30. Alejandro
ALEJANDRO
VALORIA GREETED US with grey skies, which felt fitting, considering my mood.
After my last visit I’d told myself I’d never return to Montclair Palace, yet here I was with my parents to officially launch our arts initiative.
Valoria had won the coin toss—yes, that was how we agreed on where to host the event—and because I was a man of my word, I was here now at the last place I wanted to be.
I stared out the car window as the palace’s stone walls rose up before us. It was beautiful, I’d give it that, even though I still found it too formal, too traditional. Elegant but a bit cold, much like its king.
There didn’t seem to be a trace of Gabriel anywhere.
I hated that was where my mind went, that I wondered if he was watching us arrive from one of the high windows or if he would be forced to greet us on the steps of the palace.
I could already see the press stationed off to the side in a designated area, ready and waiting to cover the event over the next several days.
I took in a deep breath and tried to steady the nerves thrumming through my veins.
Children. Music. Theater. Dance. Our two kingdoms building something worthy. That was where I tried to keep my focus, what I needed to remember. This wasn’t about Gabriel. Or me.
Now if my body could just get the memo…
I couldn’t sit still, my knee bouncing up and down so much that my mother put her hand on my leg to make it stop.
She didn’t have to say anything—and I was grateful she didn’t.
There had been endless conversations to coordinate exactly how this visit was going to go, and I didn’t need to be told yet again to be on my best behavior.
The car stopped in front of the palace steps and a footman opened the door for my father to step out first, followed by my mother.
And then it was my turn. God help me…
My stomach was in knots as I made my way out of the car, the flashes intense on the three of us as we walked over to where Nicholas and Noah were ready to meet us at the foot of the stairs. Seeing them together no longer stung the way it once had, and that was progress, at least.
Nicholas looked every inch the king in a dark suit, his expression serious but not unfriendly, while Noah smiled at our approach.
“Your Majesties,” Nicholas said, inclining his head to my parents before turning to me. “Prince Alejandro. Welcome.”
It didn’t even occur to me on our journey to Valoria that this was a moment the press would live for. I wasn’t thinking about Nicholas or Noah or broken engagements, not when my mind was on someone else entirely.
And just like I’d summoned him with my thoughts, Gabriel stepped into view behind Nicholas, and for one heart-stopping moment, everyone else disappeared.
He looked breathtaking. My memories of him hadn’t done him justice, and fuck, that wasn’t fair. He was supposed to look devastated, like he hadn’t slept well since he left me, not like he’d been thriving in my absence.
I swallowed hard as my gaze automatically dropped to his mouth—
No. I would not look at his mouth. Instead I met his eyes, and oh shit. That was worse. They were unreadable, more distant and cooler than I’d ever seen them.
“Prince Alejandro.” His smile was as tight as barbed wire. “Welcome back to Montclair.”
So formal, so unlike the Gabriel I knew that it took me aback and made me wonder if he’d switched places with his brother.
But no, I would know this man anywhere, and there was only ever one Valemont who had the effect on me that Gabriel did.
Even if he was looking at me in a way that told me he hadn’t missed me at all.
So he’d put on his armor this morning. Fine. I had armor too.
“Prince Gabriel.” I let my gaze move over him again, but this time I did it slowly and more than a little condescendingly. “You look…well.”
“I do, don’t I? I wish I could say the same for you.”
And I wished he’d said that loud enough that my parents could’ve heard the “oh so charming” Gabriel make the first jab.
I’d been told to be polite, on my best behavior. Obviously Gabriel hadn’t gotten the same directive.
He glanced down his nose at the sword at my hip. “Is that for the ribbon cutting, or are you planning on challenging the children to a dual?”
“I can think of a far better use for it at the moment. Don’t tempt me.”
He smirked, but there was no humor in it. “I already do.”
The air between us grew thicker, and as my eyes again dropped briefly to his mouth, every kiss came back in vivid detail. The rooftop terrace. The yacht. All the nights that turned into mornings in my bed or his, and all the moments in between.
But that wasn’t real. That had just been “passing time.”
My chest tightened and the walls I’d erected started to crumble as we stared at one another. I couldn’t do this. Couldn’t stand here and pretend everything was fine, that nothing had happened between us. Could I?
But as my heart began to race and Gabriel’s face blurred a little, my mother turned to me and touched my arm.
“Alejandro has been looking forward to finally making this alliance come to fruition, haven’t you?”
Saved in the nick of time. She was the grounding presence I needed right then, something she seemed to sense when she left her hand on my arm.
“Yes,” I said, dragging my attention away from the man making my system go haywire, and redirecting it to Noah. “I appreciate your stepping in and handling Valoria’s side of the project. I knew I could trust you.”
A soft scoff from Gabriel’s direction had Nicholas and me looking his way.
“Sorry,” he said, flashing a half-smile. “There was something stuck in my throat.”
“Yes, I believe that was your dignity after you checked out on the promise you made. Then again, you’re good at running away from things.”
The smile on Gabriel’s mouth pulled tight until it looked like his jaw was fused together.
Oh yes, I’d really gone and pissed him off now.
Good.
“Alejandro,” my father said in a cutting tone, and I straightened my shoulders, “that’s enough.”
“Yes,” Mother agreed. “We’re here for the children, remember?”
Yes, the children. Remember the children, Alejandro.
“Why don’t we move up here in front of the palace for a photo?” Nicholas said, gesturing to a spot where the royal-blue carpet with the Valorian crest was rolled out. “That way we can move inside and continue this there.”
In private, out of view. That’s what he really meant, because he knew as well as I did Gabriel couldn’t keep his damn mouth shut for longer than two seconds.
Or maybe he was basing that off me.
Either way, privacy might be smart, since I was now thinking about how satisfying it would be to run Gabriel through with my sword.
“That’s a wonderful idea,” Mother said as my parents moved to the spot Nicholas had suggested and took their place beside Noah and his husband.
When Gabriel and I were left looking at the small group, we both quickly moved to opposite ends of the quartet and stood like the two third wheels we were, wishing we were anywhere other than there.
Flashes went off from every damn direction as people called for us to look right, then left, then straight ahead, and it was all I could do not to growl at them all and tell them to get lost.
But instead, I squashed down my desire to be anywhere other than there and smiled brightly, playing my role to a tee.
The children. Think of the children.
After a good five minutes, Nicholas thanked everyone and gestured for us to head inside as the press was told what time and where to meet up tomorrow. The rest of the evening was for a formal dinner between the kingdoms, and that, thankfully, was happening behind closed doors.
As Nicholas and Noah led my parents inside, Gabriel and I were left to naturally follow.
It galled me to no end that this would’ve been the natural way of it no matter our past history, because I would’ve given anything in that moment to have someone to blame for my discomfort at the situation other than myself.
I mean, there was Gabriel, but that seemed like the easy way out.
When the doors to Montclair Palace closed behind us, it took everything I had not to startle. It was a drastic change from when I’d arrived the night of my supposed engagement to Nicholas—the night his no-good brother had switched places with him.
I glared at the infuriating man beside me, my anger once again boiling up as I added that deception to the long list of reasons I wanted to strangle him with my bare hands.
“Did they run out of razors in Solterra?” Gabriel’s words cut through the red haze coloring my vision. “Or were you aiming for unkempt and uncouth?”
When he finally looked in my direction, my feet faltered slightly. His once-over was slow, lazy, and lingered a little too long on my mouth to be completely disinterested.
Something I was determined to prove.
“Maybe I was going for plundering pirate.”
Gabriel’s gaze flicked back up to mine, and while he might like to pretend he wasn’t tempted, the darkening of his eyes told another story.
“It’s not going to work,” he said, coming to a stop in the middle of the grand hall. “Trying to make me remember.”
“Oh, I don’t need to try,” I said, and stepped in so close that only inches separated us. “You’re already remembering. My yacht, my hands, my mouth on yours.”
Gabriel’s breathing was coming harder now, his chest rising and falling beneath that pristine shirt—a shirt I wanted to rip off him, even as I imagined tying him somewhere and leaving him to rot.
“How many nights have you dreamed about that?”
He angled his chin up a fraction. “None.”
“Liar.” I shook my head and let out a disgusted laugh. “Always lying.”
He opened his mouth to reply, but I wasn’t interested. Not in more lies, not in this game he was trying to instigate, and the sooner I removed myself from this situation, the better.
I stalked through the hall and ballroom toward the state dining room, and with every step, there was damned Gabriel Valemont and his handsome face and charming smile.
I was only here for the kids. Not him.
Now who was lying?