Page 7 of Prince She Shouldn’t Crave (Royal House of Halrovia #2)

She wondered about the pressures of a prince and heir to the throne of his country.

Working for the Isolobello royals, she hadn’t much thought about it.

Her royal family was loved, and their Prince had acquitted himself admirably when the King had fallen ill, guiding the country till his father’s recovery.

Then with Princess Priscilla, and the upcoming royal wedding, the whole country was entering the fervour of anticipated celebration, even though the wedding was still months away.

‘Of course, but—’

‘Those things are in the past. This is the present and where my focus lies. As should yours.’

She wanted to say that the past was what made him the man he was today, and that would help her shape the vision for his future. She didn’t. Lena knew enough to stay quiet. She wasn’t about to enter a full-scale argument with her employer when she was still on probation.

‘Yes, sir.’

He stiffened a fraction, in almost a flinch. Then it was as if his body relaxed again. Like he was on familiar ground once more.

‘You said you had a photograph?’

She nodded. She had a few to choose from on the phone they’d given her for work purposes. Luckily, none showing her offending doodling.

‘Show me.’

She pulled up the album, picked the best picture and handed her mobile to him. His long fingers gently swiped the screen as he looked through. Stopping. The merest of frowns creasing his brow.

He handed the phone back. It was warm. A strange kind of thrill shimmied through her at the thought its heat came from his touch.

‘What do you think?’ she asked, before she could shove the words back in.

Lena didn’t know why it was important, but she wanted him to like the photo she’d taken.

The warmth on his face like a balmy spring day.

The moment she’d glimpsed the royals as real people, and not merely the embodiment of the position they held.

‘It’s the picture you described you wanted.’

‘And are you happy for me to post it?’

‘That’s your job. What I’m paying you for.’

‘But as you said before, it’s your image. I want to know you’re satisfied with what I’ve captured.’

He cocked his head a fraction, as if studying her. Then the corner of his mouth curled into the merest of sly, almost wicked smiles, which did all kinds of complicated things to Lena’s insides that she didn’t care to dwell on.

‘I enjoy knowing that a successful picture meant to depict confidence and trust in the future of the monarchy was taken at the expense of a particularly irritating advisor of state whose ideas on the future of Halrovia don’t always align with my own.’

Oh, she liked that a little too much. His hint of pettiness indicating that this man could be human with all the messy frailties that went along with it. That he wasn’t so proper after all. This was a person who might be interesting to show. Something she would love to dive into and explore.

‘What do you know of what’s been happening here in Halrovia?’ Gabriel asked, his question loaded with unspoken tension.

Lena knew a lot, having researched him, the family, and the situation. But there was an undercurrent she couldn’t quite place.

‘I know Princess Priscilla’s getting married soon.

And Princess Anastacia’s already married…

’ After a reported whirlwind romance and engagement on the back of what appeared to be some unfair negative press, which seemed to have stopped after her wedding.

Lena hesitated, some things falling into place now she really thought about them.

‘It was around the time of Princess Priscilla’s engagement that things changed, wasn’t it? ’

‘She was never meant to marry Caspar. Anastacia was. But then love intervened.’

Gabriel almost spat out the word ‘love’, as if it were something unpleasant.

‘Then Anastacia was involved in an accident, injured, and somehow the narrative began to turn against my family. We suspect that this man—’ he tapped the clipping with her doodling ‘—is the instigator.’

Lena frowned. ‘But you said he’s an advisor of state?’

Gabriel nodded, quick and sharp. ‘And yet, when it comes to power, people will do anything to get more of it. The ideas being promoted in the press aren’t kind to my country—they’re about self-aggrandisement and filling personal coffers. Yet he still gets to drive the narrative.’

Gabriel reached over to the corner of his desk where a newspaper sat folded. Opened it out, facing her.

‘Read what it says.’

She wondered why he didn’t read the headline himself, but didn’t say so. ‘“Is the Crown Worth the Cost? Critics Question Relevance of Prince Gabriel’s Overseas Mission.”’

His eyes narrowed. ‘Each day, this is what we’re facing. It’s insidious, and it’s not the truth. My trip to Lauritania is about increasing trade and co-operation with a valued ally. That’s good for the economy.’

She began to understand the royal family’s problem. How none of this was fair. Even more, she recognised the extent of the work she had to do. Especially when there wasn’t an equal playing field between the truth before her and lies being told elsewhere.

‘As for your “doodling”,’ Gabriel said, taking the offending paper between his fingers, ‘I can’t have anything that will cause an internal incident coming from my office.’

He stood and turned his back to her, his shoulders broad and strong. Enough to hold up the weight of his job, the weight of an entire country’s needs. Then Prince Gabriel dropped the paper into a machine behind his desk. It buzzed, shredding the document.

‘A few scribbles would cause a problem?’

‘I’m not willing to take the chance. It seems everyone wants a piece of my family. Our special advisor is a man with an agenda. There’s a small but strange push for a republic. Criticism now, where there was none before. It doesn’t feel organic or authentic.’

‘And if your people wanted a republic?’

Prince Gabriel sat behind his desk again, hands clasped on the gleaming wooden tabletop. ‘Then they could have it.’

Lena gave a shaky kind of laugh. Surely he couldn’t mean it?

‘What? Give up? Just like that?’

‘If I were King, my duty would be to honour and defend my people. If they didn’t want my family ruling them and I couldn’t convince them otherwise, then it would be my duty to stand aside.’

The way he said those words, with such strength and conviction, told her what he really thought.

There was so much at stake here. If she failed…

Then she’d be potentially responsible for the downfall of this man sitting in front of her, of a royal family.

Lena wondered if her own shoulders were strong enough to carry the weight of her personal role here.

‘But you don’t want to. Stand aside, I mean.’

Gabriel shook his head. ‘I’ll never capitulate to this…propaganda. My family, me, we are the best choice.’

The morning sun streamed through the windows behind Prince Gabriel.

He was lit up, magical and golden. How could anyone doubt he was the perfect prince?

The king in waiting, who loved his country and would even set aside his own interests if his people wanted him to.

Put a gleaming crown on his head and she could see it all laid out before her.

Lena’s heart quickened with excitement. She had no doubt.

Gabriel Montroy was Halrovia’s glorious future.

She just had to figure out how to show it.