“Thank you,” I whisper.
“Let me know what he says,” he tells me, and I promise I will.
I slip out of the study and make my way to the other side of the palace. I pass portraits of people I’ve never met. Many of them lived and died within these walls without ever knowing what existed beyond them. That can’t be me. I refuse to let it be.
Father’s study door is cracked open, and I pause outside, watching him through the gap. He’s sitting by the window, a book open in his lap, but he’s still focused on the gardens. There’s color in his cheeks and a clarity in his gaze that was missing during the worst of the treatments.
I knock softly on the doorframe.
“Delphine.” He smiles when he sees me. It’s the one that makes me feel like I’m still his little girl. “I was wondering if I’d see you today.”
“Yeah? Scared I wouldn’t give you the royaltea?”
“I know everything that happens in this palace with or without you.” He closes his book and sets it aside. “But I’m happy to see you. Come. Sit with me.”
I move to the chair beside him and tuck my legs under my body as I sit. The fire crackles as the afternoon light fades into dusk.
“What’s on your mind?” Father asks.
“I’d like to formally request leave for a year. I’d like to move to New York.”
“Move? That’s what this is about?” Father smiles. “Where will you live?”
“I’m not sure yet. But I want to go under one of my aliases after the holidays.”
His eyes study me. “And what will you do?”
“I’ve thought about anonymously sharing my life online. I want to live my life. Be free. Figure out who I am.” My eyes are burning, and this time, I don’t try to stop the tears. “I don’t know why I’m getting emotional. There’s also a part of me that doesn’t want to leave you. Not after everything. Not when you?—”
“Delphine, I’m not going anywhere.” His voice is firm. “I have plenty of life left, God willing, and I intend to spend it watching my children build lives that make them happy.” He gives me a smile, the way he used to do when I was small and afraid of thunderstorms. “Go to New York. Please, no scandals, not after the cleanup that we’re still doing with Louis and Addison. There have been enough rumors and drama to last a lifetime.”
I laugh through the tears. “Thank you, Dad.”
Father leans back in his chair and gives me that knowing gaze that always sees too much. “You have fire in you, Delphine. I’ve seen it since you were a child, burning through rules and expectations and anyone who tried to tell you who to be. You haven’t found the thing worth fighting for yet.”
“What if I never do?”
“You will.” He says it with such certainty that I almost believe him. “I’ll let the council know that you’re planning to take some time away. And when you’re ready to come home, we’ll be here.”
I lean over and hug him, breathing in the familiar scent of an evergreen cologne he’s worn since I was born. He holds me tight, and I let myself be held because I don’t know when I’ll have this again. January feels like forever away, but also like tomorrow.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“I love you too, little one.” He kisses the top of my head. “Now, I’ll let you tell your mother yourself.”
“Thanks a lot. I thought you’d do me a favor and let her know,” I say, pulling away, wiping my eyes.
I can’t help but laugh at myself for being so emotional. I’ve been trained to keep composure in any situation, but nothing has prepared me for leaving the only home I’ve ever known.
I stand with a smile. “Thank you for allowing this.”
“You’d better go before I change my mind and lock you in a tower.”
I’m still laughing as I slip into the corridor and close the door behind me.
When I’m back in my quarters, I pull out my laptop and open the listing I’ve been staring at for three days.
For weeks, I’ve been daydreaming as I searched for the perfect place. Money isn’t the problem. I have access to my trust fund, and my father has always been generous. The issue I’ve run into is finding somewhere I can actually disappear. Most of the luxury buildings in Manhattan are crawling with the kind of people who summer in Monaco and winter in St. Barts. Being in those neighborhoods would automatically out me because I’d be recognized in a glance.
