He looked at his sister. “No.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
“I don’t need to be in love, Violet. I don’t want to be.”
“Is this because of Stella?”
He knew his sister couldn’t remember Stella well. She’d been too young. But Violet knew that their father wasn’t perfect. He’d sold her in marriage, after all. But she didn’t know about this. And he wasn’t going to explain.
“That was sixteen years ago. And things have changed. I am who I am.”
“So you’re going to marry that beautiful creature and never love her?”
That stung. But this wasn’t the moment to worry about Annick’s emotions. He was here to protect her. He was marrying her to protect her. That was it.
“Annick has a life to get to living. I’m not going to hold her back. Not when it’s her chance to be free.”
“And your chance to maintain the status quo. Congratulations.”
He rounded on his sister. “And what do you mean by that exactly?”
“I think you know. You found yourself a stunning woman who isn’t going to demand fidelity of you. And you get to be a King. Must be fun. And the bonus is that you get to rehab the image of the country. But what about you? Do you ever get deeper than image?”
“And where exactly is all this coming from?” he asked.
“It just seems to me that you found yourself a sort of ideal situation.”
“And yet you don’t sound happy for me.”
“Well, no. Because actually... I hoped for better for you.”
“You don’t know me, Violet. Not as well as you think.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“It wasn’t an accusation,” he said. “Merely an observation.”
His sister produced a purple velvet trunk, which he picked up off the ground and slung over his shoulder, walking back toward the palace. He didn’t need lectures from Violet on how he might proceed with his life. She didn’t know the half of it. Didn’t know the half of him. He strolled back into the palace and saw Annick standing there. Their eyes met. Annick was the only person who did know. His whole family, the people he had grown up with. His parents who had raised him... They didn’t know. Only this woman knew. This woman he had known for a couple of weeks. He didn’t quite know what to do with that realization. So he simply walked on. Tonight, they would have dinner. Tomorrow, they would be married. And it didn’t matter what Violet had to say about it. It was set in stone. It would not change.