Chapter Fifteen
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Annalena hurried down the corridor. Her old laptop had died and though IT had promised to fix it quickly, she’d belatedly realised there was an urgent item she’d promised to read.
She could have made do with her phone but instead made for her husband’s office.
Any excuse to see him!
Once that would have disturbed her, now it made her smile. Where once there’d been distrust, now there was intimacy, emotional intimacy. Trust and, with it, hope.
Hope that their convenient, dynastic marriage had become something more meaningful.
She hugged that hope to herself as she turned a corner. Benno respected and cherished her. He might not realise it but he’d changed, as she had.
How much she’d changed! She remembered opening her eyes and seeing the world altered. Because she’d finally made sense of her feelings. Benno was complex, with faults and strengths. He wasn’t always right and he still tended to think his way was the best way, but he listened and he genuinely cared.
He understood how she thought and, so often, how she felt. They’d both been trained to keep emotions hidden and sublimate their own wishes for the greater good. With Benedikt she felt truly seen for the first time.
He could be so tender, so generous. So lovable.
She was in love with her husband!
Instead of her thinking that a disaster, it gave her hope for the future.
Look at the trouble he was going to, converting a more modern part of the palace into their private accommodation.
Far from the state rooms, it would be comfortable and streamlined, with no overblown ornamentation, and it would have an unrivalled view of the pretty walled garden. He knew how much she loved that.
With a rap on the door and a smile on her lips, she entered, only to discover the offices empty. Matthias and Benno were absent.
Huffing a sigh of disappointment she made for Benno’s desk. He wouldn’t mind her logging on to access her mail.
He mustn’t have gone far for the screen was still on. She settled in the chair, about to minimise that screen when something caught her eye.
Urgent. Confidential. Legitimacy of Sovereignty.
She didn’t consciously decide to open it but a second later she was reading the extraordinary message sent by a legal expert who’d unearthed a long-forgotten document.
To rule in their own right, future sovereigns must be the child of a member of the House of Prinzenberg and born into a marriage that was celebrated publicly in the Royal Cathedral of Prinzenberg.
Annalena stared, unable to believe what she read. There was more, extolling the importance of giving the public certainty about claimants to the throne.
The lawyer explained there was no doubt the document was real and valid. He’d confidentially checked with the most senior constitutional lawmakers. So, he concluded, he felt it necessary to bring this to His Majesty’s attention, given the current unique situation.
He means you sharing the crown with Benno.
Benno must have consulted the man about his options when she first came to the palace.
She swallowed. Benedikt’s parents had married in the cathedral but hers hadn’t.
This document destroyed her claim to the throne.
Oma had always said her parents had planned to renew their marriage vows in public, at the cathedral. Was this why? Had they known about this decree? Whatever they’d intended, it hadn’t happened because her father had died.
So you never had a claim to the throne.
Oma couldn’t have known that.
Benno’s power-sharing deal, his marriage offer, was based on a lie. Her threat to take the crown from him had been no threat at all.
She pressed a hand to her throat where it felt as if her heart were trying to escape. The whole basis of their marriage was invalid.
Aghast, she looked at the date of the email. Two weeks ago. She slumped back in his chair, disbelieving.
He’d known for a fortnight and hadn’t said a word to her! Why? Annalena’s nape prickled, skin tightening as a chill enveloped her.
So much for trust, for sharing.
She pressed her other hand to her churning stomach. While she’d been reading so much into their improved relationship, Benedikt had kept this from her.
She’d believed their relationship was open and honest. Special . Yet he’d lied by omission.
Lied about something fundamental. For two weeks!
Did Benno, the man who’d inveigled his way into her trust and her heart, truly exist?
Or had she imagined him, reading too much into physical intimacy and her husband’s efforts to make their relationship easier?
Had he simply been making the best of it?
He’d said more than once that sex was their compensation for a dynastic union.
Said too that love was off the table, and after his revelations she understood that love wouldn’t come easily to him. His dysfunctional family had damaged his view of himself and his ability to trust.
Had she let great sex and a little consideration turn her head? Had she confused physical intimacy with real affection? It didn’t seem possible, yet…
She shot to her feet and crossed the room, as far from the email as she could get. Backed up against a bookcase, she wrapped her arms around her middle, fighting shudders as she thought back over the past two weeks.
He’d been more distracted though he’d denied it.
Meanwhile he’d encouraged her to devote more time to her scientific work.
Her heart had melted when he’d called that work valuable, saying it would be criminal for her to give up her career completely.
When he’d suggested a plan to give her more time for that, devoting only a few days a week to royal obligations, she’d rejoiced.
You thought he cared. But maybe it wasn’t that at all. Maybe it’s the first step in…
Separation? Divorce? Unseating her from the throne?
Once she’d have jumped at anything that took her away from royal responsibilities. Now she’d begun to feel pride and satisfaction in some of them, feeling she was contributing to her country. The work stretched her and she welcomed that.
But her husband didn’t need her any more.
He encouraged her to spend more time at the research and development centre in Edelforst. It had been she who’d hesitated.
Because she didn’t want to be away from him, restricting herself to working from the palace except when they visited Edelforst and she’d catch up with her colleagues and Oma.
While you were dreaming of happy-ever-afters and a family with him, he was pushing you away.
Could it be true? Everything rebelled at the idea.
You’re the wife he had to have. Never the wife he wanted. Now he’s learned he doesn’t need you and he’s already looking for distance.
Had she been living a fool’s dream, building castles in the air? She knew he didn’t love her. Just because she’d fallen in love with him, she’d told herself he might eventually feel the same way about her.
The fact is, he’s happier without you around. You were always the outsider. You never fitted here. You weren’t even his first choice of bride!
Her emotions hit rock bottom. Did he feel anything for her apart from lust? As for manipulating her towards a separation via the career she loved, did he think that the easiest way, or was he trying to be kind?
The thought he might pity her, on top of his deviousness, was the final straw.
She dragged in a shallow breath then another and another but couldn’t suck in enough oxygen. She needed to think and she couldn’t do that here.
Swallowing choking emotion, furious with herself for her naivety, Annalena stumbled from the room.
Benedikt’s worry grew when he found their new rooms deserted, bar the team refurbishing the floorboards. He’d pinned his hopes on finding her there. He’d already tried their current suite and questioned every staff member he saw, but none had seen Lena.
Returning to the office twenty minutes ago, he’d only got as far as Matthias’s desk when his assistant said he’d seen the Queen hurrying down the corridor, visibly upset.
Matthias never exaggerated and Lena never broadcast her emotions in public. If she looked upset something was badly wrong. Benedikt had spun on his heel and gone to find her.
Unease gripped him. What had happened? Why hadn’t she waited to talk with him? He’d thought they could discuss anything now that she trusted him.
Lena spoke with him openly and they’d found commonality in their odd childhoods, separate from their peers, always different, coping with others’ expectations while finding their own way in the world.
He’d told her things he’d hugged to himself all his life.
Lena insisted that his tendency to strategise and command weren’t proof that he’d inherited even worse traits from his father.
She saw positives in his character and her habit of asking for clarification on decisions made him pause more often now before taking action.
She’d changed his life, given him so much.
The thought of her hurting created a physical ache.
His gaze lighted on the walled garden beyond the window where his mother had so often sought refuge. Had Lena gone there too? He strode towards an exit.
Pausing outside the summerhouse, he breathed deep. Whatever was wrong, Lena needed him strong and supportive.
‘Lena! Sweetheart?’
For a moment he didn’t see her against the light streaming in the windows, then a shadow shifted, a figure moving to sit up straight on the sofa.
Relief caught his breath as he strode across and sank down beside her. ‘What’s wrong?’
Her mouth was drawn with pain and her eyes were pink and puffy. His alarm intensified. Lena didn’t cry. Even when he’d cornered her into an unwanted marriage she’d been upset and defiant, not teary.
‘Your grandmother?’
Had something happened to the old lady? The two were close. He reached for Lena’s hand but she pulled away.
The gesture, small but definite, made everything inside him go cold and still. ‘Lena, what is it?’