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It was something he’d have to talk to her about, but not now. For one thing, it was the middle of the night. For another…what they had was too good to risk.
He sat down behind the computer in the private office in his apartments and started it up. There was some searching he wanted to do among the monarchy’s private files.
Specifically, his mother’s.
It only took him a few minutes. To Rafael’s surprise, a compilation had been left for him—by the man who had gotten Felicity out of the country. That’s what the memo attached to the folder said.
The queen of Stolvenia must be a Stolvenian citizen.
An early flirtation of the former king’s nearly divided the country.
It had all been in the past.
Rafael’s own father had fallen in love with an American before he’d married his mother. It was all there, in plain text, black and white.
The monarchy will fall under the influence of foreign nations if the king marries outside the country…
Rafael sat back in the chair, his heart thundering. Felicity had overcome more than he’d ever imagined to get to this point.
But with everything going wrong, why hadn’t she reached out to him?
He lay awake for most of the night. When morning came, he still didn’t have an answer.
* * *
Two nights later, he couldn’t keep it to himself any longer. When Hope was in bed for the night, he invited Felicity to sit down at the small dining table he had in his breakfast room. It felt better to have the conversation here, rather than on the sofa. Clearly picking up on the tension radiating from him, Felicity sat with her hands folded and her back straight, worry in her eyes.
“There wasn’t a problem after the zoo, was there?” she asked as he sat down across from her and took in a breath.
“The zoo? No. No, there was no problem.”
She sagged with relief. “Oh, good. I was worried that the answer I gave…”
“The answer was great,” he said, trying to inject as much encouragement into his voice as possible. “You were wonderful. No, this is about…something else.” The longer he dragged this out, the worse it would be. “I came across some information about my mother.”
Her brows knitted together. “Your mother…” It wasn’t exactly a question, and now Rafael knew why. Felicity’s eyes widened. “Oh,” she said softly. “You must know about everything now.”
“Not everything.” Rafael suddenly felt exhausted. “I can understand how she was involved. I can understand how it was easier for you to leave the country, rather than fight with her. But I can’t understand why you didn’t reach out to me.”
“I thought she’d find out.” Felicity never looked away from Rafael. “I honestly thought she had my phone lines monitored in some way. If not that, then she could’ve had someone watching me. I couldn’t take that chance. I didn’t want to risk losing Hope.”
“Risk losing Hope?” That made Rafael’s blood run cold.
Now Felicity did look down at the surface of the table. “I knew about the pregnancy before I left Stolvenia. Somehow, she must have guessed, or…” Felicity shook her head. “It doesn’t matter how she found out. She knew, and before I left she came to see me.”
Was this the kind of power he had access to as king? It had never crossed his mind to play with people’s lives like this. He didn’t want to believe it about his mother…but it was, sadly, in character for the cold, controlling woman he had known.
“What did she say?”
“She said that if I ever breathed a word about Hope, I’d lose her.” Felicity’s cheeks had gone pale at the words, even though the threat was long past. “That…she would take my baby from me.”
The thought of separating a child from her mother like that—it was horrifying, and Rafael’s stomach turned over. That his mother would have even made the threat in the first place…
“I understand,” Rafael said. “At least, I think I do. I haven’t known Hope long, but…” Anger flared in his chest. “If anyone tried to take her from me, they would come to regret it.” In the moment that he said it, he knew it was true.
“I know they would.” That same fire he felt inside was reflected in Felicity’s eyes.”
Well, that was that. That explained why she hadn’t said anything to him. She was only being the same devoted mother she was right now.
