Unpacking our suitcases took all of ten minutes. The trip to England was a short one, and we hadn’t taken much along with us.

After staring at the bed for too long, I was anxious to do something while waiting for Luke. I knew he wanted me to remain nearby for when he was finished speaking with Gia, but without doing anything, my stomach was a bundle of nerves while my mind whirred with endless possibilities of how the conversation would end.

I kept imagining that Gia would come into the room and demand I leave the palace and her son alone. Needing to distract myself, I went off to explore the palace for a little while. Besides, if Gia was going to try and find me, keeping myself moving would delay that confrontation.

There was a flurry of activity in the main ballroom. I wasn’t aware of any event happening at the palace, so curiosity got the best of me.

Wandering into the room, the servants huddled around a table. The clinking of silverware filled my ears as I got closer.

Five female servants were polishing the forks and spoons in front of them. They were speaking in their native tongue, and I had no idea what they were talking about.

For a brief moment, I felt as if I were intruding on their privacy. Before I could turn around, one of them glanced up at me.

“M’lady,” she said in perfect English.

The others turned to me and stared.

“Sorry!” I said. “I was just looking around.”

They were silent for a moment, and I wasn’t sure if I was breaking some palace rules by speaking with them. In the past, I’d only ever seen Gia talking to the servants and usually when she was giving instructions. At least, that was what I gleaned from their conversations since I didn’t speak the language.

“Can we help you find something?” one of the servants asked. She was the tallest of them and had the longest eyelashes I’d ever seen.

“No,” I said, feeling a little foolish for interrupting their day.

“You come from America, yes?” another asked. She appeared to be much younger than the rest.

Two of them said something to her in a hushed voice.

“I don’t mind,” I said, not wanting the girl to get into trouble for being curious. It had happened to me a lot when I was younger and was part of the reason I became a reporter and buried myself in people’s lives professionally. “Yes, I’m from Texas.”

They looked at each other blankly.

“The southern part of the United States?” I tried to help.

“You’re a reporter?” another asked.

Now I had all of their attention.

“I used to be,” I said. “How did you know that?”

“We hear things,” the youngest said. “And we wanted to get to know our future queen.”

So they had heard about the engagement as well. The conversation with the women was more informative than I thought it would be.

“Don’t mind us,” the tallest one said. “We don’t meet many people outside of the palace, and America seems like an interesting place.”

“It’s definitely different,” I said.

“You must love the king to move all the way out here.”

The questions came quickly, and by the time the silverware was polished, I knew all of their names and answered all of their questions. It was a nice reprieve from other times I’d spent in the palace.

“We must go,” the leader of the small group, Eshe, said.

“Don’t be strangers,” I said, waving to them.

They giggled and were off and out of the room in seconds.

“That was a dumb thing to say,” I muttered to myself.

“There you are!” Abir said from the doorway.

Whipping around, I noticed he was alone. How much of the conversation had he heard? Was I not supposed to speak with the servants? “Is Luke looking for me?”

“No,” Abir said. “I was looking for you. Fancy a walk around?”

“I’d love that,” I said. It was better than Gia catching me alone. If she found me now, then Abir could be the buffer. At least, I hoped he would. From past experiences, Abir was a pushover in most instances. While it was endearing, when it came to Gia, I needed help until she could finally get over herself and accept that I wasn’t going anywhere.

“They finished installing a new fountain in the gardens. I know you and Luke like to go out there, so I thought you’d like to see.”

“I’d love to,” I said. “Where is Alda?”

Abir smirked as we walked down the front stairs and toward the entrance to the palace. Walking across the intricately designed stone floors, I still couldn’t believe that this was going to be my home for the rest of my life.

“She’s home today,” Abir said. “She takes care of her younger sister when her mother goes to the market.”

“I’m surprised you’re not with her.”

Abir’s eyes widened. “It would not be appropriate for us to be unchaperoned.”

I needed to learn a lot more about this culture. There were so many things I didn’t know. Luke would be helpful, but it might impress Gia if I was a quick study and learned about this stuff myself. I would need to know it eventually when Luke and I had children of our own. The thought created a wave of tingles that spread from the center of my body.

“You spent a lot of time with her,” I said.

“She’s great,” Abir said with a sigh. “I hope that Mother approves of our union.”

“I’m sure she would,” I said. It was more “appropriate” than Luke and me. It would be like Gia to dote over Abir and Alda and completely shun Luke and me.

“I know Alda and I are a good match. I hope to love her in the same way that Luke loves you.”

“I think you already do,” I said.

He nodded his agreement. “I don’t know what I would do without her. It hurts to think about it.”

“Don’t think about it then. There’s no use worrying over nothing. As long as you treat her well, the both of you will end up quite happy. I’m sure of it.”

“I appreciate that, coming from you,” he said. “If only everyone would make it easier on you and Luke.”

“That would be nice.” I wondered if he could hint that to his mother, but asking for that would be putting Abir in the middle of our issues. I wasn’t going to drag anyone else into that mess. It was already crowded with too many people.

“Here it is,” Abir said, holding out his hand in front of him.

The new fountain was massive, reaching up at least ten feet in the air, and the pool width was at least three times the size of me. We were far enough away from it, but still, the water spray peppered me in the face as the water crashed down over the oblong-shaped pool. The stone was black and slick with water. It was a really beautiful fountain and only enhanced the look of the garden as a whole.

“It’s breathtaking,” I said.

“Father commissioned it before he died,” Abir said.

“He did?”

Abir glanced behind him and then back to me. “He did it for Luke.”

“Does Luke know?”

Abir shook his head. “I overheard Father and Mother discussing it. Only a few days before he passed. He knew Luke loved to come out to the grounds.”

“I’m sure Luke would love to know that.”

“I’m sure he would. But I can’t tell him. And neither can you.”

“Why not?”

Abir scratched his head. “It’s not the first time I’ve overheard things I’m not supposed to. It’s not my fault, but I usually end up in places I’m not supposed to. Mother would be furious.”

“She adores you. I doubt she’d be upset with you.”

He shrugged. “Just don’t tell Luke. Allow her to do it when the time is right.”

“Okay,” I said.

I went over to a small stone bench nearby, and Abir joined me. We sat and watched the movement of water in the fountain. With the sun beating on my face and the gentle flecks of water cooling the air around us, it was the perfect place to clear your mind. I knew that was what Luke hoped for every time he came to the gardens. If only he knew how much his Father did for him.

I wondered if Gia would ever tell him. Would she hold it from him until he did as she asked?

I tried not to think of her in a negative light, but she made that difficult. She could be such a shrew when it came to Luke. Sure, Abir was a people pleaser, but they were both her sons and she should treat them equally. It was her right to feel disappointed but at the expense of her son?

The more I thought about her, the less relaxed I felt. There was no way that she would speak to me about Luke. She barely looked at me. As much as I wanted to help, this was between the two of them, much to my dismay.

Abir shifted next to me, and I glanced in the direction he faced.

As if from my head to physical manifestation, Gia walked in our direction.

Abir jumped up from the bench and went over to his mother. I wasn’t sure what to do. If I stood up, then I would acknowledge her in the way that she never did for me. But if I ignored her, I would only be engaging in the game that she played with me.

My body made a choice for me, and I stood up from the bench and faced the two of them.

“Mother,” Abir said, bowing his head slightly. His hands were clasped in front of him.

“Abir,” she said without a single nod or look in my direction. “It is time to come inside.”

I gritted my teeth and used all of my strength not to roll my eyes. She didn’t even want her youngest son around me? I was the palace pariah, at least when it came to Gia’s two sons. I didn’t have the fucking plague. I was a human being. She took her hatred to another level, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take it.

Abir turned and offered me a small smile before waving goodbye at me.

Without another word, Abir shuffled off.

Gia hesitated for a moment, staring at the fountain in front of us. Even though we were outside in the wide-open world, my skin crawled as if invisible walls closed in around us, stifling us with our awkwardness.

I couldn’t take my eyes from her. I dared her to say something to me. She had no reason to interrupt my time with Abir. Soon enough, we would be related by marriage. She wasn’t going to stop us, so I didn’t understand why she continued to fight mine and Luke’s relationship.

I opened my mouth to say something, but when Gia’s eyes snapped to mine, I clamped my mouth shut.

Her dark eyes bored into mine, and a slight tremor shook my knees. For a split second, I could have sworn her eyes softened, almost as if the ice in her heart thawed for a brief moment.

Then she turned away from me and headed off toward the palace.

It wasn’t until she was quite a distance away that I was able to release a breath I’d been holding. What the hell was that? I wanted to think that she was warming up to me, but we had also been standing in front of the fountain that Erol had commissioned for Luke. Obviously, she would have a lot of feelings about it. Maybe it was her first time there, and a bunch of emotions flooded her mind. It was understandable.

The warmth in her eyes wasn’t for me, but for her dead husband. I was a fool to think otherwise.