“Well? Are you going to explain?” Caitlyn pressed.
“I’ll try. I’m not sure you can really understand what the pressures of being in line for a throne are like.”
“You left me because of stress?” She pursed her lips and held her flute to the side.
“No.” Emrys sat and folded his hands on the table. “I did study acting at Oxford. That much was true—”
“I know. It’s on your Wikipedia page. But you didn’t just say you studied there. You said you were from England.” Caitlyn set her glass down so hard that a little champagne spilled out. “Why did you lie? And why didn’t you just tell me at the end it had to be over? It would have still hurt, but it would have hurt a lot less!”
“I didn’t know, Cait.” Emrys pinned her down with his gaze.
“You didn’t know you weren’t English? I can’t help you with that.”
Emrys slapped his hand hard against the table. “Let me finish!”
Caitlyn jumped and straightened in her seat. “Do finish, Your Highness.”
Emrys looked upon the hardness of her face. It didn’t suit her. What suited her was the rosy flush of her cheek in excitement, breathless sighs on her lips, and stars in her eyes.
“At the time, I believed I could do as I liked. I could go train as an actor, I could live my life, I could love as I wished. I enjoyed being an ordinary man. But when I returned home that summer, my father told me that I was to be married.” Emrys spread his hands at Caitlyn’s expression of alarm. “She wasn’t too thrilled about the prospect either, believe me. Miranda had another man in her life at the time, but both of us were compelled by our parents to take our engagement seriously. They’d announced it before either of us had heard a word of it.”
“That’s awful. What, did you just arrive home to find yourself at an engagement party?” Caitlyn leaned forward curiously.
“Not quite so dramatic, but near to. I arrived to be told by my father what was to happen. And we went along with it for a time. Miranda and I both played our roles well enough.” Emrys sighed. “I was so deeply ashamed, my Caitlyn. How could I keep trying to love you when I knew I had to marry soon? How could I ask you to tolerate my marrying another?”
Caitlyn touched his hand.
“I had a choice, of course. I could have told him no. I should have.” Emrys lifted her hand to his lips. “In the end, Miranda was the strong one in our relationship. She called it off and told them that marrying me would be like marrying her cousin, and she wouldn’t do it.”
Caitlyn’s brow furrowed. She looked so terribly conflicted. Emrys needed to turn that conflict in his favor.
“After that, I couldn’t bring myself to ask your forgiveness. We hadn’t spoken for nearly two years.”
“The joke’s on you, I guess,” Caitlyn managed in a thick voice. “I would have taken you back, even then.”
“And now?”
“I…I don’t know. I’ve spent so much time putting myself back together.” Caitlyn pulled back her hand, but Emrys held her fast. “What do I do? I can’t survive it again, Emrys. What happens if I forgive you, only to have another set of ‘matters’ come up?”
Emrys stroked her hand with his fingers. “I’ll have to work my hardest to earn back your trust.”
“How can you?” Caitlyn shook her head. “You’re an actor. And not a terrible one, in spite of the movie I just saw.”
Emrys laughed. “I’ll have to show you my deleted scenes. There was a whole plot cut from this one.”
“Well. Gotta make room for that drag race in the middle that made no narrative sense.”
“This is true.” Emrys topped off his champagne glass. “You must understand my position. I’m comfortable with what I earn as an actor, but my trust fund doesn’t mature for years yet. My father has seen to that.”
“He’s still annoyed with you for not marrying that Miranda,” Caitlyn guessed.
“Very. I’m allowed home, of course, but I’m quite independent. This is the cost.”
Caitlyn bowed her head slightly, then took a sip of the champagne. She seemed to be pondering his words deeply when their solitude was intruded upon by her friends appearing by their table.
“Hey! Look who’s a fan now!” said one, squeezing Caitlyn’s shoulders.
Caitlyn sneered back at her friend.
Emrys smiled and rose to speak to them. He turned on every bit of charm he had as he gave them a bow and answered their questions about the movie. One of them was so astonished that he didn’t actually have an American accent that she seemed to nearly fall over (though it may have been due to the champagne).