Page 58 of The Royal in Room 3

If I could just have one minute more with them, I would tell them I loved them, that I should have seen them off. Were they all watching over me or was death final? I liked the idea that they could see me even if I couldn’t see them.

But if they were conscious of my actions, then they would be disappointed by how much I’d let down the family and the crown.

Another wave rushed in, rising past my knees. The water pulled at the robe, but I kept moving without thinking. By the time I realized how much the sand had shifted beneath my feet and had pulled me farther into the ocean than I’d planned to go, the water was at my waist.

For several seconds, I turned to stare at the shoreline. The house looked farther away than it should have.

A wave struck me from the side, knocking me off balance. I stumbled, and the water surged higher. The sand kept shifting, pulling me deeper in.

My heart began to pound.

I knew how to swim. I had taken lessons for years after the incident with Thad and Marcel at the lake. But the robe had become heavy around my legs, and every time I tried to move toward shore, the water tugged me backward.

Another wave hit, this time crashing over my head. I emerged from the waves, gasping.

“Soren!” The sound was faint beneath the crashing waves.

I turned to find Jude running across the beach toward me.

“Soren!” His voice sounded frightened. “Come back.”

I grabbed at the robe and struggled to pull it free. There was no way I was going to make it back to shore wearing it. The soaked fabric clung to my arms, but I finally shrugged out of it and let it disappear behind me.

Without the weight, I moved more easily and swam toward the shore. Jude reached the water before I reached him. He pushed through the waves until his hands closed around my arms.

“What are you doing?” he shouted.

“I don’t know,” I whispered, uncertain if he heard me.

He pulled me against him, and for a moment, he only held me tightly to him. Then another wave struck, and Jude turned toward shore. His grip never loosened. He kept one arm around me while we moved through the water, guiding me until my feet found the sand again.

By the time we reached the beach, my legs were shaking. Jude wrapped both arms around my naked body.

“What the hell happened?”

I circled my arms around his waist and buried my face into his neck. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how far in I was.”

His hands moved over my face and shoulders, checking me. “I woke up and you weren’t in bed. Fuck, baby, you scared ten years off my life.”

I shook my head. “I couldn’t sleep and decided to go for a walk.”

“You’re naked and shivering,” he said. “Let’s get you back to the house.”

Jude kept one arm firmly around my shoulders as we walked back toward the house. The sky had lightened enough to turn the ocean silver behind us, but the wind still cut through me, and without the robe, there was nothing to protect me from it. I leaned into him, grateful for the heat of his body and the steady pressure of his hand against my arm.

Neither of us spoke until we reached the house. The moment we stepped inside, Jude locked the door behind us and guided me straight upstairs.

“Sit,” he said when we reached the bedroom.

I lowered myself onto the chair near the window while he disappeared into the bathroom. He returned with one of the large towels, unfolded it, and draped it around my shoulders. Then he crouched in front of me and began drying my arms and my chest, the water still running down my legs.

“I can do it,” I said quietly.

“I know.”

But he didn’t hand me the towel. He finished drying me off, then got a fresh towel and wrapped me up in it. I couldn’t stop staring at him, at the furrow between his brows, the hard clench of his jaw, and the way he kept glancing up at me as though checking that I was alright.

He was so gentle with me, which shouldn’t have moved me so much. I’d had valets tending to me since I was five years old. They’d taken over the duty after my mother passed away, and even when I gained a stepmother, they kept doing it, so I wasn’t a stranger to another’s hands taking care of my body.