She knew the answer in an instant.
“I’d like to stay in Linnaea.”
Alaric nodded. The look of pride on his face touched her.
“I’m glad,” he said, and he sounded as if he genuinely meant it. “I tend to do well with Linnaea’s finances, laws, rules. The country could benefit from having someone who sees shades of gray, not just the black and white that has been my life.”
Clara arched a brow as she tucked a long strand of white-blond hair behind her ear. “What an astute self-observation, Your Highness.”
Alaric bowed his head. “Thank you.”
Briony set the empty water glass on an end table.
“Thank you, Alaric. I don’t know if Daxon will let me stay once the engagement is officially ended—”
“Let me worry about him.”
Judging by the ice in Alaric’s gaze, Daxon had a lot to answer for. There was a slight pang in Briony’s chest that she had struck out twice when it came to father figures in her life. But then she released it. She may not have a father, or the man she’d fallen in love with, but she had a half brother she was coming to care for very much and, if Clara’s unexpected support was anything to go by, another friend right here in the palace.
Really, she thought as a tiny seed of hope lodged in her chest, when she thought about it, she had a lot to be grateful for. The best part was she’d chosen all of it, not because she had to, not out of some misguided loyalty to family, but because she’d wanted it.
Briony stood.
“Thank you both. If you hadn’t welcomed me in, I’d still be crying alone in my room.”
Alaric stood and came around the desk. He grasped both her hands.
“He’s a fool, Briony.”
She nodded. “He is. But he’s a fool who’s hurting very deeply.”
“No excuse,” Alaric retorted.
But you don’t know him like I do.
How could Cass even begin to compare himself to Daxon? Misguided, yes, and at times selfish. Yet in the time she’d come to know him, truly know him, she’d found that Prince Cassius Morgan Adama shared far more in common with Cass Morgan than probably even he himself realized. The man she’d started to fall for in Kansas had turned out to be so much more than she could have ever hoped for.
One day, she would be able to look back on that and smile knowing she had loved an incredible man.
“We’ll agree to disagree,” she said with a soft smile.
“For now. What else can I do?”
The idea popped into her head. At first it surprised her. But the more she thought about it, the more it felt right.
“Can you cover me for a couple days? There’s someone I have to visit.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
RAYSOFEARLY-MORNINGsun filtered through the snow-covered trees. A whisper of a breeze trailed through the branches, releasing an occasional dusting that sparkled like fairy dust before it fell to the white ground. Somewhere deep in the woods, a bird tweeted a soft greeting. It was the kind of scenery painters rushed to capture and poets wrote odes to.
Cass barely noticed it as he wandered aimlessly through the snow. He didn’t care about the beauty of his surroundings. If he focused on it too long, he would start to think about Briony, about how much she would love it and how she would probably lob a snowball at him when he wasn’t looking.
You did the right thing.
He’d been playing that mantra in his head over and over again since last night. At first, it had done its job. It had stopped him from doing something rash like going after her. After the fourth shot of brandy had made the world tilt a little too much, he’d managed to sneak back to his room and fall into bed, his repetition providing some comfort as he drifted into a restless sleep.
But halfway through the night, when he’d awoken and reached out to touch her, only to have his hand graze the cold sheets, he’d had a moment of panic. How could he have let her go? Even if he couldn’t return her love, he could have given her the world.