Twisted Games

When Bridget asks Rhys about himself, he reveals that his biggest fear is failure and his biggest regret is inaction. Though Bridget is surprised by these responses, her own fear of failure motivates her throughout the novel, and she constantly regrets her past actions just as much as Rhys regrets his. Both Rhys and Bridget are influenced by their pasts, particularly by their guilt over their actions or lack thereof. As a public figure, Bridget feels that she is not allowed to want things for herself, for she knows that her desires might bring harm to the royal family and her country. Yet her guilt also arises from her mistaken belief that she is somehow responsible for the deaths of her parents. Bridget feels the weight of her family and her country on her shoulders, particularly as she becomes closer to becoming queen. The lasting effects of guilt become even more prominent after her relationship with Rhys becomes public, for Bridget feels that she has let everyone down. Accordingly, her fear of failure causes her to break up with him and pursue a more conventional path to the monarchy. Even so, she feels immense guilt over her wayward romance. Connecting her actions to their effects on her family, Bridget says:

My mother died giving birth to me. My father died on his way back from buying something I’d asked him to get. My grandfather almost died because I’d refused to give up the one thing that ever made me happy. That was what I got for being selfish, for wanting something for me. Future queens didn’t live for themselves, they lived for their country. That was the price of power (350).

This passage emphasizes the fact that Bridget’s guilt over her past actions consumes her, leading her to feel guilty for any aspect of her life that brings her happiness.

Rhys is similarly ruled by guilt throughout much of the novel. Early in Twisted Games, he tells Bridget that as a child, he watched, frozen in fear, as a friend was mugged at gunpoint. Because he is haunted by his guilt over his failure to save his friend from being shot, his career as a Navy SEAL and his fierce protectiveness of his clients stand as evidence that he is still trying to atone for tragedies that he perceives to be his fault. Additionally, Rhys feels immense guilt about his relationship with his mother, mentioning that he did not immediately call 911 when he discovered that she was dead. Though Bridget tells him that he is not to blame because he was only a child when these things happened, Rhys is still controlled by this guilt, and when he admits the details of his past to Bridget, the scene emphasizes the many connections between the two characters. Significantly, his complex PTSD only exacerbates his guilt, leading Rhys to feel responsible for anything that goes wrong on his watch. As a result, he is hypervigilant and overprotective of his clients, feeling like he owes it to the world to make up for his inaction when he was a child. Similarly, because he feels guilt over his mistakes while in the military, he sees himself as nothing but a murderer, and tries to atone by protecting others as a bodyguard. Rhys’s guilt leads him to feel that he is not good enough for Bridget, further complicating their relationship. Yet by the end of the book, Rhys and Bridget’s relationship and openness with one another lead them both to see things from different perspectives, assuaging some of their guilt and allowing them to move past it.