“Yeah, I accidentally turned the heat up instead of down before I left the room yesterday, and it was stifling when I got back.”
I realized he hadn’t spent much time in his room for the past couple of days since he’d been spending every spare moment with me and sleeping in my bed inside the main house.
Felix continued folding clothes.
“Ah, sorry I raced out this morning,” I began. “Things were—”
He cut me off. “It’s fine.”
More packing. I felt my back teeth grind together in frustration and my eyes prickle.
“It’s not fine. Felix, will you stop for a minute and talk to me, please?” Something in my voice sounded wobbly, and I swallowed in an attempt to squelch it.
He slowly placed the last T-shirt on the stack and turned to face me.
“I’m sorry about your sister,” he said. The man was so fucking sweet, and that was not helping the wobbly bits inside of me.
“It’ll be fine,” I lied. Felix’s beautiful face twisted into an expression that called me on my bullshit—one eyebrow raised.
“No it won’t,” he said. “It’ll suck. The media will devour her. You have to keep her away from them, Lio. They’ll call her all kinds of names. They hold her to a higher standard, and you know it. Try not to let her see it. No matter how strong you think you are, the poison still seeps in.”
I thought about what it must be like to be the only son of a woman who’s just as well known for her porn films as her box-office-smashing ones. The press must have been brutal when they learned she had a child with no father. I couldn’t imagine what that had done to Felix’s sense of self-worth.
“I’ll try to protect her.” As far as promises went, it was a lame one. “Why are you packing already?”
Felix looked down at his suitcase and up at me again with confusion clear on his face. “I’m leaving in twelve hours, Lio. When did you expect me to pack?”
“Twelve hours?” The panic in my gut reared its ugly head again and stole my breath. “What? What do you mean? I thought you were leaving tomorrow morning?”
Felix reached out a hand to cup the side of my face. Without realizing it, I closed my eyes against the familiar comfort of his touch and leaned into it.
“Lio, it’s after seven. I leave at six thirty tomorrow morning.”
“No,” I breathed. “I’m not ready to say goodbye to you.”
I moved forward into his arms and tucked my face into the side of his neck. The warm thrum of his pulse pushed against my cheek.
“Felix,” I begged. “Please don’t go yet.”
Chapter 24
Felix
The whimper against my skin almost brought me to my knees. If Lio had any idea how much I wanted to stay with him, he’d run screaming back home to take the throne with pleasure just to get away from his crazy stalker. It was already taking all of my self-control not to change my travel plans and stay longer.
But I’d heard through the castle grapevine that he was leaving the following day as well, so there was no point in me extending my stay. The man had important work to do, not to mention the incredible responsibility of taking the throne if what he’d implied was true. I couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like to know it was almost your turn at bat in a position like that.
Liorland wasn’t like some other monarchies. The sitting king had an active role in running the country. It wasn’t just a figurehead position there. I’d learned over the past week that Lio had spent years of education and training preparing to lead the country after his dad’s death, but I also knew he’d never in a million years thought that time would come so soon because of his father choosing to retire instead.
I couldn’t imagine the heavy load of stress on his shoulders, and it was that thought that helped me realize what I needed to do.
“Come on. I want to go have a cup of tea in the treasury room,” I said, gently extracting him from my embrace. “Will you join me?”
I saw a spark of interest in his eyes. “Of course. Can we stop by the kitchen for something sweet to take with us?”
How could I not laugh? The prince of Liorland had just asked me permission to grab some cookies from his own castle kitchens.
“Yes, Lio. You can have some cookies with your tea,” I teased.
“Shut up. I didn’t eat dinner,” he said with a pout.
Once we had our snacks, I led Lio to the red salon and through the secret panel to his hideaway. As I knelt and pressed the stained glass crown jewel, I tried so hard not to think about the fact it would be the last time I’d ever get to do it.