Allen sighed and glanced at me. “Miss Hedy, there is something you should know.”
“Before my birthday?” I repeated. The anger in me rose. Why wouldn’t Candido have mentioned that? There wasn’t a lot of time between now and my birthday to make sure this didn’t happen, but I couldn’t show my anger. I needed to know why. “You make it sound like it was supposed to be years from now.”
“Quite honestly, I had hoped that His Majesty would find a way out of this agreement by now. He had been putting it off for years for good reason.” His lips twitched. “If he were to break the engagement now, I believe it would be the proper time, but he is a man of honor.”
I nodded. I understood that. I knew that. There was no one more honorable than Candido.
“What’s this very good reason?”
Allen hesitated and
