“But it is,” I say with a too-casual grin.
“It doesn’t have to be.”
My heart drums a pulsing rhythm at those words. My feet beg to move, to close the distance between us, to wrap my arms around him and tell him how badly I want this to be real. But it isn’t. “Itispretend, Franco. You can’t change that.”
He takes a few steps closer. “Yes, we can. I could court you…asyou.”
I shake my head, smothering the hope that blooms inside me. “No, you can’t. You don’t even know me. I’m not a princess. I’m not someone you could ever court. You know nothing about who I really am.”
“Idoknow you. I may not know every fact, but I’ve gotten to know you more in two weeks than I’ve ever gotten to know a person in my lifetime. The same goes for how I’ve allowed you to know me. I’ve shared things with you I’ve never told anyone.”
A lump rises in my throat. “You’re wrong. You only think you know me. I’m sorry. I’m not who you think I am.”
“I don’t—”
“I’m leaving.” The word comes out in a rush. “I’m leaving, Franco. At midnight. By then, I’ll have no bargain to hold me back. I never meant to stay.”
“You’re leaving?” His expression shifts into one of pain. Confusion. “I…I thought you had until the rest of the month?”
“I misled you.”
He furrows his brow. “I know you’d planned on leaving once your bargain with Maisie was fulfilled, but…hasn’t anything changed for you?Everythinghas changed for me. I don’t want to lose you.”
“Nothing has changed for me. Nothing. I wasn’t a princess when I got here and I’m not a princess now. I’m not even a lady’s maid.” My voice breaks, catching on a sob that builds in my throat. I retreat a few steps. “If…if I was anyone else…”
“I don’t want you to be anyone else.” He steps forward, and terror runs through me. Not for fear of him, but of what I’ll do if he so much as touches me. With one touch, I might unravel. Might open my heart to him, reveal my identity, show him who I am. Someone he’ll have no choice but to rebuff.
He can’t marry someone like me. If he knew who I was, he’d see at once that I don’t belong here. Not with him.
So I unleash the one weapon I know I can use against him. The only thing that will keep those arms at bay, prevent them from wrapping around me.
“And I don’t wantyou.” My heart recoils at the sound of the words leaving my mouth, at the bitter taste they leave on my tongue.
He freezes, hand outstretched in the process of reaching for me. Slowly, he lets it fall to his side.
My insides scream at me to take it back. To erase the agonized look in his eyes. To tell him the truth.
But whatisthe truth?
That I’m falling in love with someone who could never love me back? That I’ve already fallen in love with him and all he knows is an illusion?
Swallowing every soft word that begs to be released, I keep my tone firm. “Don’t stop me. Don’t follow me.” With that, I turn and run the rest of the way to the palace while tears stream down my cheeks.
* * *
FRANCO
I watch her go, feeling as if she’s taken my heart with her. A searing pain strikes my chest. Shadows writhe around me, making me tremble. My body wants to contract and fold in on itself. I feel as if I’m small again, flooding the halls of the palace with my unruly emotion.
But I’m not small anymore.
With a deep breath, I gain control over my shadows, and the darkness retreats, returning to its proper place inside me. I stare down the trail where Em fled. My heart urges me to follow. Urges me to speak more of the truth I’d only just begun to say.
But her angry words echo through my mind.
I don’t wantyou.
Don’t stop me.
