Obligations? He was so angry he could spit nails. Thinking about Sofie, with her free spirit and big heart, being stuffed into a life of obligations was heartbreaking. But then he watched her do exactly what her mother told her to do, and Ian understood very quickly that she was never really his. And she never would be.
“I am so sick and tired of my obligations,” Sofie spat. “What about my life? What I want to do?”
“Sofia, this isn’t anything we’re going to talk about in front of an outsider. Not to mention, this disagreement has run its course. You are a member of the Aubonian royal family.
You will most certainly not marry an American soldier.” The Queen sniffed her disapproval as she said the words, inferring that Ian was some kind of lowlife.
“You are insufferable, Mama. He’s a good man.”
“You are second in line to the throne, Sofia. Your responsibility has always been, and always will be, to your country. Good man or not, this is not going to happen. Your duty is elsewhere. Surely your soldier can understand that.”
Sofie was hurting and it killed Ian to see her like this. But what the queen said about duty? That was something he could understand. Knowing Sofie as he did, he understood if she walked away from her family, from her country, to be with him, she’d never really be happy, so Ian made a quick decision. He’d be the bad guy. He’d end it and end it quickly. She’d probably wind up hating him.
“Could we have a moment, ma’am?”
The queen looked back and forth between him and Sofie, finally nodding. It took less than ten seconds for her and her bodyguard to clear the room.
Once the door clicked shut, Ian moved to where Sofie was standing by the big window He turned her to face him, and the pain in her eyes broke his heart even more. “You should have told me.”
“I know, but it would have kept you away from me altogether.”
“So instead we got involved in a doomed relationship. And you knew it.”
“I didn’t think it would come to this. I never thought it was “doomed,” as you put it.”
“What did you think would happen? Are you that naïve? Did you think you’d convince
your mother, your family, that you could be with someone like me?”
Furious, she snapped. “What do you mean someone like you? They should be thrilled a man like you, who’s honorable, brave, and brilliant, feels anything for me at all, much less love.
They’re pompous snobs, my parents.” She took a breath. “Don’t get me wrong, my mother is probably one of the strongest, most intuitive rulers my country has ever had. But as a mother, she’s more stuck on protocol than my happiness.”
He couldn’t help but feel satisfied by how she defended him, even though it didn’t
change anything. “My knowledge of Aubonne is limited, but your mother has her hands full with some very vocal critics of your family who, quite frankly, could be a risk to all of you.”
“What are we going to do?” She sat on the edge of the sofa, dropped her head and wiped at her eyes. “I can’t bear the thought of being without you. We have to do something. I have to do something.”
This meant she either had to make a choice to abandon her family, her heritage, or Ian had to walk away. Even if Sofie didn’t think her family needed her, he could see now, they did.
They needed her compassion, her love of people, and her ability to understand delicate situations to balance the hardness he saw in her mother. Leaving behind who she was and all she knew was fine for a few years at university, but not for a lifetime.
It was clearer now that he had to make the break because she wasn’t going to.
“You shouldn’t have gotten involved with me. I get that you wanted to be normal, but how can I even trust that what you feel for me is real? That you didn’t just want to—I don’t know—scratch an itch.” The shadow that crossed her face let him know exactly how much that comment had wounded her.
“Ian, are you serious? Scratch an itch?”
“I’m dead serious. I’ve got to cut my losses here. It’s bad enough I’m going to feel like shit because you’re gone, but to know I was just part of some game? That sucks.” Standing, she took a few tentative steps in his direction and for a split second, he didn’t know if he could go through with it. But he couldn’t stop, not now. Pushing her away, back to her own life, was the only solution. “Go, Princess. Have a good life.”
She started to speak but stopped, almost like she realized that there was nothing left to say. Mustering all the pride she could, her back straight, Sofie picked up her purse and jacket.