"You were manipulating me.You were sitting there watching me stress about meeting my fiancé while you pretended to be someone else entirely.Do you have any idea how that feels?"
He stepped toward me, and I stepped back.
"Betty, everything I told you was true.Everything except my name.The person you got to know in those stables, that's who I really am.Not the formal prince in the portraits, not the diplomatic mask I wear at functions.You saw the real me."
"Did I?Because right now I'm looking at a stranger."I gestured at his uniform, the medals, the sash."This is who you really are.A prince who lies to people to get what he wants."
"What I wanted was a chance to know you without the politics getting in the way.What I wanted was to see if we could have something real before we were trapped in a marriage neither of us chose."
"And what did you decide?After your little evaluation?Did I pass the test?"
"It wasn't a test."
"It was absolutely a test.You were checking to see if I was suitable.If I was worthy of being your princess.And I was too stupid to realize I was being auditioned the entire time."
"Betty."His voice cracked on my name."I wasn't auditioning you.I was falling in love with you."
The words hit me like cold water.
"Don't," I said."Don't you dare say that to me right now."
"It's true.Every moment I spent with you, I fell a little harder.Your humor, your kindness, the way you refuse to let anyone make you feel small.The way you talk to horses like they're friends and staff like they're equals.The way you make coffee like it's an art form and complain about protocol like it's a personal enemy."He took another step forward."I fell in love with you, Betty.The real you.Not the princess Madame Delacroix is trying to create."
"And you showed me that love by lying to me for days?"
"I showed you who I really am when no one's watching.I gave you the parts of myself I don't show anyone else."
"Except you didn't give me the most basic truth.Your name.Your identity.The fact that you're the man I'm being forced to marry."
"Would you have let me in if you'd known?"he asked."Would you have joked with me, confided in me, almost kissed me if you'd known I was the prince?"
"I don't know.But that should have been my choice to make."
He was quiet for a moment.When he spoke again, his voice was rough."You're right.I took that choice away from you, and I'm sorry.I'm more sorry than I can express."
"Sorry doesn't fix this."
"I know.But I'm going to spend however long it takes trying to earn back your trust.Because what we had in those stables was real, Betty.The connection, the laughter, the way we fit together.That was real."
"Was it?Or was it just good acting?"
He looked like I'd slapped him.Part of me was glad.The other part, the part that still remembered how safe I'd felt in the stables, how seen, how understood...that part wanted to take the words back.
I didn't.
"There's a room full of diplomats waiting to see us presented as a happy couple," I said, my voice flat."I assume we still have to go through with that."
"Betty..."
"The wedding is in three days.The stupid alliance depends on it.Nothing that happened between us changes that."I straightened my spine and lifted my chin, channeling every ounce of royal bearing Madame Delacroix had tried to drill into me."We’ll pretend to be in love for the cameras.Apparently, you’re good at pretending."
I walked toward the door without looking back.
"Betty, wait."
I stopped but didn't turn around.
"I know you're angry.You have every right to be.But please don't let this destroy what we were building."
