Chapter 9

nine

ALEXANDER

A lex took a deep breath as his car approached the Campo's residence. Rebecca's parents still lived on the palace grounds—her father, Ettore, was Head Groundskeeper, and friends with his own father to boot—but there was a chance he could retire soon. If that happened, they'd have to give up their home and leave the palace, and he wasn't sure how well Rebecca would handle that.

As his car stopped near the front of their home, he saw Ettore open the front door. Alex waited for his agents to do a quick sweep before opening the door for him and giving him the all clear to head inside.

He walked with confidence he didn't seem to have and reached his hand out. "Ettore."

Ettore bowed and shook his hand. "Your Highness."

"I told you that you don't need to bother with formalities unless we're in public."

"I remember." Ettore gave him a smile, one that said ‘I know what you told me to do, but that doesn't mean I'm going to listen to you' .

Fuck . This conversation would be harder than he thought.

As a prince and future king, Alex was used to holding all or most of the power in the room. Yet, with this man, he'd always felt like a schoolboy being called into the principal's office.

Francine, Rebecca's mother, clearly didn't share her husband's feelings. She walked up to him and kissed him on each cheek. "Alex, it's always lovely to see you. Would you like some tea?"

"Thank you, yes."

"I'll bring it out, Francine," Ettore said, then headed for the kitchen.

"Bring the shortbread biscuits I baked earlier too." Francine led him to the family room and gestured to the sofa. "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you."

"How are you?"

"Worried about Rebecca."

Francine nodded. "I can understand that."

"Can you?"

"Of course. She's had a lot to deal with over the last couple of years. We've been worried for her ourselves, but then we're parents, so we always worry."

Ettore brought in a tray and spent a few minutes serving tea, and they all settled. "So what specifically did you want to speak to us about?"

Alex took a fortifying sip of the strong brew, then set the cup down. He took a deep breath and outlined his concerns, especially around Rebecca sharing privileged information with them.

"I'm not insinuating you're not trustworthy, not exactly. It's only that there needs to be a…distance now. I'll be king, and Rebecca will be queen. That puts both of us significantly more at risk, and it also increases your risk too. People will come after you now as the queen's parents. Once the coronation is announced, I'd like for you to have some security and bodyguards. We'll need to pay for it from our personal funds, but it would be for the best."

Francine and Ettore glanced at each other, then Francine spoke. " Let's, er, set the discussion about personal protection aside for the moment. I think both Ettore and I understand your position, but I think you're misunderstanding a bit. Rebecca isn't sharing state secrets or anything like that. She's merely sharing her…frustrations and challenges with us."

"But surely she's sharing some details for context?"

"Not usually," Ettore said and sighed. "Look, what Rebecca says or doesn't say isn't the point. We should be focusing on how she feels , and she's been struggling."

Alex's gut clenched. "I know that."

"Not all of it, I'd bet. Not the worst of it." Ettore outlined the months and even years—years!—of hate mail and threats she'd received, and the effects the negative attention had on Rebecca's mental health.

Alex clenched his fists, anger bubbling under his skin. Ordinarily, he'd never show emotions so blatantly, but he couldn't help it.

His wife was hurting, and she didn't tell him. No one had told him. Wouldn't Marcello have seen these? Why wouldn't he have shared this with him if Rebecca hadn't? Who else had been keeping this secret from him?

"I had no idea it was so bad. Why wouldn't she tell me?"

Francine put a hand over his. "I can appreciate you're upset for a variety of reasons, but you need to remember none of this is about you, not really. Rebecca's the victim here. I— we —appreciate you reaching out to us about this, but you really should be speaking to and supporting her right now."

"You're right. Of course you are."

It was time both he and Rebecca were honest with each other.

REBECCA

Rebecca finished reviewing her updated schedule and leaned forward in her desk chair as she handed Mara back the tablet. This chair in her ‘home' office was less comfortable than the one in her main office, but hopefully they didn't have much more to go over.

"Thank you, Mara. This should work for now."

"Shall I mark the remainder of your events as tentative for next week?"

"No, let's leave them as is. That could draw too much attention and I'd rather not deal with those questions."

Mara dutifully nodded. "Yes, Ma'am. Next up is preparing your clothing for the tour."

Rebecca sighed. "I need a new stylist, or dresser would be the more ‘royal' term, I suppose. With the coronation coming up as well, it will serve me best to hire someone on full-time from this point onward."

"I'll develop a short-list, shall I?"

"Yes, thank you. They should be Vallerian, of course, but if they have experience in other countries, that would be fine as well. Especially America, since that trip has much more significance now. We'll use the tour as a sort of probationary period for whomever we select, to make sure it's a good fit."

"I can think of several women offhand that may be a good fit."

Hmmm. "Let's not limit ourselves to one gender."

"Oh. Yes, of course. I'm so sorry, Ma'am. I just thought a woman may be best. If the public hears of a man dressing you, for example, rumours could start."

Fucking tabloids and public perception. "I understand that point of view, but I don't agree with it. I won't discriminate for any job position, and I'll make that clear to the public if need be. They're helping me select outfits, they won't be in the dressing room with me in that sense. In fact, let's not use the term ‘dresser'. Let's stick with ‘stylist' as it's more modern and works better for what I truly need. "

"Of course, Ma'am," Mara murmured, then cleared her throat. "Any other requirements?"

"Well, they'll need to pass a background check and be able to obtain a security clearance. They should not just understand what works best for me, they should have some understanding of royal protocol, and understand how to pair jewelry with outfits as well."

"Yes, Ma'am. I'll put a list together, and do an initial background check on them. If those come back clear, you can let me know who to reach out to and we can put together a test—they select outfits for a few specific events, for example—and we'll also get their portfolios for you to review. Then we can proceed to interviews from there."

"Sounds perfect. Timeline-wise…"

"I should be able to put together a list and request the background checks this week. So, next week, after you've recovered from your procedure, we can review the list."

"Excellent."

"Next on the list is?—"

A knock on her home office door interrupted them. The door was open but Alex had knocked all the same. "Do you have some time, or shall I come back?"

Mara stood and curtsied, then remained standing.

Rebecca's eyes remained locked on Alex for a few more moments, then she turned to Mara with a small smile. "Is there anything else pressing on the list?"

"Nothing that can't wait until tomorrow, Ma'am."

"Let's meet early then, perhaps seven, in my main office. We'll have breakfast and work through the rest."

"Of course, Ma'am. I'll have everything ready for us." She gathered her things, curtsied to them both, and left.

Only once they heard her exit the apartments all together, did Alex speak. "I spoke to your parents."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, then relaxed into resignation. "Oh? "

He stayed by the door but shifted on his feet. "They told me about all the threats and hate mail you've been receiving."

"Oh." Was he really all that surprised by it? Everyone in the family got threats, and she'd certainly gotten them once their relationship was revealed. Some people hated that she'd married the most eligible bachelor in Valleria.

He shook his head. "Rebecca…why did I have to learn about it from your family?"

"That, right there," she said, pointing at him.

His face crinkled in confusion. "What?"

"You said ‘your family', as if they're only mine and not yours. Yet, when it comes to the royal family, it's ‘ours'. Do you see the double standard? I'm expected to immediately accept your family as my own, but you never even consider accepting mine as yours."

He looked dumbfounded. "I-I didn't even realize I was doing that."

"Well, you do. You have since the beginning. I kept hoping things might change, that maybe you just needed more time." She stood and started straightening the papers in front of her, for no other reason than to keep her hands busy.

He took a cautious step forward. "This is an important point, and I do want to come back to it, but we need to talk about the threats."

She shook her head. "So what if I kept them from you? So did Marcello, at my behest. So did all the other security personnel who worked on them."

He took another step forward. "But why did you feel the need to keep them from me?"

"I ‘needed' to keep them from you because you never listened when I talked about them anyway. You dismissed my concerns and my fears. I couldn't trust you with them after that. Other concerns, sure, but not these."

"When did I ever dismiss them?"

She crossed her arms and tilted her head in a ‘Really?' gesture. "Not long after I moved in here with you. I told you the public were upset and were saying things, but you basically said to ignore them and not to worry. But those messages kept coming. When I tried to talk to you about it again, you said didn't want to hear it anymore, so I stopped sharing."

Fuck, was she right? "I'm sorry, truly. I don't recall this, but I'm sorry, truly. If I said that, I was likely trying to be dismissive of the assholes saying bad things about you. I doubt I was trying to be dismissive of you ."

She scoffed. "You said ‘if' you said that. Do you doubt me right now?"

"No! I don't. I believe you, but I don't remember it." He moved slightly closer. "I'm so sorry. I never should have dismissed you or your concerns in that way."

Her breath came out staggered, as if she were trying to hold back tears. "I try so fucking hard, Alex, and it's like it's never good enough. It's up to me to make all the sacrifices. I knew I'd have to do that to some extent since I was the ‘outsider' marrying into the family, but?—"

"You're not an ‘outsider', you never have been. You grew up on the palace grounds."

"That proves the point. I grew up on the grounds, not in the palace itself. It's worlds apart." She shook her head and moved a few steps away. "And you're fixating on the wrong thing again. Stop policing my words and saying they aren't valid. They are valid to me . I need you to start listening to me."

"I am listening. I know you sacrificed a lot to be with me. I'm not insensitive to that."

"And yet, you still think it's fine for me to sacrifice a relationship with my parents, who you don't consider family, by the way."

"That's not true!" He groaned in frustration, then took a deep breath. "I didn't realize how I was behaving, but that doesn't mean I don't think of them as family. It just means I was raised to think of only my parents and siblings as true family. This is an adjustment for me, but it is one I'm willing to make."

"You won't keep me from them anymore? "

"No. I never wanted that in the first place, not really. I do, however, want you to start coming to me with your concerns— all your concerns—too."

She rubbed her hands over her face and sighed. "I'm so tired, Alex."

He moved to her, and cautiously put a hand on her arm. "I know and I'm sorry I haven't been there like you needed me to be."

She shook her head. "You're busy, I know you are. I know it's a bother to have to consider my feelings all the time."

Alex was firm. "No. No more of that. Once I take the throne, our lives will be even more hectic than before. We'll both be pulled in sometimes opposite directions, and I don't want us drifting apart from each other. You are not a bother, not ever. You're my wife . You have every right to demand these things from me, to demand help, to demand whatever the fuck you need from me."

She stepped into him and he felt a staggering sense of relief as she wrapped her arms around him, and his arms enveloped her in return.

She settled against his chest. "We need to find a way to resolve our differences so we're both getting what we need, but I feel like we're already losing each other."

He tightened his arms around her. "Never, darling. You'll never lose me. You are right though. I'll do better with your parents, and I'll do better listening to you and your concerns."

"And I'll do better sharing what I need and working together to find solutions. Should we speak to a counselor? Maybe the one that helped us after the baby? I think it might be helpful."

"I like that idea."

She glanced up at him. "Don't get mad at Marcello for keeping the threats from you."

"I'll try, but I'm not promising anything." He cupped her cheek, brushing his thumb over her lips. "If anything had happened to you…"

She put a hand over his. "I'm okay. I'm right here, and I'm safe in your arms. Besides, you're the bigger target, especially once the coronation is announced. I'm more worried about you than myself, to be honest."

"Perhaps, darling." His phone buzzed in his pocket, but he ignored it and glanced at a clock on the wall instead.

"I think we should prepare for the worst, and hope it won't happen. After all, your parents have had many threats through the years, and we've managed to deal with those so far. We can only do so much."

He rubbed his nose against hers. "That's a good plan. But do you know what wasn't a good plan?"

"What?"

"Making up with you when I don't have time for makeup sex. I've got a meeting with my father I can't skip."

She smiled, then lifted up on her toes to kiss him. "Later then."

"Later," he murmured before giving her one last, long, lingering kiss.