by Karin Biggs
I nodded and hugged Genevieve, just as Darden approached.
Genevieve offered a quick smile to Darden, then scurried away to talk to Ari.
“Princess of Capalon,” Darden said with a nod.
“That’s me…well, was me.”
He crossed his arms. “I’m disappointed in myself for not picking up on that detail.”
I laughed. “I guess I’m a better magician than I thought. I can even make objects reappear.”
His eyes widened. “Where did you find this?”
I handed him his notebook. “Backstage. You were right. Nobody read it. Otherwise I would have been arrested.”
Darden rubbed his forehead and let out a long exhale. “I can’t tell you how glad I am you found this.”
I lowered my voice. “Still not ready to reveal yourself to the queen of hearts?”
He shook his head. “No. I’ve been thinking about that and she is taken. So, maybe there’s somebody else out there who’s meant for The Magnificent McCray.”
“Oh, is that what we’re calling you now?”
“Yeah, I figured if you get a title, I do too.”
I nudged him with my elbow just as guitar chords cut through the cold air.
“Attention all Capalon Princesses-turned-Mondarian-royal-figureheads!” shouted Reese, sending a wave of laughter through our small group. “Piper, since the reason you came here in the first place was because of your mother, we thought we would share one of our Mondarian traditions with you.”
Reese retrieved a tall paper lantern from under the cake table. “We have a remembrance festival every year when Mondarians light lanterns and send them into the sky, in remembrance of lost loved ones. Before we let them go, we write a message.”
“Would you like to write anything before we release it?” asked Genevieve, holding up a marker.
I nodded and stepped forward to take the marker from Genevieve’s hand. Before I wrote my message, I turned to face the group. “Thank you. This all means so much to me. Before I left Capalon, I was taught to think death had no meaning—that it was just an end to a life. But in a way, I believe that my mother’s death gave breath to a new life—the one I have now, here with all of you.”
I turned back around and the words flowed without much thinking at all:
Your love for me was the real secret message.
I found my way back into Ari’s arms as Darden and Reese lit the lantern. I leaned into Ari’s warm body and allowed the tears to flow freely as we all watched the glowing paper bag rise into the black sky. It drifted slowly, illuminating the nearby falling snowflakes, just as my mother had illuminated the lives of those she loved most.
Ari’s lips pressed against the back of my neck.
I took a deep breath and finally, I let go.
The six of us talked into the early hours of the morning, watching the snow form a thick white blanket on the ground from inside the Lounge. One by one, our small group retreated back to their rooms, leaving Ari and me as the two who refused to leave, sharing a couch in front of one of the six hearths. Ari’s arms served as my warm covers as the fire died off and the even rise and fall of his chest lulled me into a peaceful sleep.
I awoke to the sensation of Ari’s fingers stroking my hair. “You should probably get back to your room before the chambermaid claims you’ve been kidnapped,” he murmured in my ear.
I turned to sit face-to-face on the couch. “But I was kidnapped. And I don’t want to leave my captor.” I placed my hand on Ari’s lightly stubbled jaw and pulled him into a kiss. He moaned in my mouth, which only made me kiss him harder.
“Lady Piper,” he said between two deep kisses. “I don’t want you to piss off the king and then this whole…wonderful arrangement is off.”
I traced the outline of his lips with my finger. “Fine. But you’re walking me back. And that’s an order.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Ari smiled and kissed me one final time before we peeled ourselves from our warm cocoon on the couch. We walked hand in hand down the hall until we heard the voices of a couple of guards at the entrance of the Royal Wing.
Ari pulled me into a hug and I inhaled his scent. “See you tonight,” he said.
I reluctantly released myself from his embrace and turned down the hall. I had just reached my door when the Mansion’s alarm sounded.
My first instinct was to ask to Chip to connect me to the patrol channel, but that was no longer an option. I headed back to where I left Ari when a guard stopped me. “Lady Piper, you’ll need to come with me.”
“What’s going on?” I asked as he tugged my arm. “I’m not going to run away, so I’d appreciate it if you’d release me.”
The guard released my arm but picked up his pace. “Everyone else is being directed to their lockdown locations but you’ve been instructed to meet her in the lobby.”
“Meet who?”
But before the guard could answer my question, I saw her—my sister, standing in the lobby of the Mansion with King Orson and a full set of his guards. Evelyn wore the standard Capalon high collared traveling coat and her eyes were bloodshot. She stood as if somebody carved her out of the side of a mountain.
“Your Majesty, what’s going on?” Formally addressing my new king sparked a twitch under my sister’s eye.
King Orson smiled and rocked back on his heels. “Evelyn wishes to speak to you and me.” His eyes narrowed on my sister. “You do know that our mandate allows me to execute you right here in the lobby of my Mansion?” The king gave a nod to a nearby guard who positioned his gun behind my sister’s head.
I froze with terror and Evelyn only swallowed. “Yes. But my Patrol is listening from a hovercraft above your precious Mansion and if you so much as pinch my skin, they’ll drop a weapon that will kill every single person in here, myself and my sister included.”
A vein in the king’s forehead bulged. “You’re breaking our treaty!”
“And you’re holding my sister and one of my patrol officers captive.” Evelyn took a step toward me.
“Don’t think about touching her,” said the king. “She’s no longer your citizen.”
The guard behind her cocked his gun, sending my stomach into a hundred twisted knots.
“And what makes you think your precious patrol officer is still alive?”
My sister’s brows knitted together. “Because you would have boasted about your execution of him across all the media channels in The Lands.”
King’s Orson’s neck reddened.
Evelyn folded her hands in front of her. “Orson Anders, I want to make a deal for my patrol officer’s and sister’s return.”
“And what might that be?”
“I—”
A belch echoed in the tall dome of the lobby. Prince Corbin leaned over the railing of the second level, shirtless and with mussed hair. He looked at my sister with his signature amused expression. “What’s the stiff doing here?”
“It’s not your concern, Corbin,” said the king. But the prince ignored his father and made his way down the curved staircase to our grouping.
Evelyn cleared her throat. “As I was saying, I wish to take my sister back in exchange for a Capalon product.”
“And why would you want to do that?” asked the king.
Evelyn met my eyes. “Because you come back for the people you love.” Her eyes bounced back to the king. “And you’ll release my patrol officer without harm.”
The king crossed his arms as he pondered my sister’s request.
Corbin wedged his way between me and Evelyn, allowing his exposed skin to touch her coat. “You’ve come all the way here for your little sister? How sweet. It’s not also a reason to see me again, is it?”
Again? I had never known Evelyn to interact with anyone in the Mondarian Royal Family aside from sitting in the same room with the king and queen at the Annual Assembly.
Evelyn’s composure wavered, and she took a small step away from Corbin’s half-naked body. “I�
�d appreciate if you’d listen to your father and dismiss yourself from this confidential meeting, Corbin Anders.”
He nodded. “Fine, I’ll go.” Then he whispered in a low voice, intended only for Evelyn but just loud enough for me to hear. “But remember last time we were together, I was dismissing you from me.”
Evelyn’s pale face blushed, the rose hue running all the way to the tips of her ears. If a stranger observed her, they would think she was livid with Corbin’s presence and suggestive words.
But I knew my sister. I had been the cause of her highest level of anger, witnessing her balled fists, creased brows and rigid back numerous times—but never once did her face change color.
“And welcome to the kingdom, Lady Piper.” Prince Corbin lifted my hand to his lips and wrapped my fingers around something cylindrical and cold. His eyes held onto mine, and for a brief moment, seriousness wiped the smugness clean from his face. “We know how to throw a good party.” He winked before he released my hand and headed back to the staircase.
The king’s baritone voice filled the lobby. “I don’t want any of your products, Evelyn. My kingdom has survived this long without them. What I do want, is your presence at my next dinner where Lady Piper will attend as my youngest son’s guest. You’ll admit your sister’s defiance of her kingdom and you’ll attend as Corbin’s guest.”
I was to attend a Mansion dinner as Prince Taran’s guest? Layla’s Taran?
“I’ll do no such thing,” Evelyn said. “I refuse to admit anything on behalf of my sister and I’m a matched woman to King Xavier Demetrios. I will not allow you to make a mockery of the Queen and Princess of Capalon at your event.” Her fists tightened into those familiar balls.
“You no longer have a princess!” shouted the king, his voice nearly knocking me to the ground. “She is my citizen and Head Lady of my court. I can swear to only go as far as to introduce you at the dinner, but how I choose to present Lady Piper is my choice. If you go through with the event, then we can discuss your sister’s return, but only then.”
Evelyn’s spine went rigid. “I request the protection of my Patrol at the event.”
“No.”
“You have your whole house full of armed guards and I will have nothing. It doesn’t seem like a fair deal to me, Orson.”
King Orson’s nostrils flared. “You can have one Patrol guard escort you. But if you do anything during my dinner, other than sit and eat, I’ll make sure that you never see your sister again.”
If glares could kill, both Evelyn and King Orson would have collapsed on the marble floor. The silence was disrupted by somebody clearing their throat above us.
“I think you’ve made our new dinner guests feel very welcome, Pop,” said Corbin, leaning over the railing. “Don’t let my little brother bore you to sleep, Lady Piper. And see you again soon, Evelyn.”
My sister ignored the prince and focused her attention on me. “I’ll do whatever it takes to bring you back home.” Then she was escorted out of the Mansion, leaving me in a state of shock.
I walked into a vacant hallway, then opened my palm to see an indigo glass bottle.
“What is that?” asked Ari, emerging from the shadows of the hallway.
I unscrewed the cap and inhaled—the scent instantly relaxed my muscles. Not an imposter, but the real, original recipe. “The last memory of my mother.”
And the one thing that held my sister and me together—she hadn’t destroyed it after all.
But if what they said was true about Prince Corbin’s affinity for magic, his unannounced stance by my sister was no mistake. He lifted the vial from her as a planned move. She would have known the king wouldn’t allow her to get close enough to me, so somehow, she had communicated to Corbin before entering the Mansion.
“Ari,” I whispered, “I think Prince Corbin is secretly working for my sister.”
“Wow, that’s crazy,” Ari said, running a hand through his black hair.
“No, the crazy thing is…” I could barely speak the words, not truly believing them myself. But the image of Evelyn’s face in the last Assembly photo resurfaced as I put the pieces together about not what, but who had given her red cheeks and the urge to laugh.
There was a reason I couldn’t locate the king in the last photo—because someone else represented the kingdom in his place. I stopped and looked at Ari as a rush of adrenaline swept through my veins. “I think my sister has feelings for Prince Corbin.”
First, I’d like to thank YOU, the reader, for giving the King’s 100 a try! I hope you lost yourself in Piper’s story for at least a moment to escape the real world — this is what reading does for me and what I hoped the King’s 100 would do for my readers. I’d like to thank the team at Immortal Works Press for giving this story a home and turning a long Google doc into a real, gorgeous book. BIG thanks to my acquisitions editor, Rachel Huffmire, for being the first stranger to tell me that she ‘melted’ after reading a scene from the manuscript. Not everyone is as lucky to have an award-winning author as their mentor and friend. Thank you to John Olsen, editor extraordinaire, who is probably cringing while reading this acknowledgments section — you are a magician and Darden McCray would be very impressed with your work. Since becoming a published author, I’ve jumped into the world of social media, so thank you to all my followers and especially to my ‘Court Members’ who have helped to share book covers and release information — many many hearts and prayer-hand emojis to you all. Thanks to Camille Millar for my lovely website header and to Morgan Frank for bringing Ari and Piper to life through your stunning artwork. Shout out to my fellow #Roaring20sdebut authors — you are all so talented and I’m honored to be in this debut year with you. Thank you to all my mom friends for helping me stay sane through hard times being a mom and a writer — the isolation is too much for even Queen Elsa to handle at times. Thank you to the best Roundtable critique group a girl could ask for — Mary Kate Varnau, Danny Coleman, Gracia Gillund, Joe Cameron and Tony. You deserve all the hot chocolate and Dan’s pastries Mondaria can offer. Thank you, Malina, for being a forever friend and inspiration — one of us became a police officer and the other writes YA novels, so we’re obviously like the same person. ;) Thank you to my ‘sisters-in-song,’ who still sing with me and keep me young at heart when the time allows. Thank you to my in-laws, parents and family members for jumping in to help with childcare so I could write. Thank you to my big sister for reading her first YA romance and not hating it. I’d like to thank my parents for supporting my interest in singing in sequins and traveling to high school show choir competitions, college performances and community choir concerts. I’m not on Broadway, but my experience in various performance groups is what inspired this book, so you never know where your interests will take you! Thank you to anyone who offered their encouragement during my time writing this book — a positive word can go a long way for a doubtful writer/new mom. And finally, thank you to my number one fan/best critique partner/father of my children and favorite black-haired drummer, Tony. We are my favorite friends-to-lovers trope.
<3 Karin
Karin earned her bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Purdue University and served as an event planner for two Big 10 universities and various non-profits for over eight years before becoming a stay-at-home-mom. She enjoys chocolate-covered peanuts, uninterrupted sleep and singing with other people. Karin lives in Ohio with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.
