The Virgin and His Majesty

by Robyn Donald

  ‘Kelt and I grew up speaking both English and Carathian as first languages. We’ve learned a couple more along the way.’

  ‘I’m very impressed by the way people here switch from language to language without any effort. It makes me feel very much like a country cousin.’

  ‘Languages can be learnt. Besides, you know the one everyone understands.’

  Startled, she swivelled her head to survey his face.

  His eyes were half-closed, his chiselled mouth curved in a smile that hit Rosie like a charge of electricity. ‘Your smile speaks the most fundamental language—that of the heart.’

  ‘Thank you for such a pretty compliment,’ Rosie said hastily, furious because her hot cheeks revealed her astonishment. ‘I don’t think it’s true, but I’d love it to be.’

  Brows raised, Gerd said, ‘You’re embarrassed. Why? I can’t believe no other man has told you that your smile is a most potent weapon.’

  More than a little wary, she said, ‘Actually, no.’

  Men tended to concentrate on her more physical attributes.

  Relief seeped through her when a manservant came up. Gerd looked down at him and the servant said something in a low voice. After Gerd’s nod the man went across to the windows and drew back the heavy drapes to reveal the starry burst of a swarm of skyrockets.

  Charmed, Rosie joined in the soft murmur of appreciation around the room.

  ‘The Carathians enjoy firework displays and have organised this,’ Gerd said as the wide French windows were opened.

  Everyone trooped out into the warm night onto a stone terrace. ‘Come here, Rosemary,’ Gerd said, making a space for her so she could see easily.

  Sheer pleasure seeped through Rosie as she took her place beside him. The private apartments in the palace looked over the walls that had sheltered the people of the old town for centuries. Across the vast valley outlines of mountains reared black against a sky glittering with stars she’d never seen before.

  But the stars were put to shame when more fireworks flared into life high above them, a depiction of the Carathian crown she’d watched the archbishop place on Gerd’s black head earlier that day. At that moment of crowning, of Gerd’s commitment to his country, a roar had risen from the crowds outside the cathedral who were watching the ceremony on big screens.

  Recalling the fierce, unexpected sound echoing around the ancient stone walls, she took a deep breath. Something fragile and strange expanded within her, filling her with an almost painful anticipation.

  Other displays of fireworks burst across the night sky, drowning out the stars. The royal coat of arms formed a triumphant pattern, followed by the emblem of the country—a lion rampant and then a cupped flower, pure white and beautiful.

  ‘The national flower of Carathia,’ Gerd told her. ‘It blooms in the snow. To the people it symbolises the courage and strength of Carathians.’

  To Rosie’s horror her throat closed. Torn by an emotion she didn’t understand, she abandoned her usual flippant response. ‘I suppose in the past they’ve often needed that symbolism.’

  ‘Indeed they have,’ Gerd said, his tone so noncom mittal that Rosie looked up.

  As though he sensed her regard he glanced down, his brows rising in a silent question when their eyes met. She suppressed a shiver and transferred her gaze to the flower, fading swiftly against the depthless darkness of the sky.

  ‘You’re cold,’ he said quietly.

  ‘No, not a bit.’ She flashed him a swift smile. ‘Just impressed all over again. This is an amazing place.’ ‘I’m glad you’re enjoying it.’

  Conventional words, meaning nothing. No fuel for dreams there, she told herself firmly, and pinned her attention to the display as once more the sky exploded into colour, this time a joyous, fiery free-for-all that eventually sank into darkness. A collective sigh seemed to whisper over the city, and in the silence someone not too far away started to play what sounded like a cornet or trumpet. The silvery, plaintive notes were unbearably moving in the quiet air.

  ‘A folk tune,’ Gerd said quietly, just for her. ‘A song of lost love.’

  To Rosie’s utter horror, tears prickled at the backs of her eyes. She had to swallow to be able to say lightly, ‘Aren’t they all? The world’s literature and music is built on broken hearts.’

  The notes died away into a momentary silence that was followed by an eruption of cheers and the sound of horns and whistles.

  Half an hour later Rosie surveyed her bedroom, decorated to pay tactful tribute to the age of the palace without sacrificing comfort, and thought of the time she’d spent in Carathia.

  Watching Gerd, sophisticated and formidable amongst the world’s elite, had emphasised as nothing else could the huge difference between them.

  In New Zealand his heritage and position hadn’t seemed so important. He’d always been dominant, that formidable inbuilt air of confidence more intimidating than arrogance could ever be. No one, least of all his New Zealand relatives, had been surprised when the business enterprise he’d set up with Kelt had turned into an empire with ramifications all over the world.

  But seeing him in Carathia had added another dimension to his depth and compelling authority, giving him a mystique based on his people’s affection and respect and trust.

  Yes, she’d made the right—the only—decision. She wasn’t going to waste her life longing for a man who could never be hers.

  Shivering a little, she eased out of her dress, climbed into pyjamas and got into bed. Normally she read for a while, but nothing about the book she’d brought with her appealed, so she turned off the lamp and courted sleep.

  An hour later, still wide awake, she got out of bed and padded across to her window, pulling back the drape to gaze down across the city. Although the lights had dimmed, the Carathians were still celebrating their ruler’s coronation with gusto. She could hear singing, and recognised the sad beauty of the folk tune. Clearly it meant something important to the people of Carathia.

  A sense of aloneness chilled her. Gerd belonged here in his palace above the city, and Kelt and Hani too, and Alex, although he possessed no royal blood, fitted easily into this gathering of the world’s elite and powerful.

  Rosie Matthews, unemployed, from New Zealand didn’t.

  Even the moon, she realised suddenly as she stared at it, was different—back to front from the one that beamed down on the other side of the world.

  ‘So what?’ she said into the night air, fragrant with scents she didn’t recognise. ‘Stop feeling sorry for yourself and at least get some rest.’

  She must have slept for a few hours, because she dreamed—tangled images that had faded by the time she woke—but confronting her reflection the next morning made her inhale sharply and then apply cosmetics to banish the only too obvious signs of a restless night. Breakfast was served in her room, interrupted by a visit from Hani, who eyed her with concern.

  Rosie pre-empted any query by saying firmly, ‘I was too excited to sleep much last night—just like an overwrought kid after a birthday party.’

  ‘Tell me about it,’ Hani said in the resigned tone of a mother who’d had to deal with just that situation. ‘But it was a great day, wasn’t it?’

  ‘It’s been a fabulous week,’ Rosie said in her airiest voice. ‘Like living in the Middle Ages, only with bathrooms and electricity.’

  Hani laughed, but the glance she gave Rosie was shrewd. ‘You say that as though you’ll be glad to get back home.’

  ‘I will, but I’ll never forget Carathia.’ Or the man who now ruled it.

  Hani said, ‘I’d like to go straight to New Zealand, but Kelt has a meeting with the head honchos from Alex’s firm in London, so we’re going there first.’ She gave a swift, lovely smile. ‘I’ll be interested to see how our little Rafi enjoys big cities.’

  Hani was right—the sooner she got away from here the better, Rosie thought mordantly as she waved the family party off later that morning. Then she could stop bein
g such an idiot.

  Once back home she wouldn’t spend wakeful nights wondering when Gerd was going to announce his engagement to Princess Serina.

  By telling herself bracingly that it was completely stupid to feel as though her life was coming to an end, she managed to give Gerd a glittering smile when they met later that morning. In her most accusing voice, she said, ‘Alex tells me you killed him while you were fencing before breakfast.’

  Amused, he surveyed her. ‘For a dead man he looked remarkably energetic afterwards.’

  ‘He’s disgustingly fit.’ Rosie smiled, hoping it didn’t look as painful as it felt. Damn it, she’d get rid of this crush no matter what it took. ‘I didn’t know he was a fencer.’ In fact, she didn’t know much about her half brother at all.

  Gerd understood, perhaps more than she liked. ‘He learned at university, I believe. He’s good. I believe you’re using today to visit the museum.’

  Rosie nodded. ‘I’m looking forward to that, and afterwards I’m checking out the shopping area.’

  ‘Just make sure you don’t lose your guide—the central part of the city is like a rabbit warren and not many of the people speak English. If you got lost I’d probably have to mount a search party.’

  His smile made Rosie’s foolish heart flip in her chest. He isn’t being personal, she told herself sternly.

  He went on, ‘I’d like to show you around myself, but my day is taken up. I’m meeting my First Minister and then farewelling guests.’

  Including Princess Serina? Rosie concealed the humiliating question with her friendliest smile, the one that usually caused Kelt to view her with intense suspicion. ‘Rather you than me,’ she said cheerfully. ‘I’m going to have a lovely day.’

  She did, discovering that Carathia’s national flower was actually a buttercup. New Zealand too had a mountain buttercup, and, strangely enough, it too was pristinely white.

  How foolish to feel that the coincidence formed some sort of link between the two countries!

  The shopping area displayed interesting boutiques and the usual big names; her guide, a pleasant woman in her thirties with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Carathia, did her best to encourage her to buy, but Rosie resisted, even the silk scarf exquisitely embroidered ‘by hand’, the shopkeeper told her, pointing out the fineness of the stitches. She held it up. ‘And it suits you; you have the same delicate colouring, the soft clarity of spring.’

  ‘It’s lovely,’ Rosie said on a sigh, ‘and worth every penny, but I don’t have those pennies, I’m afraid. Thank you for showing it to me, though.’

  Her regret must have shown in her tone because the woman smiled and nodded and packed the beautiful, fragile thing away without demur.

  Back at the palace she found a note waiting for her. Apart from his signature on birthday and Christmas cards it was the first time she’d seen Gerd’s writing; bold and full of character, it made her heart thump unnecessarily fast as she scanned the paper.

  He hoped she’d had a good day, and suggested that they have dinner together at a restaurant he knew, one where they wouldn’t be hounded by photographers.

  And where they wouldn’t be alone, she thought with a wry quirk of her lips. Perhaps the princess objected to him dining with another woman in the privacy of his palace apartment, even when the other woman was related by marriage.

  It was probably only his excellent manners that stopped him pleading a previous appointment and avoiding her altogether.

  Temptation warred viciously with common sense. Should she go or do the sensible thing and say she was too tired? In the end her weaker part won. What harm could a dinner with him do, chaperoned as they’d be by the other diners, not to mention the waiters?

  She rang the bell and gave the servant her answer.

  Now, what to wear?

  Anticipation built rapidly inside her; just for tonight—just this once—she’d let herself enjoy Gerd’s company.

  After all, there weren’t going to be any repercussions. She was adult enough to deal with the situation. She’d forget her foolish crush and treat him like…oh, like the other men she’d gone out with. She’d be friendly, interested, sparkle for him, even flirt a little. It would be perfectly safe because Gerd was going to marry either Princess Serina, or someone very like her.

  Someone suitable.

  And when tonight was over Rosie would never see him again. Well, not in the flesh, she thought mordantly. He had a habit of turning up in the media—arrogantly handsome royalty was always good for a headline, especially when it came to love and marriage.

  Eventually she chose a slender dress in a clear, warm colour the blue of her eyes, one of Hani’s rare couture mistakes. It had been shortened, of course, but the proportions were good. And so what if she’d worn it twice since arriving in Carathia? Princess Serina might have been dressed in a completely different outfit each time she’d appeared, but Rosie couldn’t compete.

  Ready to go, she critically eyed herself in the huge mirror and gave a bleak nod; the soft material skimmed her body so her curves weren’t too obvious and the neckline was discreetly flattering.

  She’d aimed for discretion in make-up too, but her glowing reflection made her wonder uneasily if she shouldn’t apply a little more foundation just to tone things down. Not that foundation would mask the sparkle in her eyes.

  She hesitated, then shrugged. Who was she fooling? She was going out with Gerd because she craved a tiny interlude of privacy, of something special.

  To build more dreams on?

  ‘No,’ she said aloud, startling herself. ‘To convince myself once and forever not to dream any more, because dreaming is a total, useless waste of my life and I’m over it. I’m free and twenty-one and unemployed, and I will put fairy tales behind me.’

  Chapter Three

  STIFFENING her shoulders, Rosie turned away from her reflection, picked up a small blue evening bag and went out.

  Her composure lasted exactly as long as it took for her to set eyes on Gerd.

  The previous week should have accustomed her to his magnificence in austere, perfectly tailored black and white. Only it hadn’t. A wild tumult beat through her blood and she had to stop herself from dragging in a shaken breath.

  Don’t you dare stutter like a besotted teenager, she commanded.

  That horrible prospect gave her enough energy to steady her erratic breathing and say in a voice that almost sounded normal, ‘You’re an amazing family, you and Kelt and Alex. You’re all gorgeous in your different ways even when you’re in ordinary kit, but put you in evening clothes and you all take on a masculine glamour that should come with flashing signs to warn impressionable females. Most men look vaguely like penguins at formal occasions, but not you three. Have you ever been approached to model male cosmetics?’

  ‘No.’

  Just the one word, but she was left in no doubt about his feelings. Laughter bubbled up inside her. ‘Alex has. He looked just like you did then.’

  ‘I can imagine it,’ Gerd said with a half-smile. ‘If you think we men need warning signs, you should hand out sunglasses.’

  Nonplussed, she stared at him. His face was unreadable, but she thought she saw a glint of amusement in his eyes, enough to give her voice an edge when she said, ‘Thank you, I think. But it’s not me, it’s the dress—Hani gave it to me.’

  His voice deepened. ‘Nonsense, it’s always been you. Hani calls you instant radiance.’

  Shaken by both his words and their tone, she grabbed at her precarious poise. ‘Radiance? I haven’t noticed myself glowing in the dark, so I assume I’m safe.’

  His eyes narrowed a fraction. ‘Ah, yes, but what about those close to you?’

  ‘I don’t think you need worry,’ she said kindly. ‘Hani and Kelt let me play with their precious infant, and that’s as good a safety recommendation as you can get.’

  To her disappointment he glanced at his watch. ‘We’d better go. One of the minor irritations of life here is that
it’s ruled by the clock.’

  ‘Even when you’re off-duty?’ she asked on the way down.

  ‘Basically I’m never off-duty.’

  A car waited discreetly by one of the side doors of the palace. Two men sat in front—one in uniform, one without.

  Gerd stood aside to let her in first and, once settled, she said thoughtfully, ‘I doubt if I could cope with that.’

  ‘I’ve always known I was going to have to do it.’ He clicked his seat belt in and glanced across at her already fastened one. ‘When I was younger I was resentful of paparazzi, but I grew out of that.’

  A grim note in the deep voice made her wonder how hard it had been for him to achieve that resignation. Something about the man sitting in front of her caught her eye. ‘Gerd, the man in the passenger seat isn’t wearing a seat belt.’

  Straight brows drawing together, he told her, ‘He’s a bodyguard.’

  ‘Oh.’ Feeling foolish and slightly uneasy, she asked, ‘Bodyguards don’t?’

  ‘No. They need to be able to react instantly.’

  Perturbed at the thought of him in danger, she said, ‘I didn’t realise you’d need them here.’

  Although she should have. Only a couple of years ago the Carathians had been fighting each other over his accession.

  Quickly she asked, ‘Is everything all right here now?’

  He said in a tone that dismissed her concern, ‘Yes, of course.’

  But something his First Minister had said to him that morning echoed in Gerd’s mind. ‘Things are quiet now; the discovery that the ringleaders were in the pay of MegaCorp and that the purpose of the insurrection was to take over the carathite mines horrified every Carathian. And while the people are basking in the afterglow of the coronation and the harvest is on the way, no one is going to have time to call on ancient legends to back up any lingering dissatisfaction.’

  Gerd trusted his judgement; the First Minister came from the mountains, where the legend that had bedevilled his ancestors for centuries had its strongest adherents.

  Before Gerd could speak the older man had added, ‘But with respect, sir, you need a wife. Further celebrations—a formal betrothal followed by a wedding and the birth of an heir as soon as possible—would almost certainly put an end to any plotting. Your plans for higher education should mean that the old legend will never have the hold over future generations that it has in the past.’