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СКАЧАТЬ blank, his voice toneless, as he gave the only answer he could. ‘Of course I do. It’s the right thing to do. You’d make a better king, and I never wanted to be king anyway. You know that, Leo.’ He felt as if the words were tearing great strips off his soul, pieces from his heart, and yet he knew it was the only thing he could say. Could do, even if it meant losing Liana. His brother deserved his rightful place.

      And he deserved his.

      Woodenly he rose from the desk. ‘It shouldn’t take long to put it into motion.’

      ‘Sandro, wait. Don’t do anything rash—’

      ‘It’s not rash. It’s obvious to me, Leo. And to you, I think.’

      He turned, saw his brother shaking his head, but there was a light in his eyes neither of them could deny. He wanted this. Of course he did.

      Smiling, Sandro put a hand on Leo’s shoulder. ‘I’m happy for you,’ he said, and then he left the room.

      * * *

      Liana gazed in the mirror, smoothed a strand of hair away from her forehead and checked that her dress—a full-skirted evening gown in a silvery pink—looked all right.

      She heard the door to her bedroom open and saw with a light heart that it was Sandro.

      ‘I was wondering where you were. We’re due at the Museum of Fine Art in an hour for the opening of the new wing.’ Sandro didn’t answer, and she smoothed the skirt of her evening gown. ‘I don’t know about this dress. Do I look too much like Cinderella?’

      ‘An apt comparison.’

      She laughed lightly and shook her head. ‘How’s that?’

      ‘She found her prince, didn’t she? At the ball. And then she lost him again.’

      For the first time since he’d entered the room Liana registered his tone: cool and flat. She turned to face him with a frown. ‘What’s wrong, Sandro?’

      He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. ‘Nothing’s wrong.’

      Confusion deepened into unease. Alarm. ‘You’re acting rather strange.’

      ‘I had an eye-opening cabinet meeting today.’

      ‘Oh?’ Liana eyed him warily, noting the almost eerie stillness of his body, the blankness of his face. She hadn’t seen him look like this in weeks...since they’d first been strangers to one another, talking marriage. ‘Eye-opening?’ she repeated cautiously. ‘Why don’t you tell me about it?’

      ‘The details don’t matter,’ he dismissed. ‘But it’s made me realise—’ He stopped suddenly, and for a moment the blankness of his face was broken by a look of such anguish that Liana started forward, her hands outstretched.

      ‘Sandro, what is it? What’s wrong?’

      ‘I’m planning to abdicate, Liana.’

      * * *

      Sandro watched the shock rush over Liana, making her eyes widen, her face go pale. She looked, he thought heavily, horrified.

      ‘Abdicating?’ she finally repeated, her voice little more than a whisper. ‘But...why?’

      He felt emotions catch in his chest, words lodge in his throat and tangle on his tongue. So far her reaction was far from hopeful. She looked shell-shocked. Devastated. And all because she wouldn’t be queen. ‘Does it really matter?’

      ‘Of course it matters.’

      ‘Why?’ The one word was raw, torn from him. He stared at her, willing her expression to clear, for her to say it didn’t matter, after all. She’d follow him anywhere. She’d love him without a throne or a title or a crown. But why should she say that? She obviously didn’t feel it.

      She didn’t say anything. She just stared at him helplessly, her face pale and shocked as she shook her head slowly. ‘Because, Sandro, you’re king. And I’m your wife.’

      ‘My queen.’

      ‘Yes, your queen! You can’t just leave that behind—’

      ‘But I did before, as you’ve reminded me—’

      ‘I’ve reminded you? When was the last time I’ve mentioned that?’

      ‘You haven’t forgotten.’

      ‘I don’t have amnesia! It’s not something you can just forget.’

      ‘Exactly.’

      ‘Why are you thinking of this?’ Liana asked, her voice wavering, her expression still dazed. ‘It seems so sudden—’

      ‘And unwelcome, obviously.’ There could be no mistaking her disappointment, her distress at learning he might no longer be king. And she would no longer be queen.

      ‘Of course it’s unwelcome,’ Liana said, and Sandro’s last frail hope withered to ash. ‘We were just starting to build a life here, a life I thought you were happy with—’

      ‘Being king is not my life. It’s not me.’ The words, he knew, had been in his heart, burning in his chest for his whole life. Hadn’t he wanted his parents, his friends, anyone to see that he was more than this title, this role? Hadn’t he wanted just one person in his life to see him as something other than future king, heir apparent?

      And obviously Liana didn’t. He hated that he’d put himself out there again. ‘But obviously,’ he continued, his voice cold and lifeless now, ‘you don’t feel the same.’

      Liana went even paler, even stiller. ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘Our marriage doesn’t have much point now, does it?’ he asked, his mouth forming a horrible parody of a smile. ‘If I’m not king, you’re not queen.’

      Something flashed across her face but he couldn’t tell what it was. ‘True,’ she said, her voice expressionless. She’d assembled her features into a mask, the Madonna face he recognised from when they’d first met, icy and composed. Sandro hated seeing her like that again, when he’d seen her so vibrant and beautiful and alive. So real with him...except perhaps none of it had been real, after all, or at least not real enough.

      ‘And if our marriage has no point,’ he forced himself to continue, ‘then there’s no point to being married.’

      He didn’t see so much as a flicker on her face. Damn it, he thought, say something. Fight for me. For us. Here he was, pushing as he always did, practically begging. Accept me. Love me. And of course she didn’t.

      She just remained silent, staring and still. No response at all. Even so Sandro ached to go to her, take her in his arms. Kiss her into responding to him, just as he had when they’d first met. He wanted to demand that she admit the days they had were real, and they could have more. That she could love him even if he weren’t king.

      Still Liana didn’t speak, and with a sound that was somewhere between a sneer and a sob Sandro stalked out of the room.

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