“You wrote about it,” she says sweetly. “In your letters home. Something about an impossible training exercise in the rain?”
“The mountain navigation challenge.” Rangi’s deep laugh hits me right in the gut. “Your brother’s creativity with profanity was impressive. Especially when he slipped half-way down a cliff-face.”
“I seem to recall you weren’t far behind me,” I counter, unable to help myself.
He grins, tossing me a knowing look. “True. But I made falling look good.”
The way Charlotte’s gaze bounces between us makes me nervous. I’ve seen that calculating glance before.
“The gardens,” I remind her firmly.
“Of course.” She loops her arm through Rangi’s, ignoring protocol completely. “You must tell me about yourself, Captain. Leo’s letters were always frustratingly vague about his fellow soldiers.”
“Were they?” Rangi asks, raising an eyebrow at me.
“The meeting, Leo,” Victoria prompts, tapping her foot anxiously.
“Yes, the meeting,” I agree quickly. I lean in to press a kiss to my sister’s cheek, whispering in her ear. “Charlotte, please for the love of all that is holy, don’t say anything embarrassing.”
“I make no promises.” She winks at me. “Come along, Captain. I want to hear all about my brother’s military adventures.”
He inclines his head, but his eyes hold mine. “We’ll speak later. I’m sure we have much to catch up on.”
As they walk away, I hear Rangi’s rich laugh again. “Well, there was this one time with a boar...”
I groan internally. Between Charlotte’s matchmaking and Rangi’s presence, I might not survive this visit with my dignity intact.
2
RANGI
The heritage gardens of Astipia Palace are nothing like the carefully manicured spaces shown in tourist photos. Here, in the private section reserved for the royal family, wild roses climb ancient stone walls and native plants grow in organized chaos. Like everything about this place, there’s meaning layered upon meaning—history written in flowers and stone.
“You’re analysing everything like a tactical exercise,” Princess Charlotte observes, her arm still looped through mine with a casual familiarity that feels at odds with the grandeur surrounding us.
“Force of habit.” I help her navigate a particularly uneven section of path. “Though I admit, this place is... overwhelming.”
She laughs, the sound bright and unrestrained. “The palace? Yes, it takes some getting used to. Even growing up here, sometimes I turn a corner and find myself startled by some new discovery. Unlike that.” She points to a worn section of wall where tiny painted handprints have been preserved in thestone. “Leo, Kit, and I did that after Father’s coronation. The stonemasons were horrified, but he insisted on keeping it.”
My fingers itch to touch those small prints, to imagine Leo as a boy, before duty and discipline shaped him into the man who now stands so carefully apart from all others.
“Speaking of….” She eyes me with a devilish grin. “Tell me about your time serving with my brother. Was he a terrible soldier?”
“He was different in the field,” I say carefully, testing the waters. “Less...”
“Uptight? Prudish?” Charlotte says with a knowing smile. “Yes, Kit and I noticed the change when he came back from his first tour. He seemed more comfortable in his own skin. Then something changed.” She glances at me sideways. “Around the time of his last deployment.”
I remember that time all too well. The long nights on patrol, quiet conversations in our native tongue, the way Leo would let his guard down when we were alone.
Those moments had become precious to me—I’d found myself anticipating them during long, tense days. In the darkness, beneath stars so bright they seemed close enough to touch, the prince would become simply Leo—thoughtful, wry, and surprisingly honest.
I’d watch the firelight play across his aristocratic features, softening them, revealing glimpses of the man beneath the royal mask. Until he’d been summoned back to the palace and his father had died. When he’d returned months later, his walls were higher than ever, reinforced with royal duty and carefully maintained distance.
It had stung more than I cared to admit. The casual dismissal of what had grown between us. I understood it, of course—his sister now sat on the throne, and suddenly the “spare” was under scrutiny like never before. The palace walls have eyes, and a prince caught in an unsanctioned relationship would have created the kind of scandal that could damage the newly crowned queen’s authority. His duty to protect his sister, his family’s legacy, had to come first.
Understanding didn’t ease the pain, though. If anything, that glimpse of the real Leo—the man who existed when no one was watching—only made me more determined to reach past his royal defences. To find him again, if he’d let me.
“Your brother is a good man. He’s served his country well.”
