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I shake my head, smiling. “Decided to wait to find out the sex of the baby, so I want to hold the baby in my arms before I decide on a name.”
“Smart,” Vikki replies, wrapping me up in a tight hug. I let out a sigh as she holds me close, realizing how much I missed her. My time in Farcliff was full of work and not much else—not that I’ve made many friends over the past ten years, anyway. I’ve been too focused on the business.
But Vikki is a friend. She kept in touch with me while I was away. She made me feel at home here—still does.
Vikki gives my grandmother an equally big hug, then leads us both to the kitchens, where a meal has been laid out for us. I let out a happy sigh, easing myself into a chair and smiling as I accept a plate full of steaming-hot food.
I’m home, finally. I try not to think of the fact that this is temporary, and as soon as my work is finished, I’ll be on my way back to Farcliff. I might never come back.
Right now, though, I just stab a piece of broccoli and smile at Vikki as she tells me everything I’ve missed over the winter.
“Did the Prince spend the winter here?” I find myself asking.
Grandma and Vikki exchange a glance, and Vikki forces a smile. “He did. He mostly kept to himself.”
“Oh,” I answer, sadness wrapping itself around my aching heart. I don’t know why that makes me sad. Every time I think about the Prince, a wave of sorrow threatens to wash me away. He’s the one who got away—the one I never had a right to love in the first place.
The baby kicks, then punches me right in the bladder, as if to remind me that the Prince gave me a child. I grin, glancing down. I’ll always have a piece of him, even if our lives can never be joined. It’s cold comfort, though.
When I finish my meal, I ask to be taken out to the construction site. After lacing my steel-toed boots up—well, if I’m honest, I have to ask Grandma to lace them up for me—I’m led through the hallways and out to the back of the palace, where a demountable site office has been set up. A tall, weathered man hands me a hard hat, welcoming me with a grunt.
“You’re the brilliant architect who decided we needed to build this complicated glass atrium in the middle of the arctic, are you?”
I grin. “You should be happy. My original design had two glass turrets on either side of the castle. A courtyard atrium is child’s play compared to that.”
The site manager snorts, gives me a safety briefing, and begins the tour of the site. For the first time since I arrived in Nord, the sadness inside me fades. I’m not thinking of the Prince, or of everything I gave up by leaving. Here, touching the edge of the Arctic Circle, my most ambitious architecture project is coming to life.
By the time the tour of the palace is over, I can’t stop smiling. The crew has been working in split shifts through the days and nights for the past four weeks to construct this thing in record time. We need to finish it before the weather turns cold again—and they’re ahead of schedule. I won’t get to see the full palace done, but the visitor’s cottage might actually be complete if I stretch my visit here by a few weeks—and where else would I want to be for the next month?
The site manager drives me out to the visitor’s cottage. Works have been commissioned by local artisans, and the whole place looks like a restored ancient tribal palace. I’ve never been prouder.
There are murals depicting the first meeting of the communities that formed Nord, and carvings of each stage of the kingdom. I meet a historian, who leads me through the visitor’s cottage-cum-museum and shows me everything they’ve done.
It’s not a retreat for royals anymore. Soon, there will be a public road leading straight here and full-time staff in the summertime to give tours of the place. It’s a living museum that the royal family has restored and given back to Nord. It’s…perfect.
When we get back to the main palace, I make my way through the halls. My smile slowly fades as memories flood my brain, and I let out a long sigh.
I was in love with Wolfe. Maybe I still am. I can taste those sweet memories on the tip of my tongue as I wander through the Summer Palace, wondering if I’ll ever feel that way about anyone else—and knowing somewhere deep down I never will. I know it was the right decision to leave for Farcliff and tell him I didn't want to be with him. My life has been silent, with no paparazzi and no controversy. He’s been able to have a quiet winter. My baby will be born without fanfare.
It’s for the best.
But as I pass by the library doors, my ribs constrict and my lungs feel like they’re going to collapse. The fireplace is cold, the room empty.
And I feel so, so alone.
