My Royal Hook-Up

by Riley Pine

  I killed my mother in childbirth.

  I killed my first love, Victoria.

  I hear the march of footsteps beyond the chapel door and know that I’ve sealed Juliet’s fate as well.

  “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” Benedict says as the doors burst open and four Nightgardin guards rush into the small church with twice as many Edenvale patrol on their heels. Benedict simply nods at our new guests.

  Without thinking, I grab Juliet’s hand and step off the dais.

  “Stand down,” I say. “All of you. By order of Damien Lorentz, Prince of Edenvale.” Then I squeeze my new wife’s hand.

  “And by Juliet de Estel, Princess of Nightgardin and Edenvale.” She rubs her hand over her stomach. “And by order of protection of the dual kingdom heir.”

  All guards stop in their tracks—and take a knee.

  “Send word to my mother and father,” Juliet says with an authoritative tone, “that I carry the first-ever Nightgardin and Edenvale heir. Send word that I will not marry the Duke of Wartson because I have wed the youngest prince of Edenvale. And send word that any other act of aggression on Nightgardin’s behalf will not be tolerated.”

  She flashes me a questioning look, and I nod. She is Edenvale royalty now as much as she is Nightgardin.

  One of the guards sneers at Juliet, and in that moment I want to rip his face clear from his skull. But then they rise and retreat.

  It’s all I can do to keep from applauding because—well—no one’s dead, yet.

  “Good show,” I say under my breath to my willing accomplice.

  Juliet stands tall and regal, every bit the princess she’s known to be.

  “I wasn’t acting,” she says. “Now I think I’d like to be shown to my room. I’m exhausted.”

  Then she strides down the aisle and out the door.

  What the hell have I just done?

  Juliet

  It might be my wedding day, and my first as a princess in a new realm, but I’m still alone in a high tower. I sit in front of the vanity in my chambers, brushing and plaiting my shower-damp hair when there’s a knock at the door.

  “Come in,” I call, setting down the silver-handled brush an attendant provided upon my arrival.

  Two simple words, and yet my rush of gratitude makes it almost impossible to breathe. For the past two months, no one ever bothered knocking on my door. In fact, it often seemed the Black Watch, Nightgardin’s notorious secret police, took particular pleasure in barging in if I was trying to bathe or relieve myself. I was humiliated and vulnerable every waking hour.

  My jaw tightens. I’ll never forgive my parents for that treatment. While I know my affair could have been punishable by death, I was foolish enough to think that they needed me. After all I’m their heir, what did they gain by hurting me?

  The door swings open and in rush my fellow princesses of Edenvale, Kate and Evangeline. They are each carrying a basket covered with a white linen napkin.

  “Hello.” My face relaxes into an uncertain smile. “Thank you for the visit.”

  These women are still strangers, as is this entire kingdom, so I can’t help but look on every kind gesture with practiced wariness.

  “We come bearing gifts,” Kate chirps, setting the basket on a table and removing the covering with a flourish. “Ginger scones from the kitchen and still warm. I heard you mention you haven’t been eating at the wedding and thought this might be calm enough for your digestion. Trust me, these are to die for.” She pats her slim hips. “I’ve gone up a size since living in the palace, but Nikolai loves my new curves.”

  “And I brought you some art supplies.” Evangeline’s basket brims with adult coloring books and fine colored pencils sharpened to crisp tips.

  “You came to attend to me yourselves?” I ask wonderingly. “Why not send servants to do such bidding?”

  The two women exchange a short but troubled glance. “You’re our sister now. When you spoke those words binding yourself to Damien, they also bound you to us,” Kate says carefully. “And the child in your belly will be the cousin to any we someday carry.”

  Evangeline takes Kate’s hand. “And trust me when I say that quick marriages run in the family,” she said. “We are both more or less newlyweds ourselves. Neither of our husbands had the, ahem...patience...for a state wedding that would require years of planning.”

  “Nikolai compromised and promised his future coronation could receive the preparations.” Kate winks, flicking her fiery red hair over one shoulder. “That kept the royal event planners from having a conniption.”

  I look at them, a knot forming in my throat. “But you both married men who love you, men who want you. It’s plain to see that Nikolai and Benedict walk on clouds around you. When Damien looks at me it is as if I am you-know-what on the bottom of his bedroom slipper.”

  Kate sighs. “Neither of us had easy paths to love, but they were our journeys. You will make your own way to happiness.”

  “We had happiness,” I choke. “Three perfect days. And then my family found me and Damien forgot everything.”

  “It was beaten from him, Highness.”

  We all turn in unison, startled at the masculine voice behind us. X straddles the windowsill.

  “Where on earth did you come from?” I gasp, pressing a hand over my pounding heart.

  “He always does that,” Kate answers wryly. “You’ll get used to it.”

  “I just so happened to be installing an extra security system around Princess Juliet’s windows. We aren’t picking up chatter that Nightgardin is planning another kidnapping attempt, but we are taking no chances with a member of our royal family.”

  There’s that word again.

  Family.

  I press my hand to my lower belly. “I appreciate your efforts on my behalf.”

  X nods curtly. “I couldn’t help overhear a few words, Highness, so please pardon my interruption. Did you know when we first found Damien that he had forgotten a year of his life? He was beaten about the head and neck as badly as a man can be and still survive. The back of his head bore bruising that was an exact match for the butt of a rifle.”

  I gasp, bile rising in my throat. Had Mother and Father ordered such viciousness unleashed? It troubles me to suspect the answer.

  “As the swelling in his brain has decreased, his memories have slowly returned. Like he said on your arrival, we are down to just a few lost days.”

  “Our days.”

  He nods again with a sober expression.

  “Perhaps...perhaps he doesn’t want to remember them.” My voice breaks into a million pieces. “Pardon me, but I’m very tired. It’s been a long journey and quite an eventful morning.”

  “I will arrange for a doctor to visit in a few days’ time,” Kate says before leaving. “To put your mind at ease.”

  “As for these—” Evangeline gestures to the coloring books “—I know they seem silly, but art has a way of healing things that seem broken.”

  “Thank you.” And I mean every word. Their kindness is almost overwhelming. Such a rarity in my world.

  The door clicks shut behind them and X moves to exit the window.

  “Do you not have a harness?” I quiz, walking over. The drop is a good six stories to a flagstone courtyard.

  “I used to be a free climber in the Dolomites. Don’t want my skills to get rusty.”

  “And I don’t want you to fall to the ground and crack like an egg on my account.”

  He tweaks one of my braids. “Then I better make you a promise that I won’t fall.”

  A glimmer of humor ripples through me. I’d always wanted a big brother, and this man is almost the walking incarnation of the sibling I’d imagined.

  “You don’t need to stay cooped up in the tower,” he says, swinging his feet out the window. “The gr
ounds are extensive. There is the maze. The chapel. The wishing well. Find your new husband. Ask him to give you a tour.”

  I cross my arms, hugging myself close. “My new husband doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

  “For what it’s worth,” X says, doing a quick, complicated maneuver that has him dangling from a near-invisible fingerhold on the castle wall, “I believe your story. That something sparked between the pair of you those missing days.” He frowns. “Damien has been lost most of his life. He’s weathered many storms, more than any man should for his still-short years on this earth. Perhaps you are his light in the dark.”

  “You care about him.”

  “I’ve always been a sucker for the underdog.” A troubled look flashes over his face and disappears. “Plus I made a promise long ago to look out for him. And I don’t intend to break it.”

  “A promise to whom?” I ask, but he is already climbing down, ducking around a carved gargoyle and leaving me with more questions than I had when I arrived.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Damien

  I STORM TOWARD the open compartment of the royal hangar. After today’s events—marrying a woman I don’t know who’s supposedly carrying my child—I need to get behind the wheel and just drive. But it looks like my brother has other plans. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  Nikolai spins toward me with a self-satisfied grin as I watch the Alfa Romeo rise up several stories on a mechanical platform. Our great-grandfather owned a collection of rare automobiles that he kept housed here with the aircraft. The movable platforms allowed him extra storage space, but I get the feeling my dear old brother is doing more than storing my favorite car.

  “You’re off the racing circuit,” he says, pocketing my keys. “And don’t even think about trying to get it. You don’t know the pass code for the lift, and I’ll change it daily if I have to.”

  We’re face-to-face now, my chest heaving. I may be his little brother, but dammit if I don’t have an inch or two on him these days.

  “Why?” I demand through gritted teeth. “And since when is it up to you, anyway?”

  He dusts off the shoulder of my leather jacket, a condescending move that is just so...Nikolai. I know this man hates me, and I do not blame him in the least. But that doesn’t mean I can’t call asshole when I see it.

  “Shall we count?” Nikolai asks.

  “Count what?” I say, taking the bait.

  He crosses his arms. “Count the times you behind a wheel has ended in some sort of catastrophe.” His words hits me like a fist to the gut. “You did quite well ‘rescuing’ Victoria from marrying a man she only pretended to love. And now there’s the lovely Juliet. Your wife. Had you not been tempting fate once again on that—that fucking death trap of a course at the Nightgardin Rally—we would not be in this precarious political position.”

  If I didn’t know better, I’d say my brother sounded almost concerned.

  “None of it has anything to do with a skull fracture or any of the other various broken bones that are still mending?” I ask, deciding to push his buttons. “That can’t possibly mean a thing to you when I robbed you of your mother, your first love and now possibly your kingdom. Can it?”

  My throat tightens, and the words burn like acid.

  “Yes. I hold you responsible for Victoria. And for the situation we are in right now. But Mother’s death? Damien, that could not be helped. Sometimes women die in childbirth, something that is beyond anyone’s control.” He speaks not with sympathy but with practicality. “Even Father knows that. Whatever issues you have with how you entered this world, they are yours alone. The problems caused by reckless decisions on your part? Well, those are another story.”

  My brother wouldn’t speak to me after the accident. Wouldn’t stand being in the same room with me. I was not even permitted to go to Victoria’s funeral. So even though there is no affection in this conversation, it is a conversation nonetheless, the first we’ve truly had in years.

  “I want my car, Nikolai. How the hell am I supposed to get around?”

  A throat clears behind me, and I turn to see X at the hangar entrance. He’s leaning on the grille of an Audi SQ5, one I never heard approach. Nor did I hear the man exit the vehicle.

  “You need to stop doing that,” I tell the man who has been the head of our family’s security since I was a child. Back then I found his tricks amusing, always wanting to figure him out. “It’s an invasion of privacy, the way you always just show up.”

  X straightens and brushes off his already-immaculate lapel.

  “My apologies, Highness. But it goes with the territory. If you don’t see me coming, neither will the enemy.”

  Nikolai chuckles. “Trust me. If you want anyone on your side when trouble is afoot, X is your man. Plus, now you have the answer to your question.”

  “My question?” As soon as the words leave my lips, I remember. “No. Uh-uh. Absofuckinglutely not. I don’t need to be driven around like some pretentious prince. I go where I want, when I want.”

  Nikolai raises a brow. “And right now, I think you want to go where X is taking you.”

  He brushes past me and hops on a BMW S 1000RR. Without another word, he throws on a helmet and rides off. With my keys and the pass code to the damned car lift.

  I let out a breath and make my way toward the Audi and the man who’s apparently driving me to my next destination.

  “I walked here,” I say gruffly. “The only reason I’m letting you take me anywhere is because my ribs hurt like hell, and I’m not in the mood to walk back.”

  The corner of X’s mouth twitches, but he doesn’t exactly smile. “Of course, Your Highness.”

  I raise a brow. “Don’t suppose you’d give me the keys to this fine-looking machine, me being your prince and all.”

  X opens one of the rear doors and gestures for me to get inside. “It doesn’t quite work like that, Prince Damien. Besides, I think the princess would like some company.”

  I peek around the door to see Juliet sitting inside.

  Jesus. I’m getting pretty fucking tired of surprises.

  “She is your wife, Highness. It’s time you get to know her.”

  He may be right, but for once today I’d like to do something of my choosing. I’d like to get to know her with a clear head.

  I climb in beside her, and there it is—surprise number three. She doesn’t even glance in my direction.

  “Nice to see you, too,” I mumble, staring straight ahead.

  Yet despite my reluctance to be here, my shoulders relax. I am suprisingly calm in her presence, which makes me wonder if she is telling the truth about our weekend in Nightgardin.

  My pinky accidentally brushes hers where it rests on the soft leather of the seat, and her hand flinches before pulling way.

  She straightens, and I notice she is dressed in denim that hugs her slim curves and a pair of riding boots molded to her calves.

  My cock hardens.

  Casual is a good look on her.

  “I can assure you, Prince Damien, that this outing was not of my choosing. If you want someone to blame for having to spend time with me, take it up with your brothers or the king.”

  “You’re angry at me,” I say.

  “You left me all alone in that room up in the tower. I have no country, no home and no true ally. Your family is kind, but they are wary of me. Untrusting. I feel like the only reason they’re going along with this plan is because I am now a tool that can benefit Edenvale.”

  I blow out a long breath. “You are not a tool to them.”

  She turns to me now, eyes wide. “Oh no? Then why are we here? X says that your brothers and father all seem to think a public appearance with a photo opportunity is necessary as a means to announce our marriage to the public.”

  “Shit,” I hi
ss. “It’ll be a glorious announcement. I can see the headline now. Two Months After Being Beaten Within an Inch of His Life, the Banished Prince Royally Fucks Up Again. A picture of me all scarred and still bruised next to my knocked-up wife. The paper will fly off the newsstands!”

  Juliet gasps, and X slams on the brakes. I growl as pain slices up my side. Apparently, we’ve already reached our destination. I see the royal stables outside the windshield and connect Juliet’s dressed-down attire, the boots.

  “Is that what you see when you look at me? The source of your royal fuckup?” She’s staring at me now, her brown eyes dark and cold. “I knew that love was an illusion,” she says. “I was prepared to enter into a marriage with Wartson, but when I found out I was with child, I had no choice but flee. To you. A man who seems to care only for himself.”

  With that she throws open her door and hops out of the vehicle, storming toward the stables.

  “I wouldn’t let her get on one of those horses in that state,” X says, a hint of amusement in his tone. “If she’s careless or spooks one of the animals, she’s likely to get kicked or thrown. Then what would become of the child who could unite two kingdoms?”

  I rock my head and groan.

  But then I grin as an idea takes hold. I might not be able to ride fast on the open road, but I can sure as shit take off on a Thoroughbred. Right after I make sure my wife doesn’t do anything so foolish.

  Juliet

  “I assume you have rudimentary equestrian experience?” Damien drawls as we enter the stables.

  I have two choices: fight for some semblance of inner peace or find a shovel and knock it over my new husband’s smug head. “No.” My one-word lie rolls off my tongue.

  He scoffs. “Step aside, then. I’ll ready the horses.”

  I oblige, not because I am helpless, but because it affords me the opportunity to watch this man who is at once so familiar and yet a stranger.

  When he bends to pick up the saddle, his jeans hug his tight, muscular haunches and my breath catches.