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“Ow!”
“It’s annoying when you’re being perceptive.” He pinched her cheeks harder.
“P-p-pwince,” she yelped incoherently.
“I like it better when you’re an idiot.”
“It w-wurts.”
“Sorry, but this is the only way I can finish the story.”
“Wully!”
“I know.”
She glared at him.
He smiled at her—-
A moment before breaking both their hearts.
“One of Georgie’s rapists got her pregnant.”
Ah.
God.
God.
God.
The prince’s fingers retreated from her cheeks, but Fawn almost wanted to pull them back, almost wanted to be a coward and hide behind her own pain.
Her own pain, which was manageable, compared to what the prince and Georgie had suffered.
She whispered brokenly, “I’m sorry.” She hated that they were the only words she could say, hated that there was nothing for her to do because Georgie was dead, and years had passed with the prince blaming himself.
“She chose to have an abortion, and she left me a letter before going into the operating room.” The prince’s tone became dull. “By the time I got the letter, it was too late. She was gone.”
Ah.
God.
“The words she wrote changed me. In her letter, Georgie said...if I couldn’t escape my past, then maybe I wasn’t meant to do so in the first place. She told me,” the prince continued dully, “that maybe I was meant to embrace it instead, that perhaps I should ruthlessly use my past to be the best I can be for those who needed me.”
His throat clogged at the last words, and suddenly all he could see again was Georgie.
Young, happy, shining—-
But because of him, her life had been cut short—-
“I’m who I am now because of her,” he said rawly.
The Prince of Darkness, saving everyone he could save, because he couldn’t do the same for those who really mattered to him.
“But if I had the power to change things –she’sthe one who deserves to live, not me—-”
“Stop.” Small, soft hands claimed his cheeks, cupping his face. “I’m sorry.” And as tears ran down her own cheeks, she pinched his face.