The Surgeon and the Princess Karin Baine (websites to read books for free .TXT) 📖

was spill the family secrets. Something her parents had gone to great lengths to cover up. However, telling him what had happened was more about honouring Freddie than betraying anyone. Her appetite abandoned her as she thought about it all.

‘I expect you heard about Freddie’s death a few years ago.’

‘Your brother? I remember reading about it. I’m sorry. He was very young to have died so suddenly. It was his heart, wasn’t it?’ There was the gut punch. The story that had been fed to the nation and the one she was about to blow wide open.

‘In a roundabout way...’ It was heart failure listed as the cause on his death certificate but it failed to detail the circumstances of her dear brother’s last tragic hours.

She knew she had Ed’s attention when he stopped gnawing on the chicken bones.

‘You don’t have to tell me if it’s too painful.’

‘No, I want to. Someone should know the truth.’ It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him for his discretion but given his loyalty to her thus far it would’ve been an insult. Especially when he’d laid his own personal life bare only moments before.

‘If this is something I need to sign a non-disclosure agreement for before I hear it, you might want to rethink that idea.’ He offered her an out, most likely aware of the significance of the event itself as well as what it was taking for her to confide in him. This story would earn a fortune in the wrong hands. Thankfully, she was aware of how safe and strong Ed’s hands were.

‘I trust you.’ The words almost caught in her throat, her body trying to hold onto them because she was so unused to saying them.

He wiped his hands on a napkin and sat up straighter. ‘I’m listening.’

Georgiana closed her eyes so she could see a picture in her mind of her brother in happier times. It was getting harder to remember Freddie before he succumbed to the darkness hounding him but there he was, smiling back at her. They were physically alike—he was tall and willowy with a shock of dark hair—but that was where the similarities ended.

His wardrobe choices were more flamboyant than hers. He had a wicked sense of humour where Georgiana had been the sensible one of the pair. Trying to keep him out of trouble and usually failing. He had as much trouble accepting their limitations as part of the royal family as she did. Only he’d kept his pain mostly to himself. If she’d known, if she’d been able to help him stand up to her parents and the regime that rejected the idea of a prince who didn’t fit in with their ideals, he might be here now calling her Hopalong or something equally inappropriate.

When Georgiana opened her eyes Ed was watching her intently. He held out a hand to hold hers.

‘Are you okay?’

She squeaked out an affirmative. With the unexpected physical contact and his eyes full of concern, she didn’t think she could hold it together for much longer. So, she got straight to the point.

‘Freddie was gay.’

Ed was still holding her hand.

‘He never came out to us but we all knew. We all pretended otherwise. A gay prince didn’t fit in with tradition, you know?’

‘I can see that.’ His hand on hers gave her the strength to carry on no matter how tough it was in the retelling.

‘He did his best to conform for our sake but he must’ve been so unhappy.’ Her voice cracked as she imagined the pain Freddie had gone through, knowing he wasn’t wanted in his truest form.

Ed scooted forward so his knees were bent and he was face to face with her. ‘I’m sure that wasn’t your fault.’

‘I didn’t do anything to help. He clearly didn’t think he could talk to me about anything or ask for my help. It was an overdose. None of us saw it coming. Afterwards, none of us were allowed to discuss it. Instead of raising public awareness about the issues of mental health or some introspection about what had led him to take his own life, we were supposed to sweep it under the carpet. A tragic accident if anyone asked. They didn’t learn anything from Freddie’s death and kept on pretending everything was fine. I couldn’t take any more.’

‘That’s when you joined the army?’

‘Yes. I wasn’t prepared to play along any more. I needed to separate myself from the whole suffocating regime. None of us are perfect but we have a right to be happy. A right to be ourselves. I signed up because I wanted to do something meaningful and make a difference.’ She wasn’t sure she’d achieved anything except prove she couldn’t escape her destiny as part of the royal family.

‘I’m sure you did to the men and women you served alongside. You certainly did with Hannah and her family today and I’m sure you will with the rest of our patients. You’re an amazing woman, Georgiana.’ He was so close to her, saying all the things she needed and wanted to hear, and it was all she could do not to bury her head in his chest and lose herself in his embrace. She’d been strong for so long on her own and Ed was the one person with whom she could let go. He’d take care of her if she asked him to. Goodness knew she was close to doing so.

The office door suddenly burst open and Ed dropped her hand as if it were suddenly something contagious. A tall, owlish man a good ten years younger than him stood staring at them.

‘Sorry. I didn’t realise you were here. I saw the light on.’

Ed jumped to his feet and helped her into a standing position. ‘We were running through a few ideas for the clinic. Georgiana, this is my partner, Giles.’

There was that moment all too familiar to her as he pondered how to react to the introduction. To save