73. The Ashes.

[Claire]
"She made it all up." Jean's words resounded in my ear, Sophie and I had just finished watching the news and it was devastating.
"He lied." I looked at Sophie in shock. "He lied about it all."
"Claire, please call down." She pleaded.
"No," I looked at her. "I am calm."
"What are you going to do now?" She asked. "Because I'm ready to go anywhere with you, we could go to the palace to give him a piece of our kind, or better yet, we could go to the press and make our own statement, you could expose him for real."
"No, this news can't reach America," I said and stood up from the couch. "It will affect my father's business in the international market and the stocks, the stocks might crumble."
"Is that seriously what you are worried about now?"
I looked at her silently, I couldn't afford to be weak now, Jean did not deserve my tears and I wasn't going to shed another for him or for anyone else.
"Yes, the company is too important to my father, if anything happens to it, I'm afraid he might be unable to recover," I said.
"When are you leaving?" She asked.
"Immediately." I said, "I'll be on the next flight to America within the hour."
"Fine, I'll drive you, Michele will meet us at the airport." She said, her expression grim.
"I promise, I'll always keep in touch," I said and gave her a tight hug.
"Yeah, we'll even come and visit when we get the chance." She smiled sadly.
"Do you think the press would have left my house yet?" I asked.
"Yes, my friend called to tell me that they left a few hours ago, I didn't tell you because I wanted you to wait until tomorrow for things to blow over a bit." She said,
"Okay, I'll be careful, I need to go and pick my things, come pick me up in about an hour, okay."
"Yes, sure."
As I walked out of her building, my vision blurred with tears but I dared not let it fall. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I hailed a taxi and made my way back to my apartment.
As I gathered up my things, I let the tears fall freely, I came to Denmark to find my mother who wasn't even lost, then I found love and I thought that was my purpose in the country but now my heart had been broken to pieces, I'd been betrayed in the worst way possible.
"How could he deny me?" I screamed as the tears poured down my face.
I found some of the gifts he'd given to me and some pictures of us we'd taken at the photo booth machine, I bundled all of them up and threw them into the flames.
The doorbell rang and I hurriedly gathered the rest of my things, I wiped my eyes dry and went to answer the door.
"Who are you?" I frowned at the stranger at the door. "Are you Jean's brother or something?" I asked when I noticed the semblance between them both.
The only difference between them was the color of his hair, eyes, and a slight difference in build, I knew Jean's body enough to recognize it.
The man had lighter hair and eyes than Jean, Jean had dark hair and dark green eyes, I stared at the man and I realized that he looked really familiar like I'd seen him somewhere before.
"Oh, you were the one who pretended to be the Prince the day I visited the palace." I gasped and tried to shut the door in his face.
"Please, I've come to speak with you." I closed my eyes as he spoke and tried to stop the tears threatening to spill out.
He did not sound anything like Jean, his accent was more pronounced and his voice wasn't as deep as Jean's.
"I'm his best friend." He said when I didn't respond.
"What do you want to say to me now, are you here to try to persuade me to stay silent, you don't have to," I said and moved away from the door.
"Quite the contrary, I'm here to apologize on his behalf." He said entering my house.
"Where are you going?" He asked, looking at my packed luggage.
"I'm going back to America, where I come from," I told him. "You don't have to say anything, I just want this chapter of my life to be over, he already said what he said and that is that."
"I want you to know that he didn't mean it and he's very sorry, he's really miserable without you." He said.
"Sir, I'd like to thank you for reaching out but I don't want to hear none of it again, please, my luggage is packed and I leave for the airport in a few minutes."
"He had no choice, he was forced to give that statement." He tried again.
"Please don't make excuses for him, one always has a choice and he made his, if he's worried about me making problems for him, you can already see that I'm not going to so please can you leave me in peace," I said and led him towards the door.
"Thanks for listening to me." He said and gave me a small hug before leaving.
After he left, I splashed some water on my face and waited for Sophie's arrival.
***
"Mon Coeur." Michele smiled and pulled me into a big hug when I opened the door for them.
"Oh, Mich, I thought you couldn't come now," I said and returned his hug.
"Of course I had to, I'll miss you mom coeur."
"Are you ready?" Sophie asked me as she took one suitcase from my hands.
"Yeah, sure I am," I said and handed her the keys to my house. "The rest of the things that I didn't—"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of them." She said and I smiled.
"His friend came to see me today." I blurted out and they both turned to me.
"His friend?"
"Yes."
"What did he want?" Michele frowned.
"He wanted to apologize, and said the Prince didn't mean to say those mean things on the news," I said.
"Son of a bitch." Sophie cussed. "If I ever get hold of him, I will—"
"Bash his head in, I'm right ahead of you on that sis."
"There's no need for that, I just want this nightmare to be over, I'm going to forget him and move on with my life," I said confidently.
"I'm glad to hear that." They smiled and pulled me into their arms. "We love you, Claire."
"Yeah I know and I love y'all too."
It was a very emotional separation for the three of us at the airport, this time as the tears poured down my eyes, I was glad that for the first time in weeks, I wasn't crying for Jean.
.
.
[Jean]
"How was she?" I asked him.
"How did you know?" He asked me
"Just tell me." I frowned.
"She's leaving." He said and I was not prepared for the pang of pain that hit my heart.
"She didn't want to hear me out at all, she recognized me from her palace visit." He said.
"It's for the best," I said.
"You know that's not true." He retorted immediately. "Are you just going to let her go, what about your love for her?"
"Love blooms and love dies." I looked at him with empty eyes, void of any emotion. "My heart is dead Liam, and my soul is empty."
"It doesn't have to be like that, I know that she still loves you."
I looked at him and I sighed.
"I'm going to see Megan later today," I said and he tensed up. "Don't worry, I'm not mad at you, if I were in your shoes, I probably would have done the same thing."
"I'm sorry Luke, I couldn't stay away." He said and I nodded. "Besides, she found out the truth herself and came to me first."
"As I said, Liam, I'm not mad at you but I need you to stop seeing her," I said and he froze.
"What?"
"You heard me." I turned to him with empty eyes. "She is going to be my wife, the future queen of Denmark, I want you to end your relationship with her immediately, it will not be good for either of us if word gets out."
"What is wrong with you?" He yelled and grabbed me by the collar.
"Let go of me this instant." I seethed and pushed him away from me.
"Are you really going to do this?" He asked me.
"Yes, I think it's time I started to act like the Prince I am."
"Luke, do you realize that this attitude of yours will put a strain between the two of us." He said.
I turned to him and looked at him but I felt nothing.
"I know, it's imperative that we leave some people behind."