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

by V Vee

  “My siblings are at the door,” she whispered.

  “How do you know?” he asked.

  “I know.” They were the only words she got out before she heard AJ’s voice greeting her sisters. In less than two minutes her entire home was flooded with sound. “Oh dear Beyoncé. Save me.”

  Algerone chuckled. “Why do you ask for help from a singer and not G-d?”

  Valerie looked at her husband with wide eyes. “When dealing with blackness, my dear husband, one must call upon the goddess, the queen of blackness. And that is Beyonce. Even G-d agrees with me on that one.” She tried to keep a straight face as Algerone looked at her intently as if trying to gauge her seriousness, but she couldn’t do it. She burst into laughter, covering her mouth trying not to wake their children.

  “I’m kidding.”

  “Mama?” Beaumont’s voice came from below her.

  Valerie looked around in confusion. “Beau?”

  “Mama, why do I hear Auntie Ella?” Beaumont asked.

  “Because her, your Aunt Merlina, and I’m sure your Uncles Leon and Duan are here,” Valerie answered. “Um… Beau where are you?” she called out.

  Beaumont popped up his head from the side of the bed and Valerie let out a squeal of surprise, while Algerone cursed. Valerie heard giggling from Chikere and Chiamaka.

  “Kothrar said a bad word!” Chiamaka said.

  Valerie pointed. “But you don’t get to repeat it!”

  Chiamaka pouted. “But it sounds fun.”

  “No, ptrai leuomi. This word is not for you. I will teach you all the words you can use when you are much older,” Algerone said.

  Valerie glared at him. “No, he won’t,” she told Chiamaka, before turning back to Beaumont. She ignored Chiamaka’s giggling knowing that she and Algerone were going to have to have a talk about teaching the kids profanity at any age.

  “Beau, honey, what are you doing down there?” she asked her son.

  Beaumont shrugged and looked down sheepishly. “I slept on the floor in my sleeping bag.”

  “Why did you do this, my son?” Algerone asked.

  “I wanted to make sure you didn’t disappear while I was in my bedroom,” Beaumont stated matter-of-factly.

  Valerie had difficulty swallowing around the lump that had suddenly risen in her throat, and when she looked at Algergone and saw the devastation on his face, she knew she wasn’t the only one affected by their son’s words. She reached out to touch her husband’s arm in consolation. Before she could comfort her son, however, her bedroom door swung open and her two younger sisters strode in.

  Ella and Merlina could not be more different from Valerie or each other, the biggest similarity between the three of them, were their eyes and their high cheekbones. Other than that, they differed in shape, skin tone, and personality. Ella was similar to their eldest brother, Leon, who, to their parents’ disappointment was still single. However, his lack of love interests or permanent partner was the only thing which gave their parents any sort of grief about him. Leon Hall graduated from the top of his class from Moorehouse College, only to then get his M.D. from Harvard Medical, an internship and fellowship with Johns Hopkins, Leon then took his high honors, accolades, awards, and sought after medical knowledge back to his community to work in the veteran hospital and volunteer in the free clinic. Ella, who looked up to their eldest brother since the moment she could walk, and would try to follow him around, went into the S.T.E.M. field with a focus on biotechnology and research of genetic diseases. They all knew that Ella’s… focus—okay, her obsession—with genetic diseases came from the death of their baby brother, Michael, who at the age of 3 died from what the doctors called diabetic shock. No one in the family had even known he had diabetes, since none of them did.

  Ella and Leon were definitely the nerds of the Hall family, but besides the glasses that they wore on their faces no one would never know it. Ella was the shortest of the Hall girls, yes, but she definitely had a body that screamed: sensuality. The first time Valerie had introduced Ella to Algerone, she’d smirked when she saw the way he tried hard to keep his eyes on her face and not let them drift downwards. Valerie wasn’t jealous of her sister’s ability to capture male attention, even that of her own husband’s. Ella had more than once expressed the numerous experiences she’d had with sexual harassment and unwanted sexual attention from both men and women. When Valerie met Ella’s coworker, Stelle, however, she was extremely happy that while her own looks and figure was attractive to some men, and her husband being the most important, that at least she wasn't a walking, talking, breathing advertisement for porn. Which was made worse by the fact that Stelle was extremely intelligent, and a single mother.

  Merlina, however, was unlike all of them. She and Duan were on two opposite sides of the Hall expectations spectrum, with the rest of the children falling in between. Where Ella and Leon were academic, overachieving geniuses, who still had their quirks and flaws: Leon did not date, was a complete slob at home, and spent a lot of time reading, ignoring family when they came to visit. Ella was the quintessential nerd. She was big into gaming, science fiction, fantasy, comics, trivia nights, and was still a virgin because she, “had more important things to worry about than an unsatisfactory physical experience to satisfy some patriarchal expectation and ideal about my suitability as a woman.”

  Valerie had to admit, she’d had to have a translator for much of that statement.

  Valerie wasn’t big on academics, except when it came to her children’s education, she was more creative. However, she was business smart. She was also in a long-term relationship, something that couldn’t be said for any of her siblings.

  However, Duan, who had a degree in social work, had two children out of wedlock, still lived with their parents, and was “woke.” As he put it to his siblings. He spent most of his time trying to raise social, racial, gender and political consciousness. When he wasn’t working to fix families, trying to help them get the resources they needed, or taking children and/or women/men from abusive, neglectful, and dangerous situations, he was either tweeting about what was going on in the country, smoking weed, or playing basketball. Their parents were often heard saying that they were, “semi-proud” of Duan, and they were just waiting for the day he fully grew up, moved out, and recognized his full potential.

  It was Merlina who was their parents’ pride and joy. Merlina was… perfect. Or at least as perfect as one could get being human. She’d gone through her entire academic career getting nothing less than a 4.0. She graduated as valedictorian, magna cum laude, and with high honors. While attending high school, she’d also been taking college courses, all of which she’d passed with an A. She’d been involved in after-school activities, sports, community service, voter registration, volunteering at the hospital, helping the homeless, assisting veterans, and even starting up a charity to help low-income families supply their children with school supplies, clothing, college application fees, transportation, and more, from the time she was a freshman in high school. And if that wasn’t enough, Merlina had received full academic and athletic scholarships to numerous colleges and universities. She’d attended Spelman College, then Yale University, double majoring in Political Science and Marketing, with minors in foreign language and cultural studies. While attending school, Merlina, who was tall, toned, with smooth, unblemished dark chocolate skin, and thick, black hair, which she kept relaxed, even modeled while attending college.

  Their parents were so proud of Merlina, who worked as a Public Relations Specialist, owned her own immaculately decorated and kept home, two cars, had a white Maltese dog, whom she took with her everywhere, had a staff who took care of cleaning, cooking, and gardening, and was even open to allowing them to arrange a marriage for her. Something that happened with a few families in Barbados, where their father was from.

  “Why are you still in the bed?” Merlina asked, glancing at the slim, platinum watch on her slender wrist.

  “Auntie Lina!�
� Beaumont cried out in joy, jumping up from the floor and rushing over to her with his arms outspread.

  “Beau!” Merlina grinned, opening her own arms. She stopped Beaumont before he could touch her however, checking his hands quickly, before pulling him into a hug.

  Valerie rolled her eyes. “Must you check my children before you hug them?” she asked with a fond smile.

  Merlina shrugged one delicate shoulder, her dark brown skin gleaming against the fabric of her white halter dress. “What can I say? You encourage your children to ‘express themselves’ creatively, and that often involves things like paints, crayons, glitter, and other things that stain, and I am wearing white,” she indicated her dress, one arm still wrapped around Beaumont.

  “Perhaps if you stopped wearing white, or beige, or cream, or pale yellow, sister dear?” Ella responded with a sarcastic tone, giving Merlina the side-eye. “You know there are other colors out there.”

  Merlina sighed and shook her head, her straight black hair waving around her shoulders like a gorgeous dance. “But why should I have to, my little mess? When you live and conduct yourself in such a way that you prepare for every eventuality, then you can wear colors that seem to invite chaos and mess without finding yourself covered in it. Perhaps you should consider such a thing? Hmm?”

  Algerone leaned close to Valerie, his warm breath sending shivers down her spine and causing her nipples to pebble beneath the fabric of her sleep shirt. “I do not believe they are discussing wearing white, love.”

  Valerie let out a soft laugh as her sisters continued to bicker at the foot of their bed, their children looking on in awe. Valerie thought it was cute that her children saw adults arguing as something to be fascinated by, since they’d never seen nor heard Valerie and Algerone actually doing it. Score one for good parenting, she thought to herself.

  “No, I don’t believe they are,” she responded. She cleared her throat and clapped her hands to get her younger sisters’ attention. She reached down to soothe Dahni, who had at some point climbed in her lap, her head resting against Valerie’s chest, and fallen back asleep.

  “Why are you all here, again? I have yet to hear a reason for the descent of the Hall menagerie upon my home,” she asked.

  “Duan said you were having a bit of trouble planning Mom and Dad’s anniversary party, and that we should all come over—with breakfast—to help out, because you have the kids and work and…” Ella shrugged, waving her hand in Algerone’s direction.

  “Hello to you as well, Ella,” Algerone said with a chuckle.

  “Hi, Algerone, we had no idea you would be here. It’s not your scheduled time to be in the States is it?” Ella asked with a sarcastic lilt to her voice.

  “Well…” Algerone began. Valerie held up a hand to silence them and narrowed her eyes at her sister.

  “I appreciate you all coming over to help plan the party. I never understood why you four were sticking me with all of the work in the first place. Especially since I am the one with five children, a career to manage, and yes,” Valerie said, giving her younger sister a glare. “A husband who visits whenever he can. I understand it, he speaks to the kids all the time, and frankly, none of you—who haven’t been in long-term relationships past two months—can say boo to me about my fourteen year marriage.”

  She handed a sleeping Dahni to Algerone and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Now, you said you brought breakfast. I hope it’s something my children and I can and will actually eat, and not just something you brats want to shove down your face-holes.” She grinned at her two sisters, hoping her words had lightened the tense atmosphere.

  “Well…” Merlina laughed, her husky voice grabbing everyone’s attention. “The boys got breakfast, but when they told me they’d gotten it, I stopped by Republic over on Elm and got the kids those Nutella & Banana Paninis that they love so much. I know you said you haven’t been feeling well the last few months, so I got you Republic’s Granola with almonds. I had them use organic soy, since you’re a freak and don’t like the yogurt, and I added banana and strawberry because you need protein.” She looked over at Algerone and shrugged. “I wasn’t exactly sure what to get you, but Ella said you liked the Omelet with Homefries. I just ordered it straight, because I wasn’t entirely certain what you wanted in it, but I figured you could add what you wanted here.”

  Valerie climbed out of bed and went over to her youngest sister to give her a tight hug. “You did perfectly, Lina… as always,” she teased the younger woman.

  Merlina rolled her eyes. “Stop it. I’m sick of the perfection jokes.”

  Valerie shrugged. “Well, maybe if you—” she glanced around and noticed her children watching her and listening to the conversation. “Effed up every so often, and stopped doing everything right all the time, we would stop messing with you,” she said substituting the f-word she’d originally intended to use, for another.

  “Besides, you’re the baby. It’s kinda our duty to make your life miserable,” Ella said, pushing her glasses up her nose.

  Merlina poked out her tongue at Ella, who returned the gesture. Soon, Beaumont, Chikere, and Chiamaka were copying their aunts. Valerie groaned and clapped her hands together.

  “Children! Stop it with the tongues!” she admonished them all. Everyone pulled their tongues back into their mouths and Valerie nodded her head in satisfaction. “Good. Now, who wants breakfast?” she asked.

  “Me!” Beaumont, Chikere, and Chiamaka answered, raising their hands. When Valerie heard a snort of laughter behind her, she looked back at Algerone who inclined his head in her sisters’ direction. Seeing Merlina and Ella raising their hands as well, Valerie laughed.

  “Okay, sillies. Everyone go wash your hands and your dad and I will be downstairs in a second,” she told them.

  The kids let out squeals of excitement, which woke up Dahni, who instantly began to cry. Algerone soothed her, and Valerie took a moment to watch him with their youngest child. He looked just as adorable as Dahni with his sleep rumpled hair, the stubble on his face, and the lazy grin on his face as he talked to Dahni about getting up to go eat.

  “No eat!” Dahni stated stubbornly, shaking her head.

  “Come on, Dahni-bug,” Algerone cajoled her. “Don’t you want to eat with Daddy?”

  Dahni stared up at Algerone for a moment before wagging her head in denial. “No Daddy!”

  Valerie snorted in humor. When Algerone looked at her, she merely shrugged. While she felt somewhat bad for Algerone dealing with a stubborn Dahni in the morning, she was also secretly happy that her baby girl hadn’t behaved like a complete angel the entire time he was there. Algerone didn’t believe Valerie the times she’d told him that Dahni was a monster in the morning, and most of the time she would carry the sleeping child downstairs and put her down in her playpen, rather than wake her up to be fed.

  She could only take so many child-sized plastic spoons to the head, or food to the face, before she learned her lesson.

  And Dahni had been awakened by a loud noise as well. This was going to be a fun day. Algerone was totally on DD: Dahni Duty.

  “Well, you look as if you have everything in hand here. I’m going to go downstairs and have some breakfast. I’ll stick your plate in the microwave, for you to heat up when you… finally get downstairs,” Valerie said, clearing her throat to cover up her laughter.

  She didn’t miss Algerone’s scowl but she decided to ignore it in favor of getting some food in her belly before something else came up that needed her “Mommy-attention.”

  Just as she stepped out into the hall to head towards the stairs, she heard the sound of a loud crash. Putting her hand on top of the banister, Valerie let out a sigh of frustration.

  “I didn’t do it!” the voices of four children and four adults drifted up to her. With a chuckle and shaking her head, Valerie headed downstairs to see which of the innocent persons downstairs had been the cause of something breaking in her home.

  Chapter Nine
r />   Kingdom of Malvidence

  City of Sorentio

  The Royal Palace, King Callum’s Study

  K ing Callum Smythe, His Royal Highness of Malvidence, Sovereign Leader of Sorentio, stared down at the report in front of him and released a long, frustrated sigh.

  “Are we absolutely certain of this?” he asked the man standing in front of him.

  “Yes, Your Highness. There are photos, emails, phone calls, messages, and flight manifests to back up the information. Also, there’s this,” the man reached out to uncover an official document and King Callum stared down at the parchment for a long moment before shaking his head.

  “How long?” he asked between gritted teeth.

  “I beg your pardon, Your Highness?” the royal official inquired.

  King Callum stood to his full six foot four inches and glared down at the other man. He knew he was an imposing figure. Not just because he was the king and ruler of the country of Malvidence, and a few other outlying regions, but physically as well. His height, as well as his broad, toned build, was still as attractive in his fifties as it had been when he’d been twenty. All five of his sons got their heights and muscled frames from his genetics and a heavy dose of exercise and hard work. They also had his slender, regal nose. Beyond that, each of them had a toss up of physical features from both himself and his wife, Araminta.

  The man before him stood at barely six feet. With him sitting and King Callum now standing, the intimidation was powerful.

  “I want to know how long? How long has this been true? How long ago did this take place? And how long have you, my advisors, my palace guards, my public image consultants and staff, how long have you all known?” King Callum growled out.

  The official swallowed nervously. “It happened fourteen years ago, and we received word… about two years ago. We only decided to bring it to His Highness’ attention now because it seems as though, Prince Algerone has no intention of coming forward with this information himself, and his heirs have apparently been having some difficulty with their kothrar’s absence.”