He stays inside of me even as he starts to soften, both of us panting. “You’re going to have to do that every day,” I tease him breathlessly. “Maybe twice a day, to make up for how long you made me wait for it.”
Liam pushes himself up on both of his hands, leaning over me as he looks down into my eyes, his face filling with hope. “Are you going to stay then, lass? Do you forgive me?”
“I forgive you,” I whisper, reaching up to touch his cheek. “But as far as me staying–” I slip out from under him, feeling the soft weight of his cock against my thigh as I move away, pulling my dress down around my hips as we both sit there on the floor, looking at each other. “We’re not free yet, Liam. Alexandre is still here. You’re still engaged. We don’t know whose baby this is–”
“I meant it when I said I didn’t care.” Liam grabs my hand, looking into my eyes. “I meant it, Ana. All I care about is that you love me. I’ll deal with Saoirse–Ihave. I’ve told her and her father both that I can’t–that Iwon’tmarry her. All that’s left is to tell the Kings my choice. And as for Alexandre–”
“I know I can’t go back to him,” I say softly. “But Liam–Ineedyou to understand that he once meant something to me. What I needed at that time, in Paris, he gave me. In his own way, he saved me, too, even if it couldn’t last. It was like a dream, some kind of strange dark fairytale, and I need you to find your peace with that, Liam. If I can make peace with Franco being your brother, with the secrets you’ve kept from me, then you can find a way to be at peace with the fact that Alexandre and I did share a certain type of love.”
“A dark fairytale.” Liam gives me a sad half-smile. “Does that make me the knight that saved you, then?”
I laugh softly. “Yes,” I murmur. “I think you could say that.”
“That makes Alexandre the villain,” Liam points out.
“Every villain has a story too.” I shake my head. “Liam, he’s been punished enough. He’s lost me and any chance of us having this child together. I’ve chosen you, Liam–that has to be enough. If Alexandre can let me go, then youhaveto promise me that you’ll let Alexandre go, too–that you can put this behind you, behindus, and that we can move on. It’s the only way this will ever work.”
Liam is quiet for a long moment. Finally, he looks up at me, and he nods. “I’ll do that, Ana. I’ll put it behind me, I swear.”
“Can you do that?” I search his face, trying to find the truth there. “You swear to me that you can?”
“Yes, Ana. For you, I would do anything.”
And then his lips are on mine again, sealing the promise with a kiss.
—
We go back to the hotel together. When we walk into Alexandre’s room, he’s awake, propped slightly up on pillows, with Max sitting next to his bed. Alexandre’s eyes widen when he sees me, and Max starts to get up to leave, but Alexandre puts a hand out to stop him.
“Please stay,” he says quietly, and Max sinks back into the chair, glancing at us as he does so.
“Alexandre–” I start to speak, but he shakes his head.
“Petit, please, let me go first. You must at least give me this if you are going to say what I believe you are.”
I hesitate, but Liam squeezes my hand, and I nod. “Alright,” I say softly. “Go ahead.”
“When the two of you left,petit, after I regained consciousness, Maximilian stayed here and talked with me, all through the night while the two of you were gone. And he has helped me to–understand some things.”
Alexandre pauses, breathing with some effort, and I can see the pain on his face–whether physical or emotional or some mixture of both, I’m not entirely sure. “I love you,petit,” he says quietly. “I know that you may believe I do not know real love any longer, but I assure you that I do. I wanted–” he pauses, swallowing hard. “It does not matter, though, not any longer. I love you, I love the child that we might have made together, but I also know now that you are right. There’s no future for us, especially not with a child.” He smiles sadly. “There might once have been that future for me, with the first woman I loved. Perhaps I could have had all of it–the wife, the house, thebébé, the life that Margot and I dreamed of.”
“I’m sorry, Alexandre–”
“I was angry with you,petit, and I am sorry–sorry for taking it out on you. I was angry that you broke your vow not to leave me. I wanted to punish you for lying to me, to see you suffer the way I have suffered seeing you withmonsieurMcGregor, losing you.”
I open my mouth to speak, feeling the pain of his words, his accusations cutting into me, but Alexandre puts up a hand.
“Please,petit, let me finish while I have the strength.” He coughs, wincing in pain. “I no longer believe,petit, that you lied to me or that you deserve to suffer for leaving me. The good father–”
“Max is fine,” Max cuts in. “I’m no longer deserving of that title.”
“Maximilian has helped me understand that sometimes you make a vow out of necessity–knowing you will have to break it, no matter the cost.” Alexandre looks at Liam as he says this and then back at me, his voice softening. “And sometimes you make a vow out of love, believing you will keep it–but sometimes you cannot.”
I bite my lip, feeling tears come to my eyes. “Alexandre, I–”
“I see now that a broken vow does not always mean it was a lie. You can mean it, this promise you made, and still break it. I see that you could have loved me and wanted to stay and yet still had to leave in the end. You are, after all, not so broken as you once were. How could I keep you?” There are tears in his eyes too, and he motions for me to come closer.
I glance at Liam, who lets go of my hand and nods. That small gesture goes straight to my heart, because it means that he trusts me–trusts me to come back to him. To go to Alexandre and say our goodbyes, honor what Alexandre and I meant to each other, and return to my future once I’ve settled the past.