The Once and Future Prince by Olivia Gates

Author:Olivia Gates [Gates, Olivia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Seven

“L eandro, il mio figlio, sede benvenuta.”

Welcome home, my son.

Phoebe winced as King Benedetto’s words seemed to ripple in ever-expanding waves in the Throne Room.

He was underlining the significance and official nature of the meeting, his respect and appreciation of Leandro’s presence and position by receiving him there. Big mistake.

She wished he’d met Leandro in his private rooms. And she wished he’d made it a closed meeting. With her new insight into Leandro’s character and preferences—which was in absolute contrast to the opinion she’d previously held of both—King Benedetto would have put his best foot forward by approaching Leandro on a personal level. This man really didn’t know what he meant to Leandro, even after all the enmity and estrangement.

And then he had to complicate matters further. Welcome home my son was probably the worst thing he could have said in the presence of the Council, who didn’t have any measure of Leandro’s affection and respect, whose injury was untempered by entrenched hero worship and memories of much better times.

She found herself holding her breath, dreading Leandro’s response. What was he thinking? Feeling? She remembered his state eight years ago, the soul-permeating anguish at the amputation of his goals and identity. Would reinstatement, would welcome to what King Benedetto claimed to be Leandro’s home, the palace, the whole kingdom, be enough? Could anything be?

Leandro crossed hands over heart in that gesture that was quintessentially Castaldinian. “Grazie molto…” he wiggled his eyebrows, once “…King B.”

Gasps swept through the expansive hall, like a gale blowing through a forest of dying leaves. They couldn’t have been more shocked if Leandro had made an indecent gesture. Everyone except the king himself. It was difficult to read his skewed face from this distance, but she felt his reaction. Relief. He must have been prepared for far worse than Leandro’s irreverence.

Leandro gave her a sideways glance. Her throat closed. His eyes were eloquent, but she understood none of the things they were telling her. Were his wounds opening, his bitterness pouring out, overwhelming his restraint and his intentions to give the people who’d stripped him of too much a fair chance, the opportunity to atone? Was he deciding he’d made a mistake coming here…?

She gasped. He’d winked at her, slammed her with conspiring mischief and harsh-edged satisfaction—and the message that his desire was mounting, that nothing could take his mind away from it. Then he turned to King Benedetto.

“This place is stuffy. How about we reduce…” his gaze panned over the Council members “…carbon dioxide production?” More gasps ensued. He shook his head. “You’d better do something fast. Oxygen levels are plummeting with those spikes in consumption.”

This time Phoebe’s heart twittered with excitement. Enjoyment. All these years she’d loved and lusted after Leandro and she’d never suspected how deviously, deliciously witty he was.

She had eyes only for him as he stood in the middle of the massive space and extreme opulence, overshadowing it all, giving no outward reaction to the Council members’ displeasure as they obeyed their king’s silent gesture for them to leave.

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