Page 146 of The Royal Art of Revenge

“Oh, you just seemed stressed when we ran into each other at Lammens,” I say breezily. “You know, when you hit me. I understand that Finn getting engaged to me instead of you was quite the shock, and I never really got a chance to apologise for keeping everything quiet the way I did. I wondered if you needed to speak to someone about everything going on.”

She presses her lips into a thin line. “You know exactly why I hit you. You provoked me with that saccharine bullshit act of yours.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That!” She throws her arm in the air. “You’re sitting here acting like you’re all innocent as if you didn’t ruin my life, but when we were at Lammens, you were griping in my ear about how I’ll never compare to you.”

“Oh.” I frown. “I’m sorry if you took my words that way. I didn’t mean that at all.”

“You outright said it!”

“Girls, girls,” Dad says, holding up a hand. “What happened, happened. It’s time for us to move on.”

Ah, if I could laugh, I would.

No apology needed from your sweet little girl, eh, Dad? But if it were me…

“Indeed.” Rosalyn sips her wine. “But, Hattie, dear, have you considered that this wedding might not be the best choice for you?”

So much for us moving on.

“Not at all,” I reply. “Why would it not be?”

“I’m worried you aren’t prepared for the public scrutiny. I’m very glad you have support, but you see how people reacted to your incident with Jasmine. You weren’t without criticism,” she says. “Jas can deal with it all. She’s had the necessary upbringing and has developed a thick skin. You… haven’t.”

I look at my father.

He’s staring into his glass, steadfastly ignoring her words as if his ears are blocked and he can’t hear a thing.

Typical.

As if I needed more confirmation that he’s a spineless piece of shit.

“Yes.” I wriggle my toes in my shoes for something to focus on. “That tends to happen when one is ripped away from their family as a child and forced to grow up in unimaginable circumstances on the other side of the world.”

He flinches.

Rosalyn, however, is unbothered. “I wonder if you shouldn’t call this whole thing off and marry someone more suitable. A quieter life after what you’ve been through.”

“Why? So, Jasmine can step up and fix Finn’s broken heart and take her rightful place?”

“That’s rather a dramatization, but—”

“You’ve already been told that Her Majesty won’t permit a marriage between the two of them. Finn has made it very clear he isn’t interested in her. Why are you clinging onto an impossible fantasy?”

“Harriet—” My father’s phone rings, cutting him off, and he pulls it out of his pocket with a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry. I have to take this. You… Just don’t argue, all right?”

Wow.

He disappears from the room, and the moment he does, the air palpably shifts. It becomes tenser, tighter, thicker, more suffocating that ever before.

“You just don’t understand, do you?” Rosalyn puts her glass down and focuses on me, her eyes blazing. “When you returned, I told you to stay put. That once Jasmine married Finley, you’d have an easy time of it. But you just couldn’t do it.”

Finally, I let myself smile, and my lips curl to one side in an amused smirk. “Why? Because you fear my very existence?”

“That—”

“God forbid anyone should find out that your daughter is nothing more than a lovechild and you a mistress.”