Page 85 of Tabloid Princess

Behind a giant brick wall, most of the grounds and the building itself were shielded from prying eyes. The fact it was there everyone knew. A landmark of the city for hundreds of years, its walls stretched for acres on what would otherwise have been prime real estate.

Oliver walked for the parkland beside the palace walls, leaving me to make my own way behind him.

Once there, he found a bench by a wide lake. I sat by his side, waiting for him to say whatever it was that had brought us there.

When he turned, the torment in his eyes stole my air. I held in my gasp. “Look.” He pointed behind me, his low voice still beautiful even with its tortured depths.

I turned to where he pointed. St Mark’s Palace shone under the sun. Its cream bricks seemed to almost shimmer under the intense heat.

“That’s it. Everything that people see. Everything that they assume I am.”

I frowned, unable to help myself. “You haven’t often shown others what else you might be.”

I had to be honest. Before last night, with him barefoot in his apartment, listening to him play piano; he was different to the man I kissed in a tuxedo at the ball.

“I’ve never felt a need to show anyone. It was always easier if I let them think what they wanted while I laughed at their efforts to analyse me.”

“But now no one knows who you really are?”

“Yep.”

“What’s that got to do with me? Why am I here?”

“Last night I felt like myself. I want you to know how grateful I am that you’ve woken me up from my stupor. So, I’m sorry if it’s wrong that I sent you a note, or turned up with flowers, but you’ve given me a glimmer of who I could be and now I don’t know how to turn it off. I don’t think I want to turn it off.

“You’ve made me see the person I could be…” he trailed off here.

He bent down, picking up a stick and then drew in the ground at our feet. With broad strokes he made a square shape.

“This is my life.” His voice was low, and my stomach turned. “Everything has to fit within the box, it can’t ever be anything else. Not now, it’s too late. Maybe I should have made a stand earlier.”

Unreasonable tears stung my eyes. I took the stick with gentle fingers and drew a circle around the outside of his square. Occasionally the lines met, an apt description of our insane and intense connection.

“And this is me. Not anything close to you, or what you need.”

He lifted his gaze, and I wanted for all the world for him to kiss me, right there and then on the park bench, under the sun, with a dazzling palace set behind us.

But that was fairy tales.

Stories to tell children.

“I need to go.”

He nodded, his focus on my mouth. His fingers lifted mine in almost a careless reaction. The moment we were touching, the monster I’d kept locked up all day reared to life.

“You said you don’t want to confuse Daisy. That it wouldn’t be fair.”

I swallowed, staring at our joined hands.

“I disagree.”

“The Prince disagrees?” I lifted my eyebrow.

“Yes. I think you are being unfair to her by not letting yourself live.”

“I do live. In the real world. Something I don’t think you understand.”

“So show me.”