“What can I say? My father was an important politician and member of the House of Lords. He regularly interacted with royalty from across the world.” I shrug. “Anyway, to celebrate the Queen at Heaven’s Gate, a lot of entertainment was planned and one of them included David playing the piano for her. I was banned from attending because the spotlight had to be on the heir and the future Duke. So there I was, alone in my room, playing the violin at the exact same time David was to play the piano for the Queen. And guess what, my old room was exactly above the music room.”

“NO!” She turns to me. “Please tell me you didn’t do that purposely.”

I cock a brow and grin. “No doubt David was good at the piano, but I was good at the violin as well. And I was tired of being left out.”

“Unbelievable!” Aaliya snorts. “And you thought I was defiant!”

I capture her wrist, stroking her silken skin. “Unfortunately for everyone, the Queen heard me and she demanded I be brought down to play for her. In one easy sweep, I had taken the attention away from David and onto myself. I played for the Queen that evening and she praised my talent. She left the next day and David and me got into a fight because of my intentional rebellion. My father found us rolling in the library, knocking punches at one another. He was pissed off at me as usual and locked me in my room again, this time with no food or water until I swore I would never play the violin again.”

She gives me a sad smile. “Did you swear it? Is that why you don’t play?”

“Actually, I didn’t. I ran away instead.”

“What?” Aaliya sputters, sitting up on her knees. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah!” I flutter my hand in dismissal. “I was done with the lot of them. So, I climbed down a tree near my room window and I made my way to Scotland to Sylvie’s house in Inverness. I anyway spent all my Christmas holidays with her, so living with her made sense to me. She welcomed me with open arms and I lived with her right up until she passed away. I owe my success to her. She gave me a stable home when I needed it the most.”

“My goodness, you actually ran away?” Aaliya exclaims, putting both her hands on her head. “And they never came for you?”