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Far from calming her, talking with Oma had unsettled her more. To the old lady, duty was a given. While she sympathised, she didn’t view a royal marriage and coronation as a disaster. She’d probably be delighted to see her granddaughter as Queen.
Annalena frowned, rubbing her arms.
A wayward thought tickled her brain, stirred by the reference to matchmaking.
Had Oma suspected Annalena’s trip to the capital might lead to this debacle? Surely not. Even her canny grandmother couldn’t have foreseen that.
Annalena stared into the night, wishing she could swap the floodlit gardens and city lights for her familiar view of mountain peaks.
Tomorrow she’d see Benedikt and he’d demand her answer. Shewantedto say no. But this had gone far beyond what she wanted personally.
We rubbed each other the wrong way. Sparks flew whenever we were together. I found him completely infuriating.
Oma’s words circled in her head. They were so apt, perfectly describing Annalena’s situation.
Except for two things. First, her Oma had had the freedom to make up her own mind. Annalena’s situation felt like a noose around her neck, tightening with each passing hour.
Second, what she and Benedikt felt for each other wasn’t the beginnings of love. He was calculating and coldly pragmatic and she had no need for any man to tell her what to do. That moment of searing connection in the summerhouse, when she’d read something like hunger in his eyes, when the very air had felt charged with awareness—it had occurredafterhe decided he needed to marry her.
He wasn’t interested inher, just what she represented. She wanted to save Edelforst and he, what did he want? It sounded as if he worried about the stability of the kingdom, yet, at the same time, was he like his father, driven by the need for personal gain?
They were mismatched. Even if their marriage benefited the kingdom, it would be a personal disaster.
‘The Princess Annalena, sir.’
Frowning, Benedikt looked up from his desk. The fact the morning sky was still pink didn’t bode well.
Annalena wouldn’t visit at dawn to bring good news. Yesterday she’d looked at him as if he were something that slithered under the forest leaf litter.
That had stung, not least because he was used to attracting women, not repelling them.
His proposal might be unconventional but it was a perfect solution. How many generations had sealed a dynastic agreement with marriage? Though he’d rather avoid marriage, he told himself needs must, ignoring the cold shiver down his spine. His parents’ marriage and the dysfunctional family in which he’d been raised had given him an aversion to marriage.
But a king needed an heir. He’d even started taking steps in that direction before this disaster blew up. Annalena’s news just made the need to marry urgent.
Yet he recalled her horror when he’d suggested it and felt the spectre of his father stalking his conscience. Was he cornering her into marriage because beneath his lofty ideals he simply wanted the crown for himself?
He shoved his chair back, repelled by the idea. He was on his feet as she walked in and Matthias exited, closing the door.
She looked as if she hadn’t had much more sleep than Benedikt. Yet the sight of her made his pulse quicken and his belly clench.
Because she held the security of the nation in her hands.
But it was more. This woman drew him in ways that had nothing to do with her claim to the throne. That, above all else, raised his hackles in wariness. He didn’t have time for further complications. The situation was already convoluted enough.
‘Won’t you sit?’ He rounded the desk and gestured towards a sofa.
Bright green eyes met his and his chest tightened.
Yet she wasn’t trying to dazzle him. Again she wore casual clothes. Making a point that she wasn’t impressed enough to dress up for him? Or because she hadn’t planned to stay in the palace?
Jeans and a pale blue shirt that complemented her clear skin. In this place where everyone dressed formally, even behind the scenes, she was like a breath of fresh air.
‘Thank you.’
She turned and took a seat and Benedikt had to wrench his gaze from the loving fit of denim against female curves and the supple sway of her hips.
‘I wasn’t sure you’d be in the office yet.’