The Passionate Princess

by Barbara Cartland

She climbed out of bed and quickly had her bath.

  She had planned to put on her riding habit so that she could leave without having to change again.

  But, as there was a special guest, she allowed Martha to dress her in one of her prettiest gowns.

  It was of a very pale green that made her think of the woods where she had met Nikōs.

  It was made in the latest style, swept to the back with a large bustle and it made her skin look dazzlingly white and her hair even more fiery than it was usually.

  She wore a small necklace of emeralds that matched her gown and there was a bracelet to go with it.

  She did not take long in dressing and she told Martha to put her riding habit ready so that she could change swiftly after luncheon was over.

  She had chosen one of a very pale blue, which was the colour of the flowers that she had worn in her wreath when she was married.

  She decided that this afternoon she would wear a riding hat as Nikōs had never seen her in a hat.

  Then because time was getting on and Martha was fussing over her, she hurried from her bedroom.

  She ran along the corridors to the main part of The Palace.

  There seemed to be more footmen about than usual in the hall and also a number of the more elderly Courtiers.

  She was now wondering who the special guest could be.

  She found her father, as she had expected, in the salon, which was next door to the main dining room.

  It was where he and her mother always received their more important guests.

  It was an impressive room with a great deal of gold decoration. Fortunately the walls were white and the carpet was blue, so that the Royal crimson did not clash with Thea’s hair.

  As she kissed her father and mother, she saw that they were specially dressed for the occasion.

  “Who is this important guest, Papa?” she asked.

  “It is King Árpád of Levád,” her mother said before the King could speak, “and he proposed the visit himself.”

  “Of Levád?” Thea repeated and wrinkled her forehead.

  “He has never been on a visit to Kostas before,” the King explained, “and naturally we are delighted to welcome him.”

  There was something in the way her father spoke and the way he looked at her that made Thea feel as if a cold hand clutched at her heart.

  She remembered that King Árpád with the exception of the old King Otho was the only unmarried King in the Balkans.

  She knew now exactly what her father was planning and wanted to tell him immediately that such an idea was out of the question.

  Then she remembered what Georgi had told her, that King Árpád was a misogynist and disliked women.

  Perhaps he had changed his mind, but whether he had or not, it was too late.

  She had, however, no wish to be alone without Nikōs beside her when she said so.

  “I must say that I have never met the man,” her father was saying, “although, of course, I knew his father. Levád is a large and important country. One of its boundaries marches with ours.”

  “Georgi told – me,” Thea began in a small voice, “that King Á – ”

  Before she could finish the sentence there was the sound of voices and the double doors at the end of the salon were flung open.

  The Courtiers who had been waiting in the hall now advanced towards them.

  Her father and mother then moved away from her and Thea was left alone in the middle of the room.

  She knew that she ought to follow them, but for a moment she contemplated leaving the salon by another door and running away into the garden.

  Then she told herself firmly that there was no need to be afraid.

  She was married to Nikōs, she was his wife and, whatever schemes her father might be hatching for her to marry King Árpád, they would come to nothing.

  She closed her eyes for a moment and thought that she could hear Nikōs saying in his deep voice,

  “Trust me.”

  ‘He will make everything all right,’ she told herself.

  She was sure that nothing and nobody could undo the sacredness of the vows that they had made to each other in the little Church in the wood.

  Her father and mother had greeted the King and were talking with him by the door of the salon.

  It was then, slowly and reluctantly, knowing that it was her duty Thea moved towards them.

  As she did so, she was saying in her heart,

  “Oh, Nikōs, I love you! I love you!”

  She was sending her thoughts rapidly towards him so that he would come and rescue her.

  “And now, Your Majesty,” she heard her father say, “I would like to present to you my daughter, Sydel.”

  “I should be delighted,” a deep voice replied.

  Thea had already sunk down in a deep curtsey.

  Then, as the King took her hand in his, she felt a strange tingling sensation.

  It was so vivid that involuntarily she looked up at him.

  Suddenly she was stunned into immobility.

  It was Nikōs who stood there!

  Nikōs wearing a smart uniform covered with decorations.

  Nikōs looking at her with so much love that his eyes seemed to blaze with a blinding light.

  For a moment neither of them could move.

  Then, as Thea felt that she must be dreaming, King Árpád said,

  “I have something important to tell Your Majesties and perhaps it would be possible for me to do so alone.”

  Thea’s father looked at him in surprise and asked him,

  “Could it not wait until after luncheon?”

  “It will take only a few minutes,” King Árpád replied, “and, if perhaps we could go into another room with Her Majesty and your daughter I can tell you why I am here.”

  Thea was aware that her father was thinking that this was all very unconventional.

  There was, however, nothing that he could do but lead the way into an anteroom that led off the salon. It was a small room that Thea had always thought was one of the prettiest in The Palace.

  The door was closed behind them and King Árpád turned to Thea and held out his hand.

  She moved towards him with the swiftness of a small bird seeking safety.

  Her heart was beating excitedly and at the same time she was feeling bewildered and could scarcely believe that it was really Nikōs who stood there in front of her.

  Nikōs, looking so tall and so regal and so very much a King, but also the man who she was married to.

  He held Thea’s hand very firmly in his and then he said in a low voice,

  “I told you to trust me!”

  It was impossible for her to speak, but from the way she looked up at him it was obvious that she loved him.

  Then he turned to her father,

  “I came here today, Your Majesty, to tell you, although you may find it hard to believe, that Thea and I were married four days ago!”

  The King stared at him as if he thought that he could not be hearing him correctly.

  Then the Queen exclaimed,

  “Married? But how is it possible?”

  “We met in the wood,” Nikōs explained, “and we fell in love. Thea had no idea who I was and I had no idea who she was, but we knew that we were part of each other and nothing else was of any significance.”

  “This is the most extraordinary story I have ever heard!” the King declared.

  Thea saw, however, that he did not seem to be angry.

  She knew that his astonishment was tempered by the knowledge that King Árpád ruled over a country that was far larger and more important than Kostas.

  In point of fact he could not have asked for a more prestigious son-in-law.

  Now Nikōs was saying,

  “That is the real reason, but there is another one, one that will convince the world why we were married.”

  Thea looked at him a little apprehensively.

  He told her father and mother how, having met
, they were riding in the woods when they had been captured by the bandits.

  He explained that, in order to save Thea from the unwelcome attention of the younger bandits, he had told them that they were married. And they had therefore left her alone.

  The Queen gave an exclamation of horror, while Thea’s father said,

  “That was very clever of you and I am certainly extremely grateful that you saved my daughter from those brutes.”

  “Fortunately,” Nikōs went on, “whenever I am living incognito at my little house in the mountains, which I had built myself so that I could enjoy my painting undisturbed, my Prime Minister has always been insistent, although I would not be aware of it, that I am watched in case of any attack on me.”

  “So I should hope,” the King commented. “You are far too important to be left alone and unattended.”

  “It was something that I have resented and tried to forget,” Nikōs replied, “but on this occasion I was very grateful.”

  He looked at Thea lovingly as he went on,

  “My invisible guard saw me being taken away, but he would have been powerless to tackle the bandits by himself even with the soldier who was with him. He therefore notified the nearest detachment of troops who came to our rescue as soon as it was dawn.”

  The Queen gave a little cry of horror.

  “I cannot bear to think of the danger you were in.”

  “Nor I,” the King said. “How can Thea have been so naughty as to run away in that reckless fashion?”

  Thea smiled at him.

  “Are you not glad now, Papa, that I did so? If I had stayed here, I would never have found Nikōs.”

  “I imagine that is one of your many names,” the King remarked to Nikōs.

  “I have five of them,” Nikōs smiled.

  “I have three!” Thea interposed.

  “I am quite content with the one you use,” he remarked quietly.

  The two Kings then decided that they would announce that Nikōs had met Thea when she had been captured by bandits.

  He had saved her and in doing so they had fallen in love.

  “It is a story that our people will greatly enjoy,” the Queen said, “and I am so happy those horrible creatures are behind bars and no longer able to threaten travellers or steal our livestock.”

  “You may be sure of that,” Nikōs said.

  They then went back to the salon and as they did so he said,

  “I will look after Thea now and prevent her from having such risky adventures in the future.”

  *

  There was no chance of their being alone until late in the afternoon when Thea asked him,

  “Why did you not tell me?”

  “Why did you not tell me!” Nikōs riposted.

  “I-I was afraid,” Thea confessed, “that you would not marry me – if you knew how – angry my father would be and that I would be – stripped of my rank for having married a – commoner.”

  She gave a little cry as she pressed herself against him saying,

  “How could I have known – how could I have guessed that – you were so Royal?”

  Nikōs’s lips were on her forehead as he said,

  “I did not tell you, my darling, because I was afraid that you might be insulted at having a morganatic marriage.”

  Thea looked up at him in astonishment.

  “Morganatic marriage?” she questioned.

  “I went to my Palace yesterday to inform my Prime Minister that I was married and to ask if they would accept someone as beautiful and as perfect as my wife and their Queen.”

  He gave a sigh as he added,

  “I knew that it would be very difficult.”

  “Why?” Thea asked.

  “Because my Cabinet, my family and everybody from the shoemaker to the blacksmith, who I rule over, have all been nagging me and begging me to marry and have an heir for several years now.”

  “And I thought you were an artist!”

  Nikōs laughed.

  “I went off by myself to paint simply to find a little peace and so I was determined that I would not have an arranged marriage to some plain boring Princess just to please the people.”

  “Is that what I am?” Thea asked.

  He turned her small face up to his with his finger and said,

  “You know what I feel about you and I will make it even plainer a little later.”

  The touch of his finger made her feel as if there was a little flame touching her skin, but she forced herself to ask him,

  “But you did not tell – your Prime Minister that you were – married to me. Why not?”

  Nikōs smiled.

  “The bandits did me a good turn.”

  “The bandits? But – how?”

  “When I came back to The Palace, the Officer who had taken your saddle to be mended asked to see me.”

  He smiled again before he went on,

  “He told me in a serious tone that he thought I ought to know that the saddle had been stolen from the Royal stables at Gyula!”

  “But of course!” Thea exclaimed. “Papa’s Coat of Arms is always marked somewhere on the saddles!”

  “Exactly,” Nikōs agreed. “And that is how I found out who I was married to.”

  “You were – sure of it?”

  “I had been continually told that Princess Sydel was very beautiful. My Prime Minister and most of my family had practically gone on their knees to beg me to meet you, but I had always declined.”

  “But – why?”

  “Because I was waiting for the right woman who belonged to me and who was the other half of myself,” Nikōs said quietly. “And I felt sure that Héja would send her to me sooner or later.”

  “And that is what he did!”

  Then she gave a little laugh.

  “How could I have guessed when I fell over you and thought that you were an artist that you were a King as well?”

  “I thought that you were a Goddess or a nymph from the lake,” Nikōs replied, “but all that mattered was that you were mine and I had waited a very long time for you.”

  As he spoke, he kissed her.

  Then, as they clung together, Thea thought that all her Fairytales had come true.

  She had found her Prince Charming. She was the other half of him as he was the other half of her.

  They were together and now nothing could ever separate them.

  *

  Later that night when they were together in the largest and grandest State room in The Palace, Thea asked,

  “How can we be so lucky – so incredibly and marvellously lucky – to be here – together tonight?”

  “I think the answer to that,” Nikōs said seriously, “is that we have faith in our own ideals and our belief in real true love.”

  He pulled her a little closer before he continued,

  “It was that which made you run away from the thought of being married to King Otho. It was because I knew you were somewhere out there in the world, if only I could find you, that I escaped from the pomp and protocol of The Palace to my little house in the woods.”

  He moved his lips over her skin before he said,

  “I thought about you when I was painting the walls of my bedroom and I was actually thinking of you when I was painting the lake where we met.”

  “You have to finish that picture,” Thea insisted.

  “We are going there to continue our honeymoon as soon as you have seen my Palace and met my family.”

  “Can we really go there and just have Valou and his wife to look after us?”

  “We will be invisibly protected,” Nikōs answered gravely. “I would never risk your precious life again, my darling, but to all intents and purposes we shall be completely alone.”

  “Oh, Nikōs, that is just what I want. I want to sleep in your butterfly bed and ride with you to the little Church to thank the Priest who made me your wife.”

  “We will do all those things,” he said, “but most of all, my belove
d darling, I will make you love me more than you do already.”

  “That is impossible!”

  Yet, as his hand touched her body, she felt a wild thrill moving like fire from her breast to her lips.

  She knew now that she was loving him more than she had done yesterday or indeed the day before.

  It was a Love that would grow and intensify not only on their honeymoon but for the rest of their lives.

  It was a Love that came from God, a love too that was an intricate part of the mountains, the flowers, the music of the gypsies, the butterflies and the birds.

  It was a Love that they would give to their children and to all those whom they ruled over.

  Without Love the world was empty.

  With Love it was filled with sunshine and fire and the stars, which were in themselves the Light of God.

  OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES

  The Barbara Cartland Eternal Collection is the unique opportunity to collect as ebooks all five hundred of the timeless beautiful romantic novels written by the world’s most celebrated and enduring romantic author.

  Named the Eternal Collection because Barbara’s inspiring stories of pure love, just the same as love itself, the books will be published on the internet at the rate of four titles per month until all five hundred are available.

  The Eternal Collection, classic pure romance available worldwide for all time .

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