
“Yes. We’ve been working together.”
I figured he would’ve palmed the job off on Elena, but it seemed I was the only one dropping the ball on this. Or avoiding it.
Great, now I looked like I was avoiding him.
Which I totally was.
“You could’ve told me you’d started getting things rolling.”
Noah cocked his head. “I did. Two weeks ago.”
“You did?” I didn’t remember that. But it was hardly surprising, since the one thing that had been keeping me company this past month was a bottle or two of whatever alcohol I could get my hands on.
“Yes. But that’s okay; you’ve had a lot going on. We’ve got it under control.”
It was anything but okay, and while I appreciated Noah’s attempt to make me feel like less of a mopey asshole, I hadn’t had shit going on and we both knew it.
“When did you start being so diplomatic?”
“Excuse me?”
“Making excuses for me, finding ways to spin my surly behavior? That seems like something Nicholas might do, or even my secretary, but not you. You, Noah Bennett, have always told it like it was—even when you weren’t supposed to. So why are you being so subtle now?”
“Well…” Noah let out a sigh and slipped his hands into his pockets. “I know how you feel.”
My eyes flicked to Violet, who by this time had turned herself at an angle to look anywhere but at us.
“About Alejandro,” he continued. “I went through something similar with Nicholas. I mean, I don’t know exactly what happened between you and Alejandro, but it’s clear he hurt you.”
“No. He—”
“Hurt you. I can see it because Nicholas did the same thing to me. He hurt me, pushed me away, and I walked around here like a ghost for weeks.”
“He really did,” Violet piped up, and slowly made her way over to us. “He became a shell of himself.”
“Exactly,” Noah said. “And while I all but faded into the walls, you…you’ve kind of turned into a scary, chain-rattling ghost.”
I arched a brow. “Chain-rattling?”
“Okay, maybe bottle-clinking would be more appropriate.”
Violet snorted at her friend and then quickly covered her mouth. “Sorry.”
“No, no, get it all out. I’d rather hear the truth than have you blowing smoke up my—”
“You need to stop drinking,” Noah blurted out, and while he’d gotten a whole lot more comfortable with treating me as his brother-in-law rather than an employee, his cheeks still turned pink at his outburst.
“Okaaay. And?”
“And take a shower more than every two days.” Violet leaned in and sniffed, then grimaced. “The alcohol isn’t doing you any favors.”
I immediately sniffed at myself and—wow, she wasn’t wrong. I smelled like whiskey and regret.
“Start to remember why you agreed to this initiative to begin with,” Noah said. “It clearly wasn’t to get in Alejandro’s bed—you were already there.”
My brows rose at his boldness, and he smirked.
“Deny it.”
I couldn’t, and he knew it.
“Exactly. You agreed to this because you believe in it. It wasn’t to impress anyone or win any favors. It was to help the kids, so it’s time to remember that and act on it.”
Well, shit. I’d asked them to be upfront and they hadn’t held back, had they?
I’d really let myself go. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d fallen into such a state. In fact, I didn’t think I ever had. Alejandro had done a real number on me, messed with my head in ways I’d never experienced before.
Messed with my head, and stomped all over my heart with those black boots of his.
Bastard.
Oh wait—that was a new record.
How long was that?
“Gabriel?” Noah said, interrupting my thoughts. “Did you hear me?”
“I heard,” I finally said, crossing my arms over my chest. I suddenly felt too open, too exposed, too…called out on my shit. “Is there anything else you have a problem with?”
Noah’s eyes softened as he squeezed my forearm. “No one has a problem with you. We’re just concerned.”
“Uh huh.”
“It’s true. But to answer your question, no. If you can pull those few things together before Alejandro and his family get here, I think that would be more than enough.”
Ugh, just the thought of seeing him again made me want to go and hunt down a bottle of—
No. I wasn’t going to do that anymore. The best way to show Alejandro I no longer cared, that what he’d done hadn’t affected me in any way, was to look fucking amazing when he showed up in a couple of weeks.
Well, look and smell fucking amazing.
“Fine. I’ll pull my shit together.”
Violet nodded. “Of course you will.”
I shook my head at the two of them. “Is there anything you need me to do to help with the actual launch event?”
They looked at each other, then Noah said, “No, but are you okay with us putting you down for some events?”
“Of course. Like you said, this is for the kids. Put me down for whatever.”
“Perfect.” Violet grinned as she scribbled something on a piece of paper and Noah nodded at her. “I’ll note it down and make sure to get you in there with the kids, showing your support.”
“Okay, well, if that’s all, I guess I’m going to go and have a shower.”
Violet snorted, and I aimed a glare her way. “Sorry,” she said, sounding anything but. “I…uh, hope you enjoy it.”
“Uh huh.” I looked at Noah and said, “Thank you.”
“For?”
“Handing me my ass when I needed it.”
Noah smirked and I spun on my heel, and as I headed out of the room I took a final whiff of my shirt and winced.
Damn, they were right. It was time to wash away the stench that had been following me around.
It was time for me to get my shit together and remember who I was before the pirate prince had captured my heart and then thrown it overboard for the sharks.
I was Crown Prince Gabriel étienne Valemont.
Next time Alejandro and I came face to face, I’d make damn sure he remembered it.