Stolen Princess (Princess Series Book 2)

by Alexa Riley

  With that she turns and leaves me speechless and in shock. I glance over to where the King is standing, and he winks at me. I pull my eyes back to the older woman, who’s now whispering to the other older woman next to her. The lump in my throat grows, and I’m thankful when the light in the room dims and someone takes the center of the stage to introduce Karim. I use the moment to slip from my chair and dart from the room as fast as possible, keeping my head down. I don’t want to know what’s coming next, and I need to get out of here now.

  When I get to the coat check I get my purse and wrap and pull out my phone to text my father and tell him I’m leaving. I bite my lip, unsure of what to do. Only one thing comes to mind, and I send off another text as I try to fight the tears.

  Chapter 6

  Karim

  “King Karim wishes to inform everyone he has chosen a bride. In two days’ time at sunset, their marriage will be blessed.”

  There is a murmur among the crowd, and I can see everyone is surprised. I should probably introduce my soon-to-be queen, but I don’t want to parade her on stage like cattle. She’s more important to me than that, and I’m already breaking with tradition.

  Normally all royalty waits five days before consummating the marriage. Meanwhile, I barely waited five seconds. The weight of my cock reminds me that I’ve had her, yet I need her again already. My primal instincts have begun to push forward, and I feel my royal duties must be met. Giselle must be bred, and the sooner the better. My kingdom will see her round with my baby and rejoice in the blessing.

  I wait for my head of staff to finish giving the announcement and thanking the people on the stage. When I take a step out of the spotlight, I don’t see Giselle sitting in the chair where I left her.

  “Congratulations, Karim,” Nikki says, popping up in front of me.

  I walk past her and over to the table where I left Giselle. “Where is she?” I ask the older ladies who were sitting with her.

  “She left, Your Highness,” one of them says as she bows her head.

  I turn around, and Nikki is in my way again. “She ran out on you. Oh, that must be awful. Would you like help finding her?”

  “Out of my way,” I order, feeling heat rise up my neck as I step around her.

  Nikki is the daughter of a close friend of my father’s. I think she had hopes of marrying into the family one day, but I saw through that a long time ago. Nikki is a social climber, and to her I’m Mount Everest. She would be more than suitable for a duke or baron. But she’s not one for second place, and I’m sure once she realized what I intended to announce, it was a blow to her ego. I hired her as my assistant as a favor, but I’m really seeing the error of my ways now. No good deed and all.

  I almost run towards the front and stop at the coat check. I look around and then ask the attendant for help. He tells me that he saw her about ten minutes ago, but she took her bag and wrap and left. Feeling panicked, I reach in my pocket for my phone so that I can make some calls. I know I’ll find her, but I’m starting to worry about why she left. Something must have happened.

  When I turn back around, Nikki is there leaning on a wall that’s draped in dark velvet. Her white dress is a stark contrast against it, and no one could miss her.

  “Don’t worry, Karim. I’ll be here when you’re ready.” She walks over to me and puts a hand on my chest. She’s never behaved this way before, and I can only attribute it to the news of my impending wedding. She leans in a little and lowers her voice. “You know, not all wives are able to bear the royal seed.”

  Suddenly my skin is crawling and I take a step back from her. “Zion!” I shout, and my head of security steps around the corner. He’s never more than a few paces from me. “Show Nikki out of the palace.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  Nikki’s mouth drops open in shock, and she squeaks in protest as he makes a move and three guards appear to walk her out. One takes her by the upper arm, and she jerks free of his grip. Then she begins to berate him as I walk away from the scene, feeling Zion on my heels.

  I have no time and no patience for this right now. The only thing on my mind is finding my princess and bringing her back here. Back home.

  “Need to know the location of the woman I was with. The future queen.”

  I don’t elaborate because Zion is the best of the best. He’s paid handsomely for the work he provides me, so he knows exactly who I was with tonight, probably before even I did. And he’s had eyes on her since I stepped out of that room with her on my arm.

  “We have a car waiting out front for whatever you need, sir.”

  I step out into the cool night air and walk directly to the black SUV that’s waiting with its back door open. As I suspected, he’s anticipated my next move and planned ahead.

  “We’ve been able to get camera footage of the cab she left in. We’re tracking it through closed circuit television and have pinpointed a location just south of here.”

  “Excellent,” I say, getting in the back of the SUV and turning on the monitor in front of me. A beacon appears on the screen as Zion climbs in the front passenger seat and tells the driver where to go.

  There is another SUV in front of us and one behind us. The king goes nowhere without his guard. And protecting the queen is part of that deal. She may have been scared and ran, but I’ll find her. There is no place on this earth where she is out of my reach, no dark corner where she can hide.

  I stare at the beacon, watching it try to get farther from me. Making sure Zion is facing forward I pull her panties out of my pocket, putting them to my nose and smelling the mixture of our love-making in an attempt to get myself under control. We are closing the distance, but she’s had too much of a lead, and I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to keep the signal.

  “Your Highness, we’ve lost it,” Zion says, and I see the beacon disappear. “We’ll track it to the last location we received. We’ll find her.”

  I hold my clenched fist to my mouth as I look out the window and watch the dark forest pass by.

  “I forgot to tell Giselle how much I love to hunt.”

  Chapter 7

  Giselle

  I sniff as I run my hand along my nose, trying to make myself stop crying. But the stupid tears just keep coming. I can’t remember ever crying like this in my life.

  “I’m sorry I showed up like this. I know it’s late,” I say to my sister through a sob.

  She pulls me into a tight hug, trying to get me to calm down. I’ve been here for ten minutes already and I haven’t really gotten a word out. I scared her husband off when I first got here, and he left us alone. I think a crying woman showing up on his doorstep was something for his wife to attend to.

  “You’re always welcome here, no matter what. I hope you know that, Giselle.”

  I hug her back, feeling a little better. When I took off this was the first place I thought to go. I knew I couldn’t go home. If Karim was looking for me, the first place he’d go is my father’s home.

  “What’s his name?” she whispers into my ear.

  I lean back and look at her green eyes that match my own. It’s the only similarity between us. She favors my father’s side more than I do, while I look identical to our mother.

  “You’ve got heartbreak written all over you, sweetheart.”

  I have two sisters and a brother, all of whom are way older than me. I’ve always been closest with my oldest sister, Melanie, who took on a motherly role with me. Our mom was never the maternal type and was gone most of the time. It still baffles me that a woman who didn’t really want children had four of them. But I’m thankful I have Melanie, because she’s exactly the kind of mother I want to be.

  I shake my head, dropping my gaze to my lap and fiddling with my fingers. It’s something I do when I’m trying to avoid a topic. Or I’m nervous. I’ve never really talked about my future with her before, and I’m not sure what she’ll think of what happened tonight.

  “Go on, tell me wh
o it is.”

  I let out a little breath and look up at her. “King Karim.”

  She lets out a small gasp, and she puts her hand over her mouth like she’s in shock. It makes me think that maybe I shouldn’t have said his name.

  “What?” I say, feeling a little more panicky now. I was already freaking out, and that’s why I ran to begin with. Somewhere deep inside me I have a feeling I’d be Karim’s if I wanted to be or not. I can still feel the stickiness of his release inside me and on my thighs. The sweetness of that feeling is long gone. Now I feel dirty. Like he gave me something that wasn’t as special as I’d thought it was. That I wasn’t as special as he’d made me feel.

  “Everyone has been talking about him, that’s all. I thought he was marrying—”

  I hold up my hand, not wanting her to finish that sentence. Yes, I know who he was planning to marry. I just don’t want to think about her. Or the fact that he so easily brushed her aside to choose me, something I think he did only because of what we’d done in the private room. And after finding out I was a princess. It was his duty.

  “Well, he can marry her for all I care.” I barely get the words out before I burst into tears all over again. My sister grabs me and pulls me into another hug. “God, I’m an idiot.”

  “Did you and he share something special?”

  When I don’t answer she takes my silence as confirmation.

  “Did you go to the ball tonight with Dad?” She pulls back to look at me, and her face is hard and angry. The mother bear inside of her is coming out. “Did he announce that he was going to marry another woman tonight right in front of you?”

  She half-shouts her question, and I shake my head. She stares at me for a moment, and her anger melts into confusion.

  “Did he announce he was going to marry you?” She doesn’t understand why I’m upset, and I’m embarrassed to tell her.

  “I think?” is the only response I can muster.

  I cringe because I’m not totally sure what happened after I left. I didn’t want to stay and find out, but if what the blonde, Nikki, said was true, then he was going to say we were getting married. But it wasn’t the marriage I wanted. I’d always hoped for a man to come into my life and sweep me off my feet. It may seem silly, but I wanted the fairy tale.

  Maybe Nikki would still want him, and if so, she can have him. I don’t want to be someone’s second choice.

  “Gigi,” my sister pushes.

  “It wouldn’t be a real marriage. I mean, I guess it would, but not all roses and hearts. Not the happily-ever-after love I want.”

  She lets out a little breath, and I know what’s coming. I can’t stand to hear it. Not right now. Not after what happened tonight.

  “Please don’t,” I tell her. I can’t bear to hear what everyone always says. I know they mean well and are probably right, but I have enough to deal with right now.

  “Marriage isn’t easy, Gigi. Life isn’t all—”

  “I know!” I snap at her.

  Her eyebrows draw up in shock because I never snap at anyone. They like to say I live in candy-land world where everything is soft and sweet and I don’t understand what the real world is like. They all think that I need to grow up. Maybe they’re right. I came out of my little bubble for one day and look what happened to me.

  Then Melanie smiles at me. “Turns out you’ve got a little fire in you. I’ve never seen it before, but I like it.”

  I drop my eyes down to my lap again. I don’t feel like I have any fire in me.

  “You’re going to need it, Gigi. If the King wants to come find you, then we can’t stop him.” She stands up and walks over to the window in the family room. She looks out before turning to look back at me. “We’re on his land here. I married a businessman and gave up any royal title I had. He’s your king, and I can’t stop him from coming here.”

  “He’s not mine,” I mumble out, and I wish that were true.

  That’s part of the problem. It seems the man I chose to be my king would belong to others as well. What neither of us anticipated is that I’m the youngest in my family by far, and I’m not good at sharing. There was never anyone to have to share with, so I never learned how. Which just makes me all the more possessive of Karim. And the fact that I wasn’t his first choice just makes me even more bitter.

  “If he wants you, then you’re his.”

  I jump up from my seat. “I’ll call Ethan!” I tell her, rushing over to the phone.

  “Did you sleep with him?” I pause at her words, the phone halfway to my ear. “Not that it matters. We both know our brother would agree to a match with Karim, as would our father. Such a pairing would be in both our families’ interest. In fact, I believe not too long ago Ethan tried to pair Megan with him.”

  Anger floods though me at the thought of my other sister with Karim.

  “He turned the offer down,” she adds. “Wouldn’t even take a meeting.” She gives me a smug look. “I have a feeling you slept with King Karim. So if I were you, I’d get used to the idea of being his.”

  “You would just give me away so easily? Knowing I didn’t want to go?” I don’t understand. Melanie has always been so protective of me, but she’s always telling me to grow up, too.

  “Of course not. If you want to run, I’ll help you. But Gigi, do you think being on the run is something you could handle? Alone?”

  “What about with the child growing in her belly?”

  I gasp when I hear Karim’s voice.

  I turn to see him standing in the entryway of the family room with my sister’s husband standing behind him. Karim looks different now. His blue eyes are no longer bright and full of excitement. Now they’re trained on me with a hard, dangerous look. He’s like a predator after its prey. I take a step back and watch his nostrils flare at my movement. Suddenly I hear my father’s voice in my head. He always told us never to run if we came across a bear in the woods. The bear will always catch you.

  Karim’s tux jacket is long gone, and his sleeves are rolled up. The first few buttons of his shirt are undone, and the tan skin of his chest is peeking out. His hair is even a little wild now, and I try to recall if I’d done that to him or if he did it to himself. The thought makes a little warmth hit my cheeks when I remember the feel of his locks between my fingers.

  “I won’t let you take my sister with you in this state. It’s very clear you’re angry. Maybe you should come back tomorrow after everyone has calmed down, Your Highness,” my sister says softly, as if she’s trying to ease a wild beast without angering it.

  “Nothing will stop me from leaving with her.” His eyes shoot over to Melanie. “Tonight.”

  His words are final, and there is no room for argument.

  “Stanley,” my sister says, calling to her husband. He takes a step forward, but I’m not real sure what Stanley can do. He’s no match for Karim. Tension and anger fills the room, and it makes me uneasy. I hate fighting. It makes me sick to my stomach.

  I decide to put an end to this and walk towards Karim. His eyes come back to me, and they seem to soften the closer I get to him. I put my hands on his chest and can feel him release a deep breath. It’s like he’s been holding it in since the last time I touched him.

  “Please don’t get angry. I’ll come with you.”

  “You’ve been crying,” he says, studying my face. One of his big hands comes up to my cheek. His thumb runs along it. His words are so soft now, nothing like before.

  “I’ll come,” I try again, not wanting to admit I’d been crying.

  A smirk pulls at his lips. “I know you will,” he says before he scoops me up in his arms and strides out the front door.

  Chapter 8

  Karim

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to marry that woman?” Giselle snaps at me as her cheeks turn a sweet pink. Fucking hell, she’s even adorable when she’s mad. I didn’t know such perfection could even exist, but here it is, pissed as hell at me, and all I want to do is
kiss her until those cheeks turn pink for a whole different reason.

  I reach out and hit the button that raises the glass to separate us from Zion and my driver. I want her all to myself.

  “Nikki?” I ask, looking over at her once the privacy partition is in place. Relief slowly trickles through me. I have her back again. I’m going to have to be more careful. She all too easily slipped right through my fingers. Something so precious must always kept within reach.

  “The girl you were going to marry. How could you do that? How could you just pick one woman and then change your mind? That’s not fair, Karim.” Her eyes are filled with so much emotion and sadness, showing me she isn’t like any other woman out there. Most women I’ve seen would shove and step on another at the chance to marry a king. No, not my Giselle. She’s soft and sweet and likely believes in fairy tales. I might even start to believe in them after tonight.

  “Who said I was going to choose Nikki as my queen?” Anger gushes through me that she could somehow believe that I’m capable of such deception, but I remind myself that she doesn’t know who I am. But I thought she felt what I did. I know she did. I saw it in her eyes. That only leaves one option. Someone planted that thought in her pretty little head. Yes. I would definitely have to keep her close. I don’t want people’s hate to fill her ears. I need to protect this innocence she has to her.

  “The woman at the table. And Nikki sort of insinuated it.” Her bottom lip trembles, and I want to kiss it.

  She looks away from me, and I can’t stand the distance she’s trying to put between us. I reach over and grab her waist, pulling her onto my lap and making her look at me. I need those eyes back on me. Her brown hair, now flowing freely, tumbles in glossy locks between our bodies.