“I was trying to surprise you…” She looked back at me. “I’m sorry if I made too much noise.”
“No, I just woke up without you in bed beside me.” I walked over and wrapped my arms around her. “I was afraid you…”
“I’m not going to leave.” She leaned against me. “There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“Why don’t you sit down. I’ll make the tea.” I pressed my lips to her forehead.
“Okay.” She nodded and smiled.
I have nothing to be afraid of—not anymore.
Nineteen
Anabelle
One week later
We survived a secret that I was sure would tear us apart. The moment I realized that my parents were the ones who were responsible for the accident that killed Adam’s wife, it felt like my whole world came crashing down around me. I didn’t think there was any way back from that, nor did I think there was any way to put those shattered pieces back together again. Instead of watching the broken pieces turn to dust, Adam fought for me—he refused to let me walk through the door, even when I was so sure it was the right thing to do. His love was stronger than my doubt and more powerful than I deserved. I couldn’t match that intensity, but in my darkest moment, he was the one who showed me how to find the light—just like I did for him when I found out there was a man hidden beneath the visage of the beast.
The man had the strength to pull me back from the edge, and now our life has truly begun.
Adam and I started working on the house after spending a couple of days just enjoying the bliss of our new life. I wanted to turn the old mansion into a home, and Adam was fine with the changes I wanted to make. The outside could stay old and decrepit so that it looked abandoned, but there was still plenty to do on the inside. We started with the kitchen, and once that was fixed up some, we started on the living room. Adam proved to be pretty handy if he had the tools and the materials to fix stuff, so I made a lot of trips to the hardware store. We found solace in our work—and really, it never felt like work. We were having fun in the process, teasing each other and managing to keep our desires at bay until we were done working each day. It wasn’t easy—I would have loved to have been able to spend every day in bed with the man I loved, but there would be plenty of time for that once we had everything fixed up.
“Should we start on one of the other rooms today?” I looked over at Adam as we flushed away the fog from the previous night with a cup of tea.
“Yeah, for a little bit.” He nodded. “Don’t forget that Jon is stopping by around lunchtime.”
“Right.” I leaned back in my chair. “I was hoping to meet up with Violet, but she’s working today.”
“Maybe some other time then.” He shrugged. “I’d love to be able to tell you that going over my finances is exciting, but it’s going to be pretty boring.”
“It won’t be boring if I’m with you.” I raised an eyebrow and grinned.
Adam and I started on the room beside the library. It was an office at some point in time—when a typewriter and a few sheets of paper were all you needed to call it that. The closet was full of boxes, so we started there first. There wasn’t much of interest in them. It looked like his great grandparents had used the closet for storage, and Adam had only added a couple of boxes after he moved in. He traveled light when he was on his excursion from Ruilan and didn’t accumulate much before he met Emily. After going through some boxes that were full of stuff his great-grandparents packed away, I finally found one that had Adam’s things.
“Whoa…” I opened one of the boxes and blinked in surprise. “Is this—your crown?”
“Yeah.” He walked over and nodded. “I had to bring it with me in case there were social events to attend. My father lined up a few of those while I was on the excursion…”
“Too bad I didn’t find this when I broke in.” I lifted the crown and held it in my hand. “I think it’s worth more than all of that jewelry I tried to seal…”
“Probably so,” he chuckled. “But this is just a prince’s crown. My father’s crown could probably buy a small island.”
“Insane…” I shook my head back and forth. “I guess you can buy all the gemstones you want when you’re marrying people with lots of money.”
“Nah—I mean, we could.” He took the crown from me. “These stones are from the mines that used to sustain Ruilan’s economy. Unfortunately, all of those mines are empty now.”
“I’m surprised Ruilan never got conquered.” I blinked in surprise. “It was a treasure trove…”
“Conquering an island isn’t easy—especially one that is hard to find. It wouldn’t be that difficult now, but when it was worth conquering, sailing a fleet of ships there would have taken a lot of resources.” He put the crown on the desk. “My family swears that the legend of Atlantis is based on Ruilan—when a ship sailed off course and landed in our harbor.”
“Your streets are paved with gold?” I raised an eyebrow.
“No.” He shook his head back and forth. “But the clay in Ruilan has a golden hue, so it might have appeared that way to someone who had never seen it before.”
“It sounds beautiful…” I sat down on the edge of the desk.
“I wish I could show it to you.” He walked up and put his hands on my hips. “You would have made a beautiful queen.”
“Too bad my family wasn’t rich enough to buy me a crown.” I reached for his. “But—maybe you can wear this to bed tonight, and I can feel like a princess that has the attention of a prince.”
“Perhaps…” He took the crown and put it on his head. “Mi’lady.”
“That’s hot…” I giggled and leaned close to him, but we were interrupted by a knock at the front door.
“Jon must be here.” Adam removed his crown and pulled away.
He’s definitely going to wear that to bed tonight…
Jon was rather dry in his approach, and I got bored once the business discussions started. Adam’s money was heavily invested in the stock market, and Jon felt like it was imperative to go over every investment on a monthly basis. The numbers they threw around were pretty incredible, but money had lost the value it once had to me. I didn’t need to be wealthy—I didn’t even need the money in my bank account anymore. I was happy with Adam, and as long as we had each other, the rest of it didn’t matter that much. If I was going to spend the rest of my days with the man I loved, we were destined to live in isolation. I could come and go as I pleased, but Adam would never join me when I wandered outside of the mansion.
“I guess you can go ahead and terminate that employment contract.” I walked back into the room once Jon started packing his things.
“Yes.” Adam chuckled under his breath. “You’re not doing much work these days.”
“I’ll get that taken care of.” Jon nodded. “Anything else you need?”
“No, I think that will be it.” Adam stood up and extended his hand. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” Jon shook Adam’s hand. “I’ll see you next month.”
After they shook hands, Adam walked Jon to the door and watched until his car was out of sight. Adam hadn’t told me much about Jon, except that he was a friend that understood why Adam wanted to leave his life in Ruilan behind. I was kind of curious to know what their relationship was, and why he was so willing to protect Adam’s secret. Jon seemed genuinely concerned about Adam’s well being—especially if he kept coming to the house to go over finances monthly while Adam was wasting away in the beast’s lair. It was probably good that Adam had someone like Jon—someone that could keep him based in some semblance of reality while he suffered through the worst ten years of his life.
“Another month of formalities done.” Adam walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch.
“Now we have to find some way to keep ourselves occupied until his next visit.” I moved closer to Adam. “Maybe we can think of something…”
“I think we can.” He put his arm
around me. “Does your tablet work like my cell phone?”
“Yeah, it’s basically just a big cell phone that can’t call people.” I nodded. “Why?”
“I can’t take you to Ruilan…” He leaned forward and picked up my tablet. “But maybe I can show you some pictures.”
“That would be cool.” I snuggled closer to him.
Adam turned the tablet sideways and started doing a few searches. He found some pictures that had been taken by tourists and described the areas in vivid detail. It wasn’t as good as seeing his former kingdom in real life, but I did feel like I could envision it if I closed my eyes. I could see how a traveler in ancient times might have embellished the golden-hued clay and formed the legend that eventually became Atlantis. After showing me dozens of pictures, Adam started looking for some of the things he had previously told me about—the online archives and the Rosemont family library. Neither of them could be found, and after a little investigation, we discovered that the official kingdom website hadn’t been updated in nearly six years.
“Strange…” Adam scrolled through several pages. “This was a passion project for my father. He even talked about working on it once he relinquished his throne.”
“Maybe something happened…” I shrugged. “Here, let’s look on Facebook.”
I showed him my social media page, a few people I knew, and then started searching for Ruilan. There was a page dedicated to the kingdom, but there were no comments at all—it appeared that they had been turned off. I was able to find a few pictures people had posted on pages that were public, but there was nothing current. It seemed like everything pertaining to Adam’s former kingdom had stopped abruptly around the same time that the website was last updated. There were a few families that had vacationed in Ruilan, but even those posts were old. I could see Adam’s face shifting to a perplexed stare as we continued our search.
“Something definitely happened.” Adam leaned back against the couch. “People used to be proud of having enough wealth and influence to vacation in Ruilan—why wouldn’t they post pictures or status updates?”
“I don’t know.” I switched over to a web browser and started searching for a few terms. “Here’s a new article—well, that explains it.”
“What?” Adam stared at the screen.
“It says here that Ruilan’s borders were closed—this is your brother?” I pointed at a name that was referenced as the king of Ruilan.
“Yeah.” Adam nodded. “That doesn’t make any sense. Tourism was a huge economic boost for Ruilan. People looked forward to the summer months every year—they planned for it.”
“Your brother must have decided that he wanted to go a different direction?” I raised my eyebrows and shrugged.
“That would be disastrous and totally pointless.” Adam shook his head back and forth. “It’s not my problem anymore—I gave up any right to those decisions a long time ago.”
“Does that mean you can’t wear your crown when we go upstairs?” I grinned and moved closer to him.
“No.” He put down the tablet and smiled. “Why don’t you go wait for me upstairs, princess.”
“Yes, your majesty.” I kissed the side of his neck. “But this princess won’t be wearing any panties when you join her in the royal chamber.”
“Good.” He narrowed his eyes. “They would be pointless anyway.”
“I had a feeling you would say that…” I traced his arm with my hand as I stood. “Don’t take too long.”
“I just have to grab my crown.” He leaned forward and stood as I walked towards the stairs.
I have a feeling that I’m going to really enjoy playing princess—even if it’s just one night.
Twenty
Adam
I took Anabelle to bed and let her feel like a princess for the night, but it wasn’t much different than a normal night—except I wore my crown. It was a fun fantasy, even if I wasn’t a true royal anymore. I would have loved the opportunity to show Anabelle how amazing Ruilan was without the consequences that came with being Adam Rosemont. It really was a beautiful kingdom, and I had good memories there before I chose love over my crown. I didn’t regret the decision, and while I did miss my family sometimes, it wasn’t the same for me as it was for most people. The bond I had with those who shared my blood never truly formed due to Ruilan’s rigid approach to the family dynamic. Going back wasn’t an option, and my future with Anabelle meant more than the past.
I learned to be content with that decision long ago, and now it feels better than ever.
Despite being at peace with my decision, I was a little curious to know what happened to Ruilan. In my father’s time, things were moving ahead at a pace that made some who preferred the old ways uncomfortable, but they respected his dedication to modernization. The was no real reason to worry about the things that made us hide from the world for so long. Ships filled with soldiers weren’t going to sail up to our shores after we joined the United Nations and it wasn’t like the kingdom’s existence was a secret anymore—that ended as soon as airplanes became a common mode of transportation. Once Ruilan became a popular vacation spot for the rich and powerful, we found an entirely new way to sustain our economy.
Maybe I’ll call Jon tomorrow and see if he can find out what happened. It’s not like I can do anything about it, but I would like to know…
* * *
Two days later
“Your tea, princess.” I poured a cup and sat down next to Anabelle.
“Thank you, your majesty.” Anabelle giggled and picked up her cup. “Too bad Jon is stopping by—I like being a naughty princess.”
“I think you just liked the royal flogging I gave you last night.” I leaned against her and laughed.
“It didn’t do much to discourage bad behavior.” Anabelle narrowed her eyes. “It just made me want to be even naughtier.”
“I noticed…” I smiled, but my expression faded when I heard a car outside. “That must be Jon.”
I reached out to Jon to see if he could tell me what was going on with Ruilan and why the borders had been closed. He had news, but it was something he wanted to deliver in person rather than over the telephone. That didn’t leave me with a very good feeling, despite the fact that all I could do was listen—it wasn’t like I had the power to change things from beyond the grave the rest of the world thought I was in. Jon was the only one who knew my secret other than Anabelle, and our friendship transcended crowns or thrones. He chose love over duty once too, so he understood where I was coming from when I went to him for help. I met him at the door, and after a quick greeting, I led him back to the living room. Anabelle poured him a cup of tea as soon as he sat down across from us.
“Thank you.” Jon leaned forward and picked up his cup. “Nobody makes tea like this outside of Ruilan.”
“Is that why it’s so good?” Anabelle tilted her head. “A secret family recipe?”
“No.” I shook my head back and forth. “It’s the soil in Ruilan—it does something to the plants and enhances the taste.”
“There might be a few secrets he’s not sharing.” Jon chuckled under his breath. “I order a few boxes for myself every time I have some imported from Ruilan, and I’ve never been able to get it quite right.”
Small talk when there’s something important to talk about. Never a good sign…
“You said you had news?” I narrowed my eyes.
“Yes.” Jon exhaled sharply and put down his cup of tea. “You’re not going to like hearing this, and I wanted to see you in person because I think you should just let the past stay where it is.”
“He needs to know.” Anabelle put her hand on mine. “Adam might not be a crown prince of Ruilan anymore, but…”
“I just want to know what happened.” I nodded.
“Your brother…” Jon sighed. “He took the throne in your place and married the girl that was supposed to be your bride, but there were problems.”
“What kind of problems?” I fe
lt my stomach tense up.
“She couldn’t have children—the royal line was going to end with him.” Jon exhaled sharply.
“Oh no.” I closed my eyes. “The doctors always make sure that isn’t a problem—before the wedding.”
“Yes, and they thought everything was fine, but obviously it wasn’t—but there was another complication.” Jon leaned back in his seat. “Your brother fell in love…”
“After he was married?” I opened my eyes and raised my eyebrows in surprise.
“Before you gave up your throne. Everyone knew he was seeing someone, and that wasn’t an issue until…” Jon sighed.
“Fuck.” I nodded. “He wasn’t supposed to be king.”
“Right.” Jon sighed again. “Once you faked your own death and he was next in line for the throne, he had to end things with her and marry the woman your father chose.”
“My father would have never let him marry someone that he chose anyway—it’s not our way.” I shrugged.
“Your brother was planning to leave Ruilan. He wasn’t going to come back from his excursion—he would have been free to do that since he wasn’t supposed to be king.” Jon reached for his tea. “It would have resulted in him being exiled, but he wouldn’t be the first prince to choose a life outside of Ruilan—it’s not treason if you’re not supposed to wear the king’s crown one day.”
“That’s true.” I nodded. “My grandfather had a brother that I never met—supposedly he did the same thing.”
“So, what happened? He married someone that couldn’t have kids—then what?” Anabelle looked back and forth between us.
Beast Daddy: Once Upon A Daddy Page 15
