Page 78 of The Royal in Room 3

I stared at him, the string of words not making any sense.

The younger man stepped forward. “Julian Moreau. Legal counsel to the royal household.”

Royal household? Were they fucking with me?

Bastian studied me with open suspicion. “And what exactly is your relationship to His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Soren?”

For several seconds, I couldn’t process the question. The sounds of the station faded around me, leaving my ears buzzing with a title that made no sense.

Crown Prince Soren.

I looked at Vale, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes, which meant it was true. Soren was a prince. No, not just any prince. He was a crown prince, which meant that someday he would become king.

And now it all made sense why he’d been so inept at doing anything household related. Because he always had people to do it for him. But what about everything that he’d told me? About being banished from his family? Losing his mother and brothers?

Was everything a lie?

“Jude, allow him to explain,” Vale said softly, and it hit me then.

He knew the truth all along.

25

SOREN

Apparently, all I’d needed was one terrifying night in jail to forget the grudge I had against my father. As soon as I entered the hotel suite and saw him pacing by the bed, I once again became the little boy who’d cried in the arms of his father when he’d been rescued from the dumbwaiter.

“Father!” I cried and walked right into his arms when he opened them. “You’re really here!”

“Son.” He clutched me close to his chest, patting my hair gently. “Of course I came. I trust Bastian, but I wouldn’t take any chances with your future. I’ve already done wrong by you once and vowed by your mother’s grave that I will make it right.”

I clamped my eyes shut and inhaled the familiar scent of him. Over the years, as I got older, the hugs became fewer, but I couldn’t blame him alone. I’d reached a certain age when I preferred to seek comfort in the arms of a lover rather than my father.

Although it wasn’t the same thing.

My father’s hug couldn’t ease the ache in my chest that it wasn’t Jude holding me. Jude, who’d been at the police station, hired a lawyer for me, then disappeared when he found out who I really was.

Or maybe he’d left because of how long the police had taken to process the new evidence that showed I had nothing to do with the drugs. Thanks to Phoenix, who’d insisted on questioning last night’s workers at the club again, Roger, the bartender, had recalled seeing Evan and one of the bouncers talking throughout the night.

The bouncer had caved when Phoenix confronted him and told him that the surveillance footage might have been tampered with locally, but it was only a matter of time before the security company provided the backup stored in the cloud. He’d spilled his guts, denying he knew beforehand what Evan had planned. He thought Evan only wanted to teach me a lesson for interfering with his relationship with Martin. He’d confessed that he’d given Evan the spare key to my locker. Once he’d found out what Evan really did, he’d tampered with the surveillance footage to hide his involvement.

Before I left the station, Aaron had confirmed that Evan had been taken in for questioning and was unlikely to be released. He was facing several charges, including possession of a controlled substance and planting false evidence.

By the time I’d been released, Jude and his lawyer had already left. I’d wanted to go after Jude right away, but Bastian had forbidden it. The journalists lined up outside, shouting questions at us, also made it impossible for me to slip away on my own. I’d had no option but to return to the hotel where my father waited.

I’d had no idea meeting him again would be so emotional.

“I would ask you how you have been, but I think it is unnecessary considering the reason we are here.” Father patted me on the shoulder and released me. “Let me get a good look at you.”

“Father, I’m fine, I promise.” I turned around slowly so he could assess me. “It was all a misunderstanding, and the charges have been dropped. You really didn’t have to leave the country to handle this personally.”

“A misunderstanding? You were framed, Soren. Do you know the kind of penalty that comes with drug offenses?”

I shuddered because Aaron had explained it to me in the gentlest of voices, and it’d still sounded horrible.

“It boggles the mind how you got yourself into this mess, Prince Soren,” Bastian said, walking over to sit primly in one of the oversized chairs close to the French doors that led to the balcony.

“I swear I really am innocent this time,” I said. “I’ve been working hard for the past month. I have a home and a job. I’ve been responsible! It’s not my fault that Evan lost his mind after he was rude to me and the gentleman he had set his sights on broke up with him because of it.”