A Royal Secret: Book 1 (Bad Boy Princes of Malvidence)

by V Vee

  “Algie! What if something happens to him? Someone could kidnap him!” Valerie pointed towards the window.

  “The guards no doubt followed him,” Algerone stated reasonably.

  “Fuck your guards, no one is going to look for my child like I am,” Valerie remarked emphatically. She turned and headed to grab her keys and purse. “Stay with the kids. I’ll be back.”

  Fourteen Years Ago

  “How many children do you want to have?” Valerie asked Algerone as she lay her head on his chest.

  He chuckled and ran his fingers through her damp, black hair. Their impromptu honeymoon had taken them from Spain to Australia to India and then on to Greece where they were currently curled up in a hotel, naked and sweaty after another rather rambunctious and acrobatic round of lovemaking. Algerone had been with many women, some of whom had been more experienced in carnal matters than his new wife, but none of whom he could remember. All it took was Valerie smiling at him, a touch from her, or even the scent of her body-wash and he found himself growing so hard for her that he was unloading copious amounts of seed deep inside of her moments later. He was thankful that Valerie hadn’t yet complained about how often he had taken her, or the places they had found themselves having sex. It had certainly made for an… interesting trip.

  “I’m not sure. I’ve never truly considered it,” Algerone confessed.

  “Really?” Valerie questioned him as she lifted her head to look at him, resting her chin on his chest.

  Algerone shrugged. “I know it is expected of me, being the Crown Prince and all. I am to marry and produce an heir and a spare, and so in the deep recesses of my mind I have always known that I will have two sons, but beyond that? I have not considered anything else.”

  “Hmmm,” Valerie hummed. “But what if you do not produce sons?”

  “I will.”

  Valerie smiled. “But what if you don’t?”

  “I will,” Algerone stated emphatically.

  “But if you don’t?”

  Algerone smacked her on her ample ass. “It is not an option. I will.”

  She giggled. “And if you do not?”

  Algerone began tickling her. “We will have many sons.”

  Valerie let out a melody of laughter, rolling over onto her back as Algerone continued to tickle her sides until she finally called “Uncle”, only then did he cease.

  “You said, ‘we will have many sons’ just now,” she pointed out after she regained her breath.

  Algerone lay down next to her, propping an elbow up on the bed, and laying his head on his head. He smiled down at her softly. He caressed the side of her face, feeling a warm feeling moving through his belly. She was so beautiful it seemed almost impossible.

  “Yes, I did, and I meant it, because we will,” he told her. “You are my wife. My princess and my future queen. Once my father steps down and turns the throne over to me, you and I will rule Malvidence side by side. You shall be the queen of Malvidence and our children shall be princes and princesses. Is that okay with you?”

  Valerie took in a deep breath and nodded without saying a word for a long moment. “Yes, that’s perfectly fine with me. I don’t need all of that, though.”

  “What do you need then, my love?” Algerone asked.

  Valerie lifted her hands and took his face between them. “I just need you. That’s all. As long as you are in my life, and we have a beautiful life together, filled with love, children, and laughter, and happy memories? That’s all I need.”

  “That will be the easiest vow to fulfill,” Algerone told her.

  “Promise?” Valerie asked, her eyes darkening slightly with worry.

  “I promise,” Algerone promised solemnly, before lowering his head to kiss her softly.

  Present Day

  Valerie drove down the street, her eyes darting back and forth across the street as she looked for her eldest son. Her heart pounded in her chest and her eyes burned with unshed tears. How could this have happened? Fear surged through her veins and she tried not to think of all the things that could go wrong. What if someone, the wrong person, thought her son was an intruder, or up to no good, and decided to call the police? Or grabbed a gun and shot him? Or what if someone had kidnapped him? While AJ was biracial, his skin color, just like all of his siblings, was a gorgeous caramel color. And while Valerie thought her children were beautiful, she knew that to some bigots out there, they only saw their skin color and made decisions based on that alone. Regardless of their curly hair, hazel eyes, or the fact that they were well-behaved, educated, children. Or hell, the fact that they were children and human-beings. Not animals.

  Valerie felt her hands clenching on the steering wheel as a host of horrific scenarios played out in her head before a lone, huddled figure sitting on a swing set in the playground caught her eye. Swerving the wheel of her royal purple SUV to the left and pulling into the parking lot, Valerie turned off the engine and pulled out the key. Opening the door, she slammed it shut behind her, and raced towards AJ, fear preventing her from shouting his name.

  When she reached him, she fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around his thin body. Sobs wracked her frame. She felt his arms come around her and she cried harder. When the storm of emotion had passed she pulled back and smacked him on the back of the head.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” she yelled at him.

  AJ sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

  Valerie shook her head. “Do you know how scared I was, AJ? What could have happened to you?” She gripped his shoulders in a firm grasp. “Don’t you remember the talk we had when you were nine? I have given it to you repeatedly. Why would you run off like that? Do you even have your wallet with your ID? What about your cellphone?”

  AJ shook his head and Valerie felt a shiver of fear run through her again. “What happened, AJ? What made you take off like that?”

  AJ’s face flushed and his lips turned down in a frown. “It’s Dad! Oh, I’m sorry, Kothrar!” he spat angrily.

  Valerie jerked back at her son’s tone, blinking. She’d heard AJ get angry before. Angry at his siblings, angry when he lost a basketball or baseball game. Angry when he got a bad grade when he felt he’d studied enough for an A. Angry when he hit puberty and had his first wet dream. Though Valerie had tried hard not laugh at that last one, AJ had found it to be disgusting and was thoroughly repulsed, even after his uncle, Leon, Valerie’s eldest brother, had explained what was happening.

  But this? This wasn’t just anger. This was pure, unfettered rage. This wasn’t just controlled rage at one particular event, either. This was uncontrollable, uncontained, wild rage. A maelstrom of emotions that was all directed at one person for years of missed events, unattended holidays, and disappointments. Valerie knew that she should allow Algerone to handle things with AJ, but how could she? She had made this decision. She’d gone along with this for as long as she had. Fourteen years. Fourteen years she’d allowed herself to be the secret wife of a prince. Having his children. Raising them in secret. Having them see him periodically every year. Talking to him only when he was available.

  And really, if it weren’t for the internet, social media, and the paparazzi, she wouldn’t be positive that Algerone was as of yet not linked to any other woman. Oh, there had been rumors, speculations, and gossip, but nothing substantiated. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be sure that she wasn’t merely his mistress. His kept woman.

  But, as it often did, that dark thought swarmed through her mind: How do you know you’re the only secret wife he has out there? He could have plenty more, with a dozen other kids all over the globe.

  Shaking off the heart-breaking thought, Valerie focused on her son. He was more important right now. She would deal with her own feelings and insecurities later.

  “Why are you so angry with your dad, AJ?” she asked.

  AJ sniffled and shrugged.

  Valerie shook her head and turned AJ’s head back
to face her when he turned his eyes away. “No, no, no. Don’t do that. You ran away because you were angry with him. But you didn’t take your wallet or your cellphone, which means you wanted to be found. You wanted to talk about this with someone. So it’s either me, your dad, or I can call one of your uncles, your aunts, or your grandparents. Which is it going to be?”

  AJ’s eyes widened as he heard his options and he reached out to squeeze Valerie’s shoulders. “YOU! You, Mom! I’ll talk to you.”

  Valerie chuckled. “That’s what I thought. So. Tell me why you’re so mad at your dad.”

  AJ sighed and sat back. “Because he’s a big, fat liar.”

  Big? Yes, if we’re talking muscles and other… areas of his body. Liar? Yes, though I’m not sure if he intends to be. But fat he is not, Valerie thought to herself.

  “Okay, why do you think that?”

  AJ crossed his arms in front of his thin chest and began toeing the sand at his feet. “Because he sent me an email on my phone and told me that he was going to be here in time to see my game and when I went to play, I looked around for him and he wasn’t there.” AJ raised his head and looked at Valerie, his eyes flooded with tears. “And he promised, Mommy. He promised.”

  “Oh, baby. I’m so sorry,” Valerie pulled AJ into her arms. She held him close as AJ, her tall, lanky, thirteen year old son, sat on her lap, and sobbed harshly into her neck, his arms wrapped tightly around her. Valerie rubbed her hand up and down her son’s back, making soothing tones, and offering words of comfort. When AJ had calmed down enough to listen to her, Valerie began to speak.

  “AJ, I know your dad really regrets not being able to be at your game. I know he does,” Valerie insisted when AJ negated her words. “But, sometimes, when adults promise things, they have every intention, their every goal, is to make sure that they honor it, so that they’re not liars. So that they make the person they love, the person they respect, the person they care about, happy, but sometimes, things happen and they have no control over it and they end up not being able to make that promise a reality.” She racked her brain trying to think of an example. “Remember the time I promised you and your brothers and sisters that I was going to take you for ice cream if you all behaved in church?” she asked him.

  AJ nodded.

  “And remember we got in the SUV and I turned on the radio and we were singing along to the music headed to Coldstone Creamery?”

  AJ’s head bobbed.

  “Then what happened?”

  AJ giggled. “Then Beau said he didn’t feel good and he threw up on Chia and then she started crying and she threw up on Kere, and he threw his toy at Dahni because he was freaked out and she started screaming.”

  Valerie laughed, though inwardly she shuddered over the memory of that horrible Sunday afternoon. What a terrible experience that had been. Three of her children had come down with a stomach bug, only AJ and Dahni having escaped it, and that was only because AJ was in the teen Sunday school class and Dahni was in the nursery, whereas the others were in the infected areas. The entire church had passed that particular malady back and forth for weeks before it finally went away. Valerie’d had to take care of three sick kids with AJ helping to take care of Dahni so neither of them didn’t get sick.

  “So, even though I promised and I was on my way to taking you all, it wasn’t my fault that Travon and his sister Sheena got sick and their parents still brought them to church and got everyone else sick, right?” she asked.

  AJ shook his head.

  “So, that’s what happens with your dad a lot. We have to remember that he lives in a different country and he has a very important job. A very important position and title. A lot of people depend on him and need him. So he makes promises to us and he really wants to make them happen, but sometimes he can’t make them happen because something else outside of his control takes place to make him unable to fulfill it. Okay?” Valerie asked AJ.

  AJ nodded and sighed. He was silent for a long moment and then he asked softly, “Mom?”

  “Yes, baby?”

  “I just wish Dad knew we depend on him and need him more.”

  Valerie sighed. “I know baby. I know.”

  Chapter Five

  A lgerone hung up the phone with Donald, the head of security here with his family, and turned to look back at his other four children who were currently playing in the living room, happily. None of them knowing that their father had just had his soul ripped from his body by his eldest son and their mother. While a part of him felt guilty for sending a pair of bodyguards with Valerie to help search for AJ, and then to call him when his son had been located, another, much larger part, felt nothing but relief. Valerie and AJ, perhaps the rest of his children, questioned his commitment and love for them but a bone-deep fear had seeped into him when AJ had run off. However, a lifetime’s worth of hiding his emotions and displaying a blank mask to the world had helped him to not only present a calm face, but also a level-head in the face of crisis. Which apparently came off as apathetic to his distraught wife.

  Algerone knew that his continued absences were weighing heavily upon his wife and children. He even knew he was at fault for it, but to hear the grief and anger in his son’s voice, and to hear the… resignation and was that—apathy—in Valerie’s? It was too much for him. Since meeting Valerie, she’d been nothing but passion, fire, determination, drive, energy… magic. To hear her voice devoid of all fullness? To be leached of life as she talked about him made him feel as if he were being skewered. Repeatedly. While being roasted over an open flame.

  “You kids keep playing, I’m just going to step outside for a moment,” Algerone told his children. They barely acknowledged him. Just muttering an “okay” to him, as they went back to playing with the toys he’d brought back with him for them. And Dahni, his beautiful, youngest daughter, merely put her thumb in her mouth and lay down on the floor on her blanket to take a nap. Algerone sighed. He was such a non-fixture in their lives that after just a few moments, the newness of having him around wore off quickly and they all went back to their day as if he weren’t even there. As if they were preparing themselves for his departure again.

  Algerone walked out the back door, lifted his head, and looked up at the sky as his mind puzzled over his current problem. He was on the verge of losing his family. His wife and his children. He could feel it in his bones. He had to do something about it. He knew he did. And yet, on the other hand, he was unsure of how to even broach the subject to his parents, his brothers, much less, how to introduce his very American family to the kingdom of Malvidence which was completely different from their own country.

  Algerone sighed and rubbed his hands over his face as frustration, anxiety, and anger at himself ran rampant through his mind. He needed someone to talk to. Usually he would talk to his father about something this important, but one of the things King Callum Smythe was known for was being able to suss out information from someone when they were being intentionally vague, or trying to be deceptive. It was what made him so valuable to His Majesty’s Military when he was just a boy, and why he was often consulted by other countries and military officials when it came to questioning and interrogation. Algerone and his brothers had been completely unable to lie to their father growing up, so they’d often attempted it with their mother. When Araminta Smythe, Queen of Malvidence figured out what her sons were up to, she’d quickly started to send them to their father. Callum would hand out the punishments, while Araminta would be there to comfort them.

  Algerone paced the length of the back patio as he considered his options. Finally, having completely ruled out his parents, he decided to play roulette with his call log. Going to his Recent call list and to Outgoing calls, Algerone scrolled through counting to ten before pressing on whatever contact his finger landed on. Without checking to see who it was, Algerone held his phone up to his ear.

  The phone rang once. Twice. And just when Algerone was about to hang up and try the next person, he hea
rd the call connect.

  “Raxrru?” a deep, bored voice answered.

  Algerone frowned for a second. He’d obviously called one of his brothers if he was hearing Malvidencian in his ear.

  “Raxrru. It’s Al,” Algerone began.

  “I know who you are, gracvory. What do you want?” And it was that, the use of the Malvidencian word for fucker that let Algerone know whom he’d called: Alastair. The third eldest of the Smythe princes, the one most rigid and upstanding in public, and behaved the most debaucherously in private.

  He was also their father’s personal assistant and one of his advisors. Could Algerone have chosen a worse person to randomly call? Trying to muster up a reason for him to have phoned, Algerone scrambled for something, anything, to talk about.

  “How go things at the palace?” he spluttered out.

  “What? Did you seriously call to ask me how things were here at the palace, bruthrar? You, who were just here days ago, but had to rush off to check on one of your American investments?” Algerone cringed at the sarcasm he could hear oozing through the phone from his brother’s tone. “Why, you would know if you were still here, but you are not. Any chance of you introducing—or rather, presenting—the rest of the family with the information on the investments that have you traveling to America so often?”

  Algerone felt his breath catch in his throat. Alastair sounded as if he knew all about Valerie and the kids, but how could that be? Wouldn’t he have said something before now? Especially over the past fourteen years?

  “When the time is right, I will,” Algerone stalled.

  Alastair hummed. “Perhaps Kothrar and Kuthrar are right when it comes to you after all,” he stated almost off-handedly.

  “What do you mean?” Algerone asked suspiciously. “Right about what?”

  The sound of female voices and giggling sounded through the phone and Algerone rolled his eyes wondering if Alastair had once again chosen to seduce one of the palace maids, or if he’d deigned a woman from town safe enough to enter his royal suites.