Page 24 of The Prince and the Double Shot (Runaway Prince Hotel #2)

ZANE

W hen you love something, let it go. If it returns, it was meant to be.

Such stupid fucking bullshit.

The person who came up with that saying was a bystander in their own fucking life and needed to have a good talking to.

I didn’t know what to do. I felt like the world had just caved in around me, and I was falling into a dark pit and couldn't see the bottom. Eventually, I knew I’d go splat. But until then… I was blind and free-falling.

He walked away. He didn’t trust me, and I…

It made sense when you grew up in Grandir.

A place I had never seen in my entire life, by the way.

I was supposedly this major villain to a country I had never been to.

A holdover from a time long ago, when my people grew hard in a hard land.

They had come from a fertile valley and into a mountain range where life was much harder than it had once been.

They made it work by becoming big game hunters and surviving on meat and the little crops that would grow in the high altitude. Their magic eventually faltered, and the crops dried up. Why they attacked the valley, no one knows. Perhaps fear of starvation back in those days.

But there was a record of the first time their magic shifted.

The son of Lionel discovered that he could alter the face of the mountain.

The rocks and ground became his to control.

It changed them. Instead of being nurturers, they became stone masons.

The palace was magnificent, but it didn’t help the people eat.

Lionel's grandson was the one who declared war upon the valley, but he kept almost no record of his time as chieftain of the people. We didn’t have a king or a nation until after the accords. Montagne became its own country.

I have nothing to do with any of it. In fact, I ran away from it all because I didn’t like being treated as a pawn, as less than, because of my inability to use the magic.

Everything had changed, hadn’t it? One moment of fear, of losing Phil, and the magic exploded from within.

After he left, I tried moving some of the ground near the beach, and it shifted and obeyed my commands. I had no idea how to use it or what it could really do besides what I had seen others do. It scared me.

Phil had to marry a prince.

I wouldn’t rest until I was the only person that Phil could ever marry.

I belonged to him as much as I knew he belonged to me.

I sounded stalkerish, but it was the truth.

Fate had given him a second chance, and I had been blessed to be his opportunity.

He had been placed on my path for a reason, hadn’t he?

A chance for forgiveness. A chance to forgive.

How much time had passed between my old life and my new? Five years? Time had become almost meaningless in my fear of being found. Now, there was a reason to go back.

I was just too scared to do it.

I was off today, but there was only one place I wanted to be. Where he was. I wanted a chance to find him and explain if he would let me. He had to let me. I knew he felt the fire as much as I did.

I got in my car and drove to the hotel. I walked around the perimeter of the hotel and didn’t see him on any of the grounds. Others walked around or sat in the grass, but Phil was nowhere to be found.

“Looking for a handsome gardener?”

Layla. Of course. One of those witches always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, exactly when I needed them. How did they always seem to know?

“Layla.” I turned towards her. She stood there smiling at me in a pair of shorts and a polo with the hotel logo embroidered in it. “You always seem to just show up, don’t you?” I laughed, but there was no mirth in it.

“He’s not working today. But I saw him this morning. He looked as sad as you.”

“That weirdly makes me feel good.”

“Well, that’s a little weird, honey. I take it that the two of you had a fight.”

“He knows. I know.”

“Do you?” she grinned happily. “Took you both long enough. Jesus, you two couldn’t find Main Street with a map or GPS.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what? What was I supposed to know?”

“Alright,” I threw my hands up. “Touche.”

“Desperation breeds discontent, Zane. Your secret was something that you clung to. Who was I to tell you that we knew the truth? It was yours to tell, and ours to keep as far as I’m concerned. Same with Phil.”

“I guess I should be grateful.”

“Yes, you should.”

“Then why is the only thing I feel such fucking despair? What am I supposed to do?”

She chuckled and walked over to me. “Let’s go for a walk.”

“A walk?”

“Yes. I’ve always thought it cleared the mind and helps to find the answer right in front of you.”

“Alright.”

“So, what’s your plan?”

“Sulking and begging.”

“That’s not a plan. What can you do about it? I take it that he didn’t take the news well?”

“We’re mortal enemies.”

“They make the best lovers. So you told him that you are a…”

“No. We didn’t get that far. He ran away before I could… I don’t know, Layla. I could have, but I didn’t.”

“Because you don’t believe in yourself, kiddo. Let me ask you again. What can you do?”

“I thought about that. I’m not sure that I could… They hate me.”

“I'm sure they don’t. In fact, I know they don’t.

No one could ever hate you, even when you’re being a total dick.

You’re as hard as stone in some ways, which makes sense, knowing who you are.

But inside, kiddo, you are a fucking marshmallow,” she giggled.

It sounded like a peal of music. “I want you to be happy. I want you to finally be you. I think you deserve it. I think that you’ve learned enough. ”

“So, you think I should grovel.”

“I think you should call. You know nothing until you know everything.”

“How did you get so wise?”

“Little shits like you, kiddo. You’re not my first rodeo. Got it?”

“I think I do. I just need to find the courage to…”

“Give me your phone.”

I handed it to her.

“Is the number in your phone?”

“Under assholes. I added it just in case I ever really needed it. They won’t know it’s me, though.”

“Passcode?”

“Uh… sixty-nine, sixty-nine.”

“Well, that’s on the nose for you,” she smirked. She unlocked my phone, scrolled, and pressed the button I hoped I would never have to press. My knees shook. What if they hung up or said that they had no son?

“Hello, is this Queen Sevier?”

She instantly nodded.

“Yes, I am here with him.” She listened. “No, he’s fine. I’m sorry to scare you, I… Yes… Of course, give me one second.”

She looked at me and smiled. “She’s crying. She’s very happy that you called.”

She handed the phone to me, walked around me, and held me in her arms.

“Mom?”

Tears streamed down my face. She didn’t hate me. She was… happy and worried.

“I’m so sorry, I… Mom, I need your help.”

She listened. She told me how much they loved me and how sorry they were for what they had done. They knew where I had been all this time, but they knew I needed time. They hoped that I would come back to them.

I sat down in the garden and cried.

Layla held me in her arms.