The Royal Romance - You Can't Uneat The Apple

You don't sparkle in my eyes

"To services rendered

A party for the great pretenders

The champagne wasn't chilled

Such a dreadful oversight"

                                             "You Don't Sparkle In My Eyes" - My Life Story

***

"So, I told the three of them what I knew. That you'd been abducted, that we suspected Anton. That I was going, as requested, alone, to negotiate your release. That I wanted the three of them to know. I begged them to cover up for me. To make sure Bastien didn't follow me."

Jen was staring at the wall of the grand palatial bedroom, her heart still beating faster than standard. "How did they react?"

Rick didn't answer for a few moments. Perhaps that wasn't the best question she could have asked. But it was the one she needed the answer to most desperately as she tried to join the dots on the horrible events of this evening.

"Drake was angry. He said he was coming with me. And that he was bringing Bastien and all of the force of the King's Guard. Hana talked him down. Explained that we needed to be careful. That appearing not to comply could put your life in danger. Which was exactly my point." She could hear him as he paced up and down the bedroom, himself reliving an unpleasant experience.

I can't ask him what I really want to know, can I? This must have been distressing for all four of them. "So how did you leave it?"

"I went. I found a driver, took the messenger with me. We agreed the three of them would follow as backup. I told Drake not to involve Bastien. And to his credit, he didn't. But I suppose our absences were noted by the King's Guard eventually."

"All three of them," Jen said, still not looking up at Rick.

Rick sighed. "He wasn't really in a fit state, but Maxwell was adamant he was going too. Drake was telling him he'd be a liability, but he must have talked himself into that car somehow, I guess."

She closed her eyes. "Too much to drink?"

"Something like that." Rick sat down on the bed next to her. "Anyway, that's how we got there. I need to understand more about how you got there."

She felt the tears running down her face. "I trusted Gladys."

***

Jen had spent most of her wedding day with a lump in her throat. In a way, she was relieved that she was no longer living in this limbo existence where she was questioning whether what she was doing was for the best anymore. She'd now done it, and the only way was forwards.

. She knew Rick was none the wiser about the true meaning of the vows she had made today, nor were many hundreds of the people who had heard her say them in the Cathedral, or any of the thousands and thousands who had watched the ceremony on the television.

Only one person knew her love for Rick was a lie. And it wasn't until she'd stolen a dance with that person, midway through her wedding reception, that she'd felt more at ease.

Yes, he had been a little bit thrown by what she'd said. And she respected him for telling her his thoughts, because he was right, she had been unfair on him. But she'd explained that she just wanted to be honest with him about how she felt. And he was okay with that. They'd agreed that, in that honesty, they could still be best friends. They both knew that was all they could be from this moment on.

The rest of the wedding reception had been fun. A colossal weight was off her shoulders. She and Rick had cut the cake with her ancient sword, easily her favourite wedding gift. Rick was so impressed by the special dessert that she'd arranged for him that he'd not even noticed he wasn't the only one in the wedding party with a special dessert. And when she'd given out her own gifts to her wedding party, the joy she'd felt on witnessing Maxwell's discovery that he now owned a lifesize statue of his warrior namesake was unmatched over the whole day.