Royal Desire (Maid for the Billionaire Prince Vol 4) by Artemis Hunt Page A

mine and mine
alone, and it is a decision for the greater good of my fellow
countrymen.”
    A hand snakes around my shoulders. Madame
Fournier, her eyes glistening, has chosen this moment to crumble
her ice queen façade and comfort me in my hour of need.
    “The decision has been made less difficult
for me by the sure knowledge that my sister, Marie Vassar, will
succeed me. Marie has graduated with top honors from Yale in
economics, and with her brilliance and ambition, she will
undoubtedly steer this country to further magnificence.”
    He pauses, clearly overwrought. Marie steps
up from the side, her eyes shining with tears. She takes her
brother’s arm.
    Alex continues, his voice shaking slightly,
“Let us welcome into this twenty-first century the first female
ruler of Moldavia. Long live the Queen. God bless you, my fellow
citizens.”
    The video feed winks out.
    The room is silent as the anchorwoman cuts
in with a “Now, that was a stunner of a speech.”
    Yes. I know.
    I bow my head and sob my heart out for Alex
and everything he has lost for me. I sob and sob, unable to stop
even to draw breath. My head hurts with a splitting headache and I
can feel my soul splintering in two.
    Madame Fournier puts her arms around me.
    “He didn’t want us to let you know what he
was doing. He was afraid you would try to stop him or do something
as foolish as you did like leaving him for his own good,” she
says.
    I would have done it too. I can’t bear how
much Alex has given up for me. It isn’t fair to him. It isn’t
fair!
    They let me cry and cry until I’m dry all
over, and then they leave, sensing that I’m not going to stop
crying anytime soon within the day. The light outside the windows
shift and change, denoting the passing of the sun. I stay there in
the parlor, stoned – not moving, not even blinking until the door
quietly opens.
    Alex slips into the room.
    He immediately kneels before my inert body,
still in the chair. My face is puffy and my eyes as red as the
indentations of my fingernails on my palms. I am now tearless and
soulless.
    “Liz?” he says in a low voice. He does not
seem saddened in the least. Years have disappeared from his face
and his eyes are bright and clear.
    “Why, Alex, why?” I whisper.
    “Because I love you more than anything in
this world, and nothing is going to stop me from marrying you and
raising a family with you. I don’t want the throne, Liz. I never
did. It’s something I have never craved. Marie would make a much,
much better ruler, trust me. I did it for us, for Moldavia, for my
family and everyone else – so that everyone can have what they
want.”
    “The greater good,” I say dully.
    “Yes, the greater good.” He clasps my face
and runs the pad of his thumb down my dried cheeks. “Oh, Liz, Liz .
. . you’re so beautiful.”
    “I look awful.”
    “No. You’re the most beautiful thing in the
world to me. And finally now we are free. Free of responsibility,
of sorts . . . free to do anything we wish. We can go around the
world, do anything we want. Don’t you see? This is the best thing I
could have ever done for us.”
    My mind is still reeling from the shock of
this afternoon’s events, but yes . . . I’m slowly beginning to see
it too. Alex can be what he was when I first met him – a prince.
Only now, he’s removed from the burden of responsibility. Yes, he
will have responsibilities, but his life is not dictated to the
whims of the palace so much anymore.
    He grins. “So what do you say? Shall we set
the date?”

EPILOGUE
     
    It’s eight months later.
    The day of my wedding dawns fair and bright.
I wake up at five to begin my makeup and hair. Monsieur Danton
teases my tresses into a mass of flowing waves that will gleam in
the sun. Stella Catalan, now world famous as a Moldavian fashion
export, has designed my wedding gown.
    Even I cannot believe how gorgeous I look.
The bodice is my dress is done up in ivory motifs of the azalea,
which is the