Henry throws me an odd look as I pace across the carpet. When the door shuts behind him, I can’t bring myself to look at Theo. I feel sick. I don’t want to have to be the one to tell him about Henry.
My legs shake and I feel dizzy. My fingertips and lips go numb. Theo’s talking to me, but his voice sounds far away. I think I’m having a panic attack.
I fall into a chair, realizing only after I’ve sat down that it’s one of the thrones. Eighteen-year-old American Wren Wheeler on a throne.
Impossible.
Unless…
I feel like I’m going to throw up.What the hell am I supposed to do now?
I look down at the throne, and the answer to all of our problems pops into my head. It might be crazy, but when have Theo and I ever done anything that wasn’t?
I close my eyes and wish for a sign. Brooke’s words ring clearly in my mind.
Wanting a signisyour sign, Wren.
My vision from last night shifts from Chicago to Buckingham, and I see it all. Theo and me planning royal tours together. Working together to make positive changes for the future of the monarchy. Ball gowns and tiaras and a happily-ever-after.
“Wren, what’s wrong?” Theo’s voice is urgent. He kneels in front of the throne, his eyes wide with fear. It snaps me out of my panic attack, and I take my sign and run with it. I kneel on the bloodred carpet in front of the throne and say the only thing that makes sense.
“Theodore Geoffrey Edward George, will you marry me?”
His brows crease. “Did you hear what I said? Henry is going to be king. We get to be together, away from all of this.”
I don’t want to ruin his fantasy, but I’ll never be able to look him in the eye again if I don’t say something. “I think Richard Graves is Henry’s father; he’s not a legitimate heir.”
Theo blinks in shock. “What are you talking about?”
“Your blood types are different. It means that you don’t have the same two parents.”
The color drains from his face. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m not a hundred percent positive about Graves, but doesn’t him being Henry’s dad just make sense?”
I can see his mind racing until he comes to the same conclusion that I did. His eyes fill with betrayal, and it looks like falling backward off a cliff, so I give him something to hold on to.
“We’re out of options. You’re going to be the king no matter what, and I want to be with you without any of the Firm’s bullshit trying to separate us. What do you say?”
He pulls his teeth over his lower lip. “If we get married tonight, you’ll become the queen tomorrow…”
No matter the circumstances, I think somehow Theo and I were always going to find ourselves here. “I’m not interested in a path that doesn’t involve you.”
He tears his eyes away from mine and runs a hand over his face. “Even if I do everything I can to protect you, the press and public scrutiny and loss of freedom might ruin your life. Nothing has changed.”
I close the final inches between us. “We love each other, and if we let it, that changes everything.”
“I don’t want to lose you,” he says, sliding his fingers down my neck until I feel my pulse in the palm of his hand.
“Do you remember what you said in your wedding vows?” I ask.
“I said we were fate,” he whispers.
“Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not. But I choose you anyway, every day, forever.”
He kisses me once, so soft I might have imagined it. “Tonight. Under the stars.”
“Is there any other way?”
