I’ve always admired her bravery, but now I see her as truly fearless because she’s willing to risk it all to get it right.
She wants me to acknowledge how I’ve treated her. That I’ve been afraid, have taken her for granted. I’ve been content with our relationship and didn’t want to rock the boat because I was scared.
She’s made mistakes too, but I have no doubt Lyra would admit to each and every one of them.
By the time I’ve recovered, Lyra has already swept nice-guy Liam away to the ring toss game mounted on the wall at the end of the bar. It would have been better if she’d dragged away Phillippe because I would have been all too happy to interrupt.
I walk back to the table on shaky legs that has nothing to do with the rest of the beer I downed.
She’s right.
I have been toying with her for years, never telling her how I feel because that would have meant admitting it to myself. And admitting that I was in love with Princess Lyra—what would that mean? I’m treated as a part of the family and outsiders would think being with Lyra would make it official. That becoming part of the royal family of Laandia was my plan the whole time?
Clearly, Lyra shares that line of thinking too.
I’ve always wondered and worried about what it would do to my relationship with the princes if I was in love with Lyra. The brothers are as important to me as my sisters, because for years, they were all I had. The thought of putting a wedge between us because I’m in love with Lyra—
I’m in love with Lyra.
It hits me right there, in the middle of the Island Hops Brewery in Saint Pierre, while off to the side, Lyra laughs with another man like she doesn’t have a care in the world.
I’m in love with Princess Lyra of Laandia, and the thought makes me miserable because even if Lyra feels the same—and from the way she looked at me, I think she might—she’s not going to believe me.
“You okay, dude?” Charlie asks as I slide into the seat beside him.
“She walked away from you pretty quick,” Luc C. says, not even bothering to hide his smirk. “Looked pretty upset.”
Smile. Phillippe is smirking.
I know I haven’t been the most popular amongst the men, but I’ve tried. I’ve tried to make friends. But this is ultimately a competition, and it’s every man for himself. I can wish them wellin real life, but there’s no way I want any of them to end up with Lyra in real life.
Or in the reality world.
I want to end up with Lyra, and it scares me how much I want it.
“I’ve been having arguments with Lyra for as long as I’ve known her,” I tell Luc C. with a rueful grin rather than a sharp retort. I don’t need a retort, because I know there’s no way Lyra would ever pick him in the end.
Luc C. doesn’t have a chance with her. Neither does Phillippe.
“What was this one about?” Charlie asks. Maybe he’s just trying to get information, but I’d like to think it’s a gesture of friendship.
“She got upset because I’ve been hiding my head in the sand about how I feel about her. I can’t blame her. I’m upset at myself.”
“How do you feel about her?” Derrick wants to know. “Honestly.”
This feels like we’re on some sort of talk show, discussing the events of the world in front of cameras and a live studio audience.
It’s surreal, almost as much as it is unbelievable that I am sitting here about to confess my true feelings like I’m making a grand gesture in a romantic comedy.
Only, I’m not running across an airport to catch Lyra before she leaves me forever. I’m talking to a group of men I barely know, and Lyra is across the room with Liam.
And I see him kiss her.
A shaft of pain hits my heart and I can only stare. I stare at Lyra in another man’s arms, with another man kissing her. Liam is kissing her, and she is kissing him back.
And then she pulls away and looks straight at me.
I push my chair back. “I’ve got to get out of here,” I mutter as I head for the door. I don’t even care that the cameraman follows me.
