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Mon ame.My soul.

Then another, and another.

Mon debut. Ma fin.My beginning. My end.

She twisted the ring between her thumb and forefinger. The whole message laid out for her to see. The secret she’d worn every day since Rafe had slipped it on her finger.

My heart, my soul. My beginning, my end. Until death.

Her eyes blurred with the sting of tears, which slid onto her cheeks. Those words. How she’d always dreamed of a man thinking of her this way. The kind of soaring passion she craved. But what of it? The ring was a family heirloom, that much she knew. Still, why give her something so deeply sentimental if it meant nothing?

She pressed her hand to her aching heart. Unable to move or breathe. Could the message on the ring be...a start? What if...? She didn’t know, her thoughts a tangle once more. She looked at the ring again. Being in love made you vulnerable, meant that you could be hurt. What if, like her fear of being unloved, Rafe feared that loving her would mean he’d be hurt again?

Which was exactly what she had done.

She heard it then. A gentle knock. A respectful cough. Lise wheeled around, brushing away the tears that marred her cheeks.Albert.For a moment, she allowed the sting of disappointment at seeing her private secretary, rather than her husband.

He entered the room, face full of sympathy. ‘I have some news about Lady Conrad.’

‘Yes?’ She’d asked Albert to find out what had gone on, since Sara hadn’t responded to her attempts. What was another rejection to add to the ever-growing list? Lise dreaded what he might say but needed to hear it all the same.

‘The English tabloids report a whirlwind romance and engagement. I haven’t been able to speak with her myself. I’m sure she’ll be in touch when she can. She’s likely afraid you’ll be hurt, so soon...after.’

Relief mingled with confusion and dismay. Rafe had said something similar.

You were grieving...

Something cracked inside that she was not sure would ever come together again. Even though their betrothal had been arranged, Lise had always trusted that Ferdinand and her best friend loved each other in some way. What else was she kidding herself to believe, which had no basis in truth? She took a slow breath to steady herself.

‘Thank you, Albert.’

He nodded to the ring, still gripped in her now quaking fingers.

‘I’d heard a rumour of its wonders, but thought it impolite to ask,’ he said in almost reverent tones, holding out his hand. ‘May I?’

Lise hesitated. She didn’t want to relinquish it, still not having come to grips with the words’ meaning, if anything at all. But Albert was like a father to her, so she dropped the ring into his palm. He turned it round, inspecting the enamel flowers. Reading the messages. A soft smile playing on his face.

‘The Crown jeweller was asked to ensure it was sound prior to the wedding. That it was fit for a Queen.’ He looked up at her, tears once more flowing freely down her cheeks, and a tiny frown creased his brow. ‘Is there anything else I might do for you, Lise?’

He was allowing her to be the woman, not his monarch.

‘I made a mistake, marrying him.’ Her voice cracked. Thinking it was one thing, admitting it to someone like Albert... ‘Rafe wanted to be King. He didn’t want me.’

‘How could henotwant you?’

That was the crucial question. ‘I—I don’t know.’

Albert looked at the ring, snapped the little enamel doors firmly shut, hiding its secrets once more, then he handed it back to her. The golden band sat warm and heavy in her palm. ‘A man who gives a woman this—’

She shook her head. ‘It was apparently his great-grandmother’s.’

‘He could have had a new ring made. One with no messages at all, yet this was the wedding ring he chose.’ Albert reached out and closed her fingers around the ring, engulfing her hand in his. ‘You need to believe you’re deserving of what it says.’

She was trying to, but there was so much still to repair it seemed insurmountable. ‘I wasn’t...kind to him.’

‘People who are afraid often aren’t.’ He let her go, clasping his hands behind his back. ‘Do you know why I stayed on as your private secretary when I could have retired?’

She shrugged. ‘I assumed you loved the role.’


Tags: Kali Anthony Billionaire Romance