Scandals Of The Royals: Princess From the Shadows

She felt like she had a piece of herself back. Or like she’d found herself for the first time. Like she’d punched a hole in the outer shell she’d built around herself from the time she was a child. Like she was ready to emerge from it fully, completely.

Now all she had to do was remember that the sex might feel good. Great. Amazing. But that didn’t mean Rodriguez was going to confess his undying love for her. Just that right now it was good. And she believed him when he said he’d be faithful. To a point.

The one thing she believed, wholly and absolutely, was that he couldn’t give love. It was that blank void she kept glimpsing, the bottomless pit of emptiness she could see in his eyes.

And when she thought of him, she needed to remember that, and not simply the way he’d looked at her when she’d told him her secret. With shock, and anger, not at her but directed at Gabriel, and with nothing but compassion and caring for her.

Even Natalia, her wilder half, had looked at her in openmouthed shock when she’d started to tell her about Gabriel. About his double life. It was why she’d only started talking about him, and never finished the whole story.

Not until last night.

She was very glad she’d waited now. Because even if she and Rodriguez would never love each other, they understood each other.

And that was something rare. Nonexistent in her life. Sophia was the closest thing she had to a confidante anymore and, even then, she hadn’t ever felt like she could really tell her everything.

But Rodriquez had stripped her bare. And she’d liked it.

A smile curved her lips even as a tear slid down her cheek. Now she just had to remember about the falling in love part and everything might go just fine.

She pushed off from the wall and headed to Luca’s room, ignoring the small sliver of pain that lodged itself in her heart.

“Good morning.”

Rodriguez walked into the dining room and was treated to a wide smile from a very perky Luca, who was dipping a churro in his hot chocolate, and a very shy smile from Carlotta, her cheeks glowing pink as she lifted her coffee cup to her lips.

“Morning,” she said softly.

He wanted to kiss her, but he wasn’t sure if he should. He’d never really worried about that. Not for a long time. He’d started flaunting his behavior the moment he’d outgrown his father. Just about daring the old man to try something with him when they were matched for strength.

But right now, it mattered. Because Carlotta was different from other women. Because he didn’t want to do something wrong in front of Luca.

What she’d said about him seeing pictures … it weighed on him. His father hadn’t been an example for him. His father had been the iron fist, in charge of his kingdom, but even more, ruler of his own household.

Rodriguez had started life desperate to stay in line. He had ended up doing just the opposite. Creating scandal for the sake of it.

But now Luca would see that. As would the child he and Carlotta would eventually have. The heir. It was all a lot heavier than the thoughts he was used to dwelling on.

And it kept him from kissing her.

“Sleep well?” he asked, unable to keep the intimate note from his tone.

“Uh, yeah,” she said, looking sideways at Luca.

“I had a bad dream,” Luca said, applying the question about sleep to himself, clearly.

Rodriguez hesitated, never quite sure how to talk to him. “You did?”

“Yes. It was about lions.”

“Lions?”

“Why …” He looked at Carlotta, who seemed fine letting him handle it. “Why lions?”

“They bite,” Luca returned, deadly serious.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about, as far as lions go,” he said.

“I did in my dream,” Luca said, his expression completely serious.

“Dreams aren’t real, Luca,” Carlotta said, her tone full of warmth.

Rodriguez liked that she talked to Luca. That she never got angry with him for saying what was on his mind. But it made him remember. Dinners that lasted for hours where he was expected to sit and be the heir. Being the heir meant being an object, a collector’s item of interest his father might show dignitaries. Somewhere between his collection of pistols and his prize Andalusians.

He remembered being maybe Luca’s age, sitting here, too afraid to move or speak. Sitting in a dining chair at this same table, wearing a tie that felt like it was choking him. Knowing that if he moved or spoke he would be punished severely. Which meant his options were to sit and try to listen. Never fall asleep. He’d done that once and the resulting punishment had been enough to make sure he’d never done it again.

The idea of someone treating Luca that way, of someone making him stand without moving for hours, smacking his shins if he dared try anything … it made his blood burn.

“You don’t have to be afraid, Luca,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Of lions,” he finished, not sure why he’d spoken the words out loud. “There are no lions in Santa Christobel. None anywhere near here, except at the zoo. We can … go to the zoo if you like. And you can see some lions. They’ll be behind fences though.”

Luca eyed him skeptically, his expression so like Carlotta’s it was uncanny. “They won’t be able to get out?”

“No,” he said, slowly realizing that, whatever he’d had planned today, he was going to the zoo instead.

“Then that sounds good. Are you coming, Mama?”

Carlotta’s lips curved into a half-smile and she flicked him a glance. “Of course.”

A trip to the zoo with Rodriguez wasn’t an average trip to the zoo. It involved having overnight bags packed, and a quick ride on his private jet from Santa Christobel to Barcelona.

Luca was captivated by the zoo from the moment they walked in, and he didn’t seem to notice the covert security detail that created a people-free bubble around them while they traversed the paths that wound through the park.

Every section of the park had been landscaped with plants native to the environment of the animals, the enclosures made as minimal as possible, everything man-made blending into the background, as much as possible.

“This is lovely, Rodriguez. Did you come here as a boy?” she asked, watching Luca’s eyes go round with delight as they came to an exhibit with two tawny owls.

“Like Sherbie and Sherbet!” he said, running up to the front of their Plexiglas enclosure.

“Yes, darling,” she said, laughing at his enthusiasm.

“I’ve never been to the zoo before,” Rodriguez said, his eyes trained on the owls.

“Never? How is that …?”

He shrugged. “We didn’t do things like this when I was a boy. And when I was older … I was more interested in women than owls.”

“I see.” She watched the back of Luca’s head, seeing the sun shine on his glossy, dark hair. She suddenly wanted to pull him to her. To hold him close.

She looked at the man standing next to her. She wanted to hold him too. He should have been taken to the zoo.