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There was a small silence and then, “Lilah. It’s me.”
Will. Had she conjured him from her imagination? Had her dreams brought him to life? She gripped her fingers around the phone and sucked in a deep breath. She ached to pour all the words from the heart of her soul. But she did not.
“Yes?” She winced at the sound of the single word. It was so final, so cold. Where was her entreaty to him to be reasonable? What if he left the country thinking that she hated him?
“Have you been online this morning?”
She blinked, scanning the room. What time was it? “I just woke up,” she said, stalling for time. Her ipad was somewhere. “Why?”
“There’s an article. No, it’s more like a beat up paparazzi piece.”
“Oh, no. About us?” Her heart turned over. Kiral would be furious!
“No, princess. Believe it or not, other people exist in this world besides you.”
Lilah’s cheeks were white beneath her tan. “I am about two seconds away from hanging up on you.”
“Wait,” he commanded but she shook her head.
“Why, Will? So that you can insult me some more? So that you can blow hot and cold and then disappear again?” Tears tinged her words and he heard them with a sinking heart. “I cannot do this anymore. I am so tired.”
He stared out at the desert and sighed. “I’m leaving you alone, Lilah, just like you wanted.”
Her chest squeezed painfully. She didn’t want him to leave her alone. His absence was inducing a state of misery. “Why have you called me?”
There was another pause. “The article is about Abigail. It’s pretty scathing.”
“Abi?” Lilah pushed her legs out of the bed and scanned the room properly now. The ipad had fallen down beside her armchair. She scooped it up and flicked it to life. “Where is it?”
He named a gossip site and she loaded it quickly. He stayed on the line as she read the article, her hackles rising indignantly with every single word. The accusations about Abigail, the inference that Kiral was still in love with the woman he had been supposed to marry.
“None of this is true,” she spat angrily. “Abi is not an unwanted princess! She is adored, by me and my brother.” She continued to read the fabrication. “And we were not fighting when this photograph was taken!” She stabbed at the picture a paparazzi had grabbed the afternoon before. “We were joking about something and Michael was indulging a tantrum. This is all a complete lie.”
“I presumed as much,” he said softly, closing his eyes and seeing the image as if it was right before him. He’d stared at it long and hard, looking for any sign that Lilah missed him. But there was none. She looked happy and relaxed in the photos that had been printed. She looked … perfect. “But Lilah? If Abigail has seen it, you must comfort her.” He paused, weighing up his words. “I interviewed her the day you left for the city.”
Lilah shook her head, counting back the dates. “You can’t have. You were gone.” She bit down on her lip. “You left.”
“I moved into the East wing,” he corrected softly. “It was better that way.”
Lilah’s breathing was ragged. “You mean to tell me you were still in the palace?”
“Yeah.”
She closed her eyes. “You didn’t want to see me that badly that you hid?”
“No good can come from torturing each other.” He cleared his throat. “It doesn’t do justice to how I once felt for you.”
How I once felt for you. The words were daggers to her heart.
“In any event,” he continued clunkily. “When I spoke to Abigail, I felt a fragility within her that worried me. It was clear she was struggling to adjust to life as Emira. I think you need to be on the watch for how this piece of junk affects her.”
“Of course.” Lilah placed the iPad down and sat on the edge of the bed. “I’ll talk to her.”
The silence was heavy between them, but neither wanted to sever the call. “Will?”
He swallowed. “Yeah, princess?”
She shook her head at the term. “I wish … if things were different.”
