Pretend Princess With Benefits: A Royal Fake Marriage Romance

by Lara Swann

  We’ve got a couple of weeks left until Hanna leaves for the rest of her European vacation, even if we haven’t talked about it all that much, and that’s all I want to focus on right now.

  And it is all we focus on, especially for those first couple of days after the Court Ball. Hot eyes and wandering hands and sultry, whispered comments. It’s exciting and hot and the most fun I feel I’ve had for a long time, now that we don’t even have anything to worry about.

  Until Nicolas finally corners me after one of our joint meetings.

  “Derek.” His voice stops me as I make to leave, and I glance back at the hard note I hear in it.

  Maybe this is where he tells me the court rejected Hanna?

  I turn around and wait as he steps closer to me.

  “You and Hanna…” He’s quiet, even though there’s no one else around, and I have a feeling my initial suspicion is about to be confirmed. “You need to stop…what you’re doing.”

  I frown, confused. That wasn’t what I was expecting at all.

  “What?”

  “Openly - in public. In the castle. You need to spend some time away from each other. People are commenting.”

  I suddenly understand, and irritation bursts through me again. I’m fucking tired of being told how to act - especially by my older brother, and especially after Hanna put in so much damned effort for my whole family at the Court Ball.

  I stiffen and shrug. “It’s none of your business. We’re not doing anything.”

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about, Derek.” He says, and I can see the brief flicker of irritation in his eyes. “And you need to stop. It’s not right or proper, and it will turn the court against Hanna. They’re still deliberating, but the initial response has been quite positive—”

  What?

  “—so far, anyway. But they won’t accept her if you keep this up, Derek. If you want this to happen, then for once in your life, control yourself—”

  “Yes, that’s what it always comes down to, isn’t it?” I say, bitterly, my frustration at being told that so many times momentarily swamping the surprising news that the initial response has been positive. “The court’s acceptance. The King’s and Queen’s and your fucking acceptance. Control yourself - be good and stop fucking up and maybe I’ll be accepted, huh? Except I never have been - and anything I’ve thought or felt or wanted has been totally fucking dismissed. America, Hanna, any chance of a real life outside of Aldora’s court and the insane traditions we’re still following!”

  “Oh for fuck’s sake. At least you have a chance of any of that!” Nicolas’s raised voice stuns me into silence, and I stare at him - and the anger on his face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him angry. Disappointed, irritated, frustrated maybe, but…angry? “Maybe it’s hard, but you did get to go to America. You got to bring back the American girl you chose and present her as Princesca-attenciano - and even Granna stepped in to try and make it work for you. I never got any of those chances, and I never will, because I’m the Crown Prince.”

  “You wanted to go to America?” I ask incredulously.

  I feel like the world just turned upside down or something. None of this makes sense. Nicolas has always disliked Americans.

  “No!” He throws his hands up, the biggest gesture I’ve ever seen him make. “Maybe. I don’t know. That’s not the point - it doesn’t matter. I have no clue whether I’d like to go to America, because I’ve never once let myself think about it. Because for me, it’s impossible. Neither of us chose to be a Prince of Aldora - but unlike you, I took the responsibility seriously. You got to be a fuck-up all your life, and maybe you pissed people off, but they didn’t really care - because they had me. They had their Crown Prince. I decided to honor the position I’d been born into and do what my country needed, instead of deliberately disobeying every rule I could, disrespecting my whole family and spending my childhood playing elaborate pranks.”

  I can’t wrap my head around this. It’s impossible. I’m looking at Nicolas, and for the first time ever I’m seeing something that actually feels real from him. Something more than the robotic perfection that he’s always been. I can’t begin to understand what he’s saying, or what it means, but there’s something sinking through me that says some of the things I have always known as an absolute truth…I might have been wrong about.

  It’s too much for me to deal with, right now - and within a few moments it’s gone, anyway. Nicolas is still looking at me, his eyes are still a little heated - but his breathing is calmer and his face is back to its usual expressionless self.

  “Those pranks only started because you insisted on calling me the Court Jester.” I say quietly.

  I don’t know why. Maybe because it’s the only part of his outburst that I feel I can respond to right now. Maybe because there’s so much stuff between us that nothing can be picked apart quite that simply. Maybe because it’s true, and some of those stupid, childish memories still bother me.

  He looks at me again, and then nods slightly. Back to being the perfect Crown Prince Nicolas. But at least he remembers.

  “I apologize for that. It was beneath me, and I shouldn’t have done it.”

  Then he walks back towards the table as if nothing just happened between us at all, picking up the folder he brought in.

  He apologized.

  It surprises me, more than a little. Nicolas doesn’t apologize. I think it’s part of our training that rulers do not admit fault. Which is half the reason I do apologize a hell of a lot - whenever I realize that I was at fault. It only seems fair, and…I always wanted that. To be treated like anyone else. But Nicolas…I’m not sure I’ve heard that from him before.

  Sure, his regrets seem to be that it was beneath him and something he shouldn’t have done more than anything particularly directed at me - but…it was still an apology. And I feel like I’m reeling from that, as well.

  He walks towards the door while I’m still staring at him, unable to gather my thoughts. He turns towards me before he leaves, and repeats what he said originally. “If you want the court to accept your Princesca-attenciano, stop behaving inappropriately around her.”

  I don’t say anything. I don’t get a chance to before he leaves, but even if I had - I wouldn’t have known what to say.

  But his words stay with me all day, running through my mind and leaving me deeply uncomfortable, but unable to work out what exactly is bothering me, let alone fix it.

  Maybe that my brother is different. My image of him is wrong, somehow. And I don’t know what it means or what to do about it.

  But I tell Hanna about it later, anyway. I’ve taken to doing that - telling her anything not top-secret state business, or some of the weird shit that goes on around here. She’s easy to talk to - and it doesn’t hurt that she’s the only person around who I can talk to about any of this. And she’s good at listening, just lying there with me, our bodies idly curled together as I relay Nicolas’s unexpected speech.

  She’s quiet for a few minutes, but after a while, she lies back and looks up at the large, arched ceiling.

  “It sounds like you both had a pretty hard time growing up.” She says, seeming thoughtful.

  I roll onto my side to look at her, one hand trailing over the soft skin of her stomach.

  “I thought you were meant to be on my side.” I say idly, half-teasing. Somehow it’s easier to be light-hearted about the whole thing around her, as well.

  “Does there have to be a side?” She asks, tilting her head towards me and raising an eyebrow.

  I lean down to kiss her softly, then shake my head and give her a wry look.

  “Look at you, being all reasonable and irritating.”

  Part of me knows she has a point, I think - that she might be right - but I also know I’m not sure I’m ready to be reasonable when it comes to Nicolas. Not yet. There’s too much between us.

  But it helps to have her say what I don’t want to voice, anyway, even if I don’t act
like it. It’s almost like it tells me the conclusion I might reach, with enough time.

  She gives a light laugh, and the sound feels like it runs through my body delightfully.

  “I hear that is my worst trait.” She agrees.

  My hand runs up to her bare breast, and I hold it softly as my fingers slide over it. Her nipples stiffen almost immediately, and she arches up into me with a slight intake of breath. I smile again, my cock twitching in interest even though we’ve just done this, and enjoy how wonderfully responsive she is.

  I lean down and we kiss for a while longer, both enjoying the relaxed pace for once. Since the Court Ball, my schedule has been pretty light - either because my parents are less worried about giving me the right influences now, or because everyone is entirely distracted by the court’s decision, I can’t tell. I don’t particularly care. Not if I get to spend it exactly like this, with Hanna.

  After a while, she breaks the slow slide into that sweet, uncurling desire as she pulls back to look at me.

  “What happens if they do say yes?” She asks after a moment, biting her lip.

  I pause, taking a moment to work out what she’s referring to. When I do, I lie back, my hand falling away from her breasts as I consider it seriously. A month ago, maybe I would have dismissed the question in favor of a little more fun and a little less to worry about…but the last few weeks with Hanna have taught me differently. She deserves to talk about these things properly.

  I glance over, going back to the slow circles I was making around her stomach.

  “Well, then there are a few more ceremonial things, I guess. We introduce you to the country - the people. There’s a large festival—”

  “I know.” She says idly. “Adele already told me the whole process - everyone first sees me at that festival, and then we tour around the country and if there aren’t any major issues, you ‘claim me’ at the last stop on that tour. Right?”

  “Oh. Yeah.” I say, then laugh a little. “I think you know this better than me now, Hanna. What were you actually asking, then?”

  She’s silent for a while, and I can see her eyes tracing patterns on the ceiling.

  “Just…we were counting on them saying no, right? If they don’t, how do…I not end up as your Princess?”

  It’s a sensible question. And definitely not something she would have talked about already with Adele. But for some reason, I still don’t like it. I’m not entirely sure I’m ready to think about the end of this whole thing. But I force that away - she’s right. We should talk about these things.

  “There are still lots of opportunities - none of Nicolas’s Princescas ever made it through that tour. Things can go wrong and hell…if I need to, I can always throw the result of that final claiming. There are trials at the end - they’re all largely fake and ceremonial, but if I don’t make it through somehow then it’s considered a bad omen—”

  I stop as a thought suddenly occurs to me.

  “Derek?”

  That’s where two of Nicolas’s Princescas failed. Or he did, on that final attempt to claim them. What if—

  “You okay?”

  I blink, looking up at her and shaking my head with a smile.

  “Yeah, sorry. It’s nothing - just got distracted.”

  She gives me a slightly dubious glance, but doesn’t press, and I continue.

  “So anyway, yeah, there are ways to make sure you don’t actually end up our Princesca.” I give her a small smile, even as I get a strange twinge when I say that. Then something else occurs to me and I shake my head. “But if the idea of more ceremonies and all of that sounds like too much…I can find a way to get you out of it now, I’m sure. You’ve already done more than I ever could’ve asked for, Hanna, if you want to—”

  “No.” She interrupts before I can finish, and for some reason the knot in my chest eases as she does. “It’s okay. I don’t mind, I came here to help you out, and I put all this effort into learning about Aldora…I might as well use it a little longer.”

  She gives me a small grin, and something inside me seems to flip. I take her hand and bring it to my lips.

  “Have I mentioned you’re incredible?” I murmur, then slowly kiss up her hand and arm, until I get to nuzzle at her collarbone and then work my way to her mouth.

  She giggles under me, kissing me back and gasping in little breaths as I settle myself on top of her again, my weight making the bed dip under me. She looks so much smaller like that, down below me, but it’s just perfect as I kiss and tease and nibble.

  “I’ll have you know I am terrified, though.” She says, even as her eyes sparkle at me. “A public tour is…pretty much…my idea of hell. Standing there in front of all those people? …At least, fuck…I don’t have to…say…anything, right?”

  She’s more than a little distracted by what I’m starting to do with my hands and mouth, and my cock pressing up against her warm, waiting entrance, and I murmur something unintelligible.

  “I mean it.” She says, still kissing me. “No public speaking. Okay?”

  “Okay.” I say easily. Right now, I’ll promise her anything she wants. “Just smile and wave.”

  “Smile and wave.” She nods, breathing more heavily as our kisses deepen. “I think I can do that.”

  I chuckle and grip her head, tilting it up as I kiss her neck and throat, sucking gently. She shudders under me, and I know she’s not going to be able to think for much longer.

  “Well, if you’re really worried about it, Princesca, we could do as Nicolas suggested and just start fucking in the corridors…”

  She giggles. “I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a suggestion, Derek.”

  “Really? Could’ve fooled me…”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Derek

  The court accept my Princesca-attenciano proposal.

  We hear about that, and then there’s a non-stop flurry of activity to get us both ready to be presented to the Aldoran people - with a date agreed for only two days later. We go from finally being able to relax to barely having a moment to think, and I feel sorry yet again for dragging Hanna into all this.

  She’s coping with it all far better than I would’ve thought, but as it gets closer to the festival, I can feel her getting more nervous. She pulls me aside more and more frequently as different concerns occur to her, and I know she’s working herself up about it.

  I don’t think I realized that she was actually serious when she said being the center of public attention actually freaked her out, but we talk through it as many times as she feels she needs, and I feel a surge of warmth that she’s doing it for me at all.

  She says it’s just what she agreed to but in my mind, she’s already fulfilled anything I could have asked of her - and I tell her so. I insist that she doesn’t need to do this, and offer to find a way out of the whole thing every time she seems nervous about it - enough that, after a day or so of that, she tells me to stop fucking talking about not doing it.

  Sometimes, Hanna has a way with words like that. Not quite an Aldoran way, but one that I enjoy far more.

  “Derek.”

  I look up from where I’m talking to a group of people who are trying to explain everything I need to do and say at this introductory festival. I didn’t remember it being this damn complicated. I mean, I’ve only ever watched as Nicolas has done it, and the younger brother has never been a particularly arduous role, but now…part of me is starting to wish I’d paid attention a few more times when people were originally trying to teach me this shit.

  I’m more than glad for Hanna’s interruption - even if she does have that anxious set to her expression that’s become all too common since we heard the court’s decision. It bothers me, but she’s pretty much forbid me from mentioning it - so instead, I’m doing whatever else I can. The festival is tomorrow so I can understand her anxiety. I’m even starting to feel it, looking at how much I’ve got to memorize before then.

  I walk up to her, ignoring the protests
behind me - they’ve had my attention for hours now, and I was going to suggest a break anyway.

  “Hey, Princesca. What is it?” I give her a small smile, my hand rising to stroke her cheek.

  She doesn’t quite melt into me the way she usually does - instead she tilts her head away from all the people swarming around one of the official state receiving rooms.

  “Can we talk for a moment, please?”

  Okay, this is serious then.

  I follow her out of the room and we walk down the hallway until I open another random door to an empty room. Another point for living in a huge castle. There’s a good chance of finding an empty room whenever you need one.

  “Are you okay?” I ask immediately, and she turns to me with a slight edge of panic to her expression.

  “I just heard that this festival thing - this whole tour is going to be on TV. There will be press following us.” She’s looking up at me with wide eyes, and I nod, stroking her shoulders gently.

  “It’s the thought of more people watching, too?” I ask, trying to understand. “As well as seeing them in front of you?”

  She blinks at me, confused - then shakes her head.

  “No - no. It’s not that. But it’ll be on TV. What if someone I know sees it? My parents? This is all meant to be a secret - something no one will ever know about—”

  “Ohh.” I suddenly understand, and step forward to pull her into my arms. “They won’t - don’t worry. This isn’t like news or TV in America. It’s a tiny news station, creating footage for a private country that doesn’t like talking to anyone else. Nothing we’ve broadcast has ever made it outside the country - this won’t be any different.”

  She looks up at me, obviously unsure, but I smile and lean down to kiss her forehead.