She’s wearing a simple dress, her hair loose around her shoulders, and she’s looking forward with an expression so kind that my breath catches. The composition is intimate, the brushstrokes tender. She didn’t just put her face in the portrait. She painted herself asmyqueen. She declared her love in oil and canvas, in a medium that will hang in this palace long after we’re both gone.
My face cracks into a smile.
The gasps ripple around the room. Whispers rise into mumbles, then into full voices.
Tatiana drops a champagne glass, and it shatters against the marble, the sound cutting through the chaos.
My mother is staring at the portrait with her mouth wide open. For the first time in my life, she’s speechless. Her carefully constructed facade crumbles in real time, confusion giving way to horror, giving way to fury.
“This is—” She whirls toward me, her voice strangled.
I start laughing, but I honestly can’t fucking help myself.
The absurdity of the moment, the look on my mother’s face, combined with the fearless audacity of what Addison has done—it all crashes over me. The sound echoes through the ballroom, and I don’t care how it looks or what anyone thinks.
She did this. My brilliant, reckless, incredible queen walked into a royal palace and painted herself into my future without needing anyone’s permission. Addison’s braver than anyone I know.
I rise from the throne and cross to my mother, plucking the microphone from her limp fingers.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” I say, and my voice is steady despite the adrenaline coursing through my veins. “I’d like to sincerely apologize for the confusion. I’m sure many of you have seen the blind items and heard my dear mother tell everyone that I’ve had the choice to marry whomever I want.”
“Louis,” my mother says between clenched teeth, “don’t you dare?—”
“Unfortunately, I know many of you have been led to believe that I will be marrying Princess Tatiana.” I look out at the sea of masked faces, at the cell phones raised and the glittering spectacle of royal life. “I’m in love with Addison Cross, and as long as she says yes … that’s the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
The chaos explodes. Voices rise, cameras flash, people surge toward the platform with questions and accusations. Tatiana stands frozen.
“Hell yeah!” I hear Delphine yell from the back of the room, followed by a, “Woo-hoo.”
I glance over at my dad, who’s just as shocked, but he doesn’t look upset.
My mother grabs for the microphone, her composure shattered. “This is outrageous. He doesn’t know what he’s saying. The engagement to?—”
I smile at a stunned server and step off the platform.
“Louis!” My mother’s voice follows me across the ballroom. “Someone, stop him. He’s clearly unwell?—”
I don’t look back. I push through the crowd, ignoring the hands that reach for me and the questions shouted in my direction. The flashing cameras capture me leaving.
Right now, I have to find her.
The side door is still cracked, and I burst through it into the dim corridor, seeing her at the end of the hallway.
“Addison!” I say, jogging toward her.
29
ADDISON
Imay have balls of steel, but I can’t be in the ballroom when the cloth is pulled off the canvas.
I burst out of the room, rushing to the end of the hallway as fast as I can with my heels clicking on the floor. Thankfully, the corridor is empty. Everyone is still enjoying the party, but I need to disappear.
The queen and Tatiana will not be happy. Louis might not be either—that’s the part that terrifies me most. But enough is enough. I can’t keep pretending, and I don’t care who knows anymore.
I won’t become Henri.
A few nights ago, alone in the studio at two a.m., I made a choice. Delphine had shared what had been discussed behind closed doors, and she confirmed that Tatiana would not end things with Louis. So, I picked up my brush and made a decision that could ruin everything.
