Chapter 39: The Excuse

Olivia’s POV

​Shit. Shit. Shit. I was in serious trouble.

​The woman seemed completely unaware that everything she had just told me had nearly sent me into a panic. She smiled warmly and pointed toward another table across the hall. "I’ll be over there. Once my brother arrives, I’ll bring him to your table. I’m sure the two of you will have a lot to catch up on."

​A lot to catch up on? Wonderful. I forced the best smile I could manage onto my face and nodded. "Of course. I’d love to see him." That was possibly the biggest lie I had told all week, and considering I was currently pretending to be a dead princess, that was saying something.

​The woman smiled once more before walking away. The second she was gone, I slowly turned my head toward Lucian and found him already looking at me.

​"Who is he?" he asked.

​I blinked. "Hm?"

​"Her brother."

​"Oh." I tried to sound casual as I reached for my glass. "Someone I knew at university, apparently."

​"Apparently?"

​My heart skipped. Wonderful, Olivia. One word. That was all it took to make things worse. "I mean, it was years ago," I corrected quickly. "I haven’t seen him in a long time."

​Lucian stared at me for another second while I held his gaze, trying my best not to look nervous. Thankfully, he didn’t ask anything else. He simply looked away and returned his attention to the Alpha sitting across from him. I quietly released the breath I had been holding and took a sip of wine, forcing myself to appear calm when, inside, I was anything but calm.

​What was I going to do? I couldn’t stay here. That much was obvious. What if this man walked through those doors, looked at me, and immediately knew I wasn’t Annabel? And even if I somehow survived meeting him, what about everyone else here? How many people in this room had personally known Annabel? Who was next? Her childhood best friend? Her favorite teacher? No. Absolutely not. I needed to leave.

​I glanced toward the entrance again, and my heart jumped when the doors opened, but thankfully, it was only another couple arriving. I looked away and tightened my fingers around my glass. Olivia, think. Think. There had to be something. Anything.

​Beside me, Lucian was now deep in conversation with another Alpha, and I sucked in a slow breath as an idea suddenly entered my head. Oh, Moon Goddess. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and right now, I was very, very desperate.

​I suddenly bent forward with a sharp breath and pressed one hand against my lower stomach. Lucian stopped speaking immediately, and so did everyone else at the table. His head turned toward me, his brows pulling together as he studied my face.

​"What’s wrong?"

​"I..." I started, then glanced awkwardly at everyone around the table. This was embarrassing, but a girl had to do what a girl had to do.

​"Annabel," Lucian called, his voice firmer this time.

​I leaned closer to him and lowered my voice so only he could hear me. "I’m having menstrual cramps."

​For a second, he said absolutely nothing. I wanted the floor to open and swallow me as one of his eyebrows slowly lifted. I stared back at him, wishing I could tell him with my eyes, Don’t judge me. Just get me out of here.

​I closed my eyes and pressed my hand harder against my stomach, pretending another wave of pain had hit me. A moment later, I heard Lucian push his chair back.

​"Come with me."

​My eyes opened. That was it? No questions? No irritated look? I had expected him to complain or at least stare at me as though I had personally offended his entire bloodline. Instead, he simply stood there waiting for me.

​I quickly got to my feet and followed him. Several people turned to watch us as we made our way through the hall, so I kept one hand against my stomach and tried my best to maintain the painful expression on my face. If I was going to lie, I might as well commit to it.

​The moment we stepped outside and the large doors closed behind us, Lucian stopped and turned toward me. "What do you need?"

​I blinked. "What?"

​"Do you need a healer? There are healers inside."

​My lips parted slightly. Had Alpha Lucian just offered to get me a healer? I had been expecting him to scold me for interrupting his precious summit, not immediately ask what I needed. Maybe that pit had done something to both of us.

​"No." I quickly shook my head. "No healer. I have medication at the mansion. I just need to take it and rest. It’s normal for me. The first day of my period is usually painful."

​There. Now I had officially discussed my imaginary period with Alpha Lucian. What a wonderful evening.

​"You don’t have to come with me," I added quickly. "Just let your driver take me back. You can stay here."

​Lucian said nothing, and my stomach tightened for real this time. Please agree. Please agree. Because if that woman’s brother walked through those doors before I escaped, imaginary menstrual cramps were going to be the least of my problems.

​Lucian suddenly stepped closer.

​I frowned. "What are you..."

​His hand closed around mine before I could finish. The world seemed to twist around me, my stomach dropped, and I instinctively squeezed my eyes shut. A second later, my feet hit solid ground.

​I slowly opened my eyes and blinked several times.

​My bedroom.

​I looked around in disbelief before turning toward Lucian. He was standing directly in front of me, still dressed in his coffee-brown suit and looking completely unaffected by what had just happened.

​"You teleported us?"

​"The journey back would take almost two hours by car."

​I stared at him. He had left an important summit and used his teleportation just so I wouldn’t have to sit in a car for two hours while supposedly in pain. Did he just... care? No. I wasn’t going down that road.

​"I’ll teleport back to the summit," he said. "Take your medication and rest."

​He turned slightly, but I quickly stopped him. "Wait."

​Lucian looked at me.

​"If you can teleport this easily, why didn’t you just teleport us to the summit in the first place?"

​His face went completely blank. I waited for an answer, but none came.

​"Alpha Lucian?"

​The air around him shifted, and then he vanished.

​I stared at the empty space where he’d been standing. "Of course." Ask Alpha Lucian a perfectly reasonable question, and apparently, disappearing was an acceptable answer.

​I rolled my eyes and sat on the edge of the bed, finally allowing the huge breath I had been holding to leave my lungs. I was safe. Well, safe might have been a strong word considering my entire life was currently built on a lie, but at least I wasn’t sitting in that hall waiting for a man who could expose me with one look. That had been so close.

​I pulled off my heels and changed out of the silver dress before slipping into something more comfortable. Once I was done, I climbed onto the bed and sank against the pillows, expecting to finally relax, but the relief didn’t last long.

​I stared at the ceiling as the woman’s words returned to me. He was the only person you ever revealed your real identity to. My chest tightened. Tonight had made something painfully clear. I couldn’t keep doing this forever. I had been lucky with the violin because Lucian had unknowingly saved me, and I had been lucky again with the woman’s brother because I managed to escape before he arrived.

​But what about next time? I couldn’t remember people I had never met. I couldn’t fake memories I didn’t have, and I couldn’t suddenly learn every single thing Princess Annabel knew how to do. Sooner or later, I was going to make a mistake. Sooner or later, someone was going to realize that I wasn’t Princess Annabel.

​And when that happened, what exactly was I going to do?