The Royal Romance - The Valtoria Diaries

Love you like that

Where are you going, Jennifer?

You're mine, Jennifer.

Nobody loves you like me, Jennifer. Nobody ever will.

Nobody else could ever love you, Jennifer.

Nobody else will ever want you, Jennifer.

She could hear the voice so clearly in her head; almost two years had passed now since she had last heard it, but it still echoed in her mind when she doubted herself. If she was being completely honest, over the last nine months she'd very seldom heard it. But it was still there.

Wear this for me tonight, Jennifer. I love how sexy you look when you're wearing that.

Come on, Jennifer. You don't look as if you're having a good time. And that makes me look bad in front of all these people. And you don't want that, do you?

Jennifer, you need to smarten up, wear a little more make up. Lose some weight. You've lost the wow factor for me. You don't want me to lose interest, do you?

Don't cry, Jennifer. Nobody has any sympathy for you. Especially me. And I'm the only one here.

My Jennifer. Nobody else's Jennifer.

She shivered, rubbing her hands along her bare arms as she sat looking out over the dark lake from the gap in the stone wall.

It was cold down here in the undercroft, and it wasn't helping her state of mind. Remembering that cold, dark time in her life. The life she could still have been living if she hadn't grown stronger, and braver. Attributes that impressed her new friends and her soulmate, but she had never explained to any of them how her experiences had shaped her strength and her bravery. Perhaps it was time to let them in. Starting with Maxwell, of course.

She jumped as she heard a door slamming from above, followed by the sound of footsteps running downstairs, and she could just about make out the glow of a phone flashlight getting closer and brighter. She picked herself up, and locked eyes with her visitor as soon as he came into her line of sight.

"Jen. Oh, thank God you're here." He ran towards her and threw his arms around her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, not really knowing what to say.

"Listen, I'm sorry, I obviously said something really thoughtless, but.. you've got to believe me when I say I don't really understand what, or why it upset you. I would never want to upset you like this. You're my world."

She sighed, looking up at him, feeling a hundred times better already.

He looked around, still holding her closely. "Hey, this is one cool secret passage! Look at that view..."

"Yeah. It's a bit too dark to fully appreciate it right now, but when Hana and I came down here a couple of months ago when it was a bit lighter, it was amazing. I was going to wait until the summer to bring you down here. I was going to choose a warm night with a beautiful sunset, and I wasn't going to let you go back up to the house until we'd made love at least three times." She giggled.

It was dark, and his phone flashlight was behind her back with his hands, but she could just about make out his bewildered but impressed expression. "Uh, I'd like to think we could still do that..."