She bites her lip, and something passes over her features.
“What is it?”
“Max, there’s something I need to tell you,” she begins, her features tight, and I want to reach out and touch her, to soften the hard edges of her face, smooth the worry from her forehead.
Could this be what she’s withheld from me?
“You can tell me anything.”
She begins to pace the room, her hands clutched together. I wait, my heart hurting for her. Whatever this thing is she’s been so hesitant to tell me, it certainly weighs heavily on her.
“This isn’t easy for me,” she says, coming to a stop beside me.
I reach for her hand, lift it to my lips, and brush a kiss across her knuckles. “I find the best thing to do is to just come out and say it.”
She nods her head a few times, the look in her eyes intense. “You’re right,” she says as she grips my hand so tight she’s in fear of cutting off the blood supply. “You’re right.” She takes a deep breath and begins. “Here goes. I’m not—” she begins, just as the door flies open with a bang andAmelia rushes in.
She’s got her phone in hand, her face pale.
When her eyes land on us, she comes to a sudden stop. "There you are, Max!" Her gaze fixes on Fabiana, and her eyes widen. For a moment, she just stares at her, her mouth opening as if to say something, before snapping shut again. Something flashes across her features, then her expression hardens as she looks back at me.
“Amelia?” I question, not sure what to make of this odd entrance.
"Oh, please tell me you already know about this!" she exclaims.
“About what?” I ask, frustrated that Fabiana didn’t have the chance to finish what she’d begun to tell me. “Ami, we’re in the middle of something important here.”
“Is it true?” she asks Fabiana.
Fabiana looks equally confused. “Is what true?”
“This!” Amelia brandishes her phone in the air.
“Have you had too much caffeine today, Ami, because you’re seriously wired,” I say with a snicker.
Amelia marches over to me and grabs me by the arm, pulling me away from Fabiana.
“What the heck, Ami?” I protest.
“You need to read thisnow, Max,” she hisses as she thrusts her phone in front of me.
“What’s going on?” Fabiana asks, and I’m surprised to hear a tremor in her voice.
I shrug. “No clue, but Ami’s being a total drama queen. As usual.”
“Read it,” my sister insists, thrusting her phone at me once more, so close it almost hits my nose.
“Since you asked so nicely.” I take it from her and immediately my belly tightens with apprehension as I read the headline.
Royal RomCom or RomCon?
I look back at my sister. “What is this?”
“Keep reading,” she instructs again, sounding more like bossy Sofia than my fun-loving sister.
I scroll down to see that the article is accompanied by a grainy photo of Fabiana and me kissing in the palace carpark. My heart leaps into my mouth. “Oh, no.” I turn to Fabiana. “They know.”
“Know what?” she asks, her voice low and steady.
