The Royal Beauty

by V Vee

  He ignored the murmurings and his brother Andreas who followed him silently and strode towards his father’s office.

  Congratulations Algerone and Valerie.

  Chapter Fifteen

  He stood just outside the doors of the cathedral a grin on his face that he quickly wiped away when Helen came bursting out the doors.

  “Miss Warner?” he called out to her in his disguised, husky voice. “Can I help you?”

  Helen turned to look at him, blinking, tears streamed down her brown cheeks. He internally reviewed himself and wondered why he didn’t feel anything at the sight of her devastation. He should. Especially in light of everything. But he didn’t. He watched her cry softly with devastation as he stepped close to her and took her elbow.

  “Come, Miss,” he instructed. “Let’s get you back to the palace, hmm?”

  Helen nodded then stopped, shaking her head. “I need to get to the airport.”

  Perfect. Just as I intended.

  He would have her, and all her things and no one would see her again. He would make sure of it.

  “Of course, Miss. We will stop at the palace to collect your things, and then—”

  “Helen! Wait for me!” Laeticia, the loud one called out.

  He could try to take them both, he was fairly certain he would be successful, but he would have to kill the loud one first before he proceeded with Helen. He had plans for the missing Tepprysi princess.

  “Both of you wait up. We’re coming with you!”

  He looked up and saw most of the bridal party standing on the steps of the cathedral, looks of anger, compassion, and resolution on their faces. He wanted to rage at them, but he maintained his kind-like expression. He’d never been privy to such… sisterhood. Neither Taylor nor Persephone, or any of the other women they were always around, behaved like these women. They were various ethnicities, a couple of Latinas, a couple Asians, a few white women, but most of them were black, various shades of brown, a couple darker: ebony or opal, each of them unique. Beautiful, perhaps. No doubt their partners thought so.

  He only saw distractions and nuisances.

  He would have to delay killing Helen and getting rid of Laeticia. That was fine. He always had multiple backup plans.

  He looked over at one of the wedding guests and smiled at her, she offered him a small grin and he nodded towards Laeticia. She inclined her head and he returned his attention to helping each woman into the limo.

  And trying not to slice each of their throats as he did so.

  Chapter Sixteen

  One Week Later

  Augustus stomped in and flopped down on Alastair’s couch. He could hear the cough as Alastair tried to stifle his laughter.

  “Problem?” Alastair asked after a moment.

  “Helen has disappeared,” Augustus mumbled.

  Alastair shook his head. “I highly doubt that,” he remarked.

  Augustus glared at his younger brother, but it seemed to have no effect whatsoever on Alastair who merely grinned at him where he lay on the plush sofa—not really pouting—contemplatively.

  “I think I know if someone is merely hiding or if they’ve fallen off the map, Las,” Augustus stated, using Alastair’s childhood nickname. The one he knew Alastair hated.

  “I am in no way doubting, nor questioning your numerous skills, bruthrar, I am simply pointing out the fact that her disappearing is not the most likely situation. She would not do that to Val, who is her best friend. Nor would she do that to her godchildren, our nieces and nephews. Especially not now that there are two newborns,” Alastair pointed out. “She is probably just hiding from you. Since you are the one who not only broke her heart but made her look like a fool in front of what essentially amounts to the entire world.”

  Augustus sat up quickly and slammed his fists down on the cushions on either side of him.

  “I would never hurt Helen!” he growled.

  Alastair’s calm in the face of his Augustus’s anger only served to enflame it even more. It was Alastair’s normal state. He should be used to it by now. A sense of calmness, a mask of apathy where others displayed emotion were Alastair’s signature traits. It, of course, served him well in his position as their kothrar’s assistant.

  As well as serving as the advice-man when dealing with his other hotheaded brothers. Augustus especially.

  He pointed at Augustus. “But you did. You hurt and embarrassed her, now you have to make it right. However, the only way for you to do that is to first, give her space to lick her wounds, and in that time, you can work out an agreement with,” Alastair frowned. “Lady Taylor, that ensures you will be there for your child, my niece or nephew, without tying yourself even more to the woman. Leaving you free to pursue Helen. With openness, honesty, and a clear conscious, so you can devote yourself entirely to wooing her.” With his instructions dispensed, Alastair turned away to focus back on the screen he’d been so intently focused on when Augustus had stomped in.

  “And am I supposed to thank you for your advice?” Augustus asked.

  Alastair turned and looked at him. “No woman is hiding from me after running in the opposite direction at a wedding.” He smirked. “That’s your gift.”

  Augustus huffed, muttered a thank you, then left Alastair’s office. Stomping, just as he’d done on the way in. He knew Alastair was telling the truth. Hell, he’d known that before he’d even come into the man’s office, but… he just needed to vent. He needed to do something. Anything.

  Helen was ignoring him. While he knew she hadn’t “disappeared,” it was impossible for her to do so without help, she was certainly making it hard for him to find her. Which meant it was difficult for him to apologize to her. To make things right.

  To throw himself at her feet and plead for her to take him back. To forgive him.

  To still love him.

  That wasn’t the worse thing, of course. There was Taylor.

  Taylor who thought that since he’d made a mistake with her, because they’d had one, crazy, drunken mistake of a night together—one he still couldn’t remember—that it meant that he was supposed to propose to her. That since she carried his child inside her—something else he wasn’t sure was true—that meant she was supposed to be his princess. Next in line after Algerone, Valerie, and all of their children, for the throne.

  Augustus shook his head. It would never happen. He would never marry Taylor or even have a relationship with her. When she gave birth, they would do a paternity test—since she refused to do it before that, claiming fear of something happening to the baby—and he would be able to show Helen that the baby wasn’t his. Then he could walk away from Taylor for good, and that whole night, and marry Helen.

  The only problem was…

  He had to find her first.

  Three Months Later

  So much had happened and he knew he was taking a very big, presumptuous step being there, but now that Valerie had given him Helen’s new address, he knew there was nothing that would keep him away from her. Three months. Three months he’d been searching for. Mired in depression, grief, rage… Through the attempt on his brother, Alastair’s life, the new nanny, Leyah, whom Alastair seemed obsessed with, she was always there. Helen, haunting his dreams, his thoughts. He couldn’t get the smell of her out of his sheets, out of his room.

  Out of his head.

  She belonged to him. With him. And he’d come halfway around the world. To Seattle of all places, to claim what was his.

  Augustus knocked on Helen’s front door, impatiently waiting for her to open it to him. He knew she was home, he could hear the sound of her television and her laughter—a sound he’d been missing for longer than he could believe—resonating from within. When the locks disengaged, and the door finally swung wide open, Augustus blinked his eyes at the sight before him.

  Another man stood in Helen’s home. Tall, a few inches taller than him in fact, broad shoulders, the fabric of his t-shirt plastered to his torso, and a pair of jeans
slung low on his hips. His feet were bare, and his blond hair fell in artful waves to his shoulders. The amusement that caused his green eyes to shine dimmed as the stranger took in the appearance of Augustus, uninvited, dressed in high-end, luxury suit, holding two dozen pink roses, and a jewelry box, which held a diamond necklace.

  Augustus couldn’t stop the growl from erupting from his throat and he clenched his fist around the flowers he held in his left hand, crushing the stems.

  “Who. The. Fuck. Are. You?” he asked angrily.

  “Who are you?” the other man questioned, just as annoyed as Augustus seemed to be.

  “Garrett? Who’s at the door?” Helen’s melodic voice came from inside the house and Augustus’s gaze flickered to the empty hallway.

  He smirked. “Garrett, huh?” he looked the other man up and down again, before letting this… intruder see the disgust on his face. “What are you doing here in Helen’s house?”

  Garrett folded his arms across his chest and gave Augustus a bored look. “Well, seeing as how it is my home as well, I think I should be asking you what you’re doing here, don’t you think? You’re the unnamed person asking questions.”

  A red haze covered Augustus’s gaze as Garrett’s words sank into his brain. The meaning of them abundantly clear. This man was living with Helen. His Helen. Sleeping with her. Kissing her. Wrapping his arms around her. Fucking her.

  Before he could stop himself, Augustus dropped the roses and the jewelry box, pulled back his fist, and let it fly into the other man’s face. They both went crashing to the floor, Augustus landing perfectly aimed blows on the other man’s chin, nose, eyes, cheeks. He made a grave error, however, thinking he had the upper hand. Augustus relaxed for a moment, and it was this reason that he gasped and released a grunt when a well-placed punch landed in his side, toppling him over.

  Blows and punches rained down on him, though Augustus gave as good as he received. He raised his knee and attacked Garrett’s sides, punching and wailing on him.

  “Augustus?! Garrett! Stop!” Helen’s yell of horror made Augustus pause momentarily as he went to look up at her. But Garrett, that fucker, didn’t cease at the appearance or the sound of Helen’s admonishment, instead he landed one more punch directly to Augustus’s face, a punch that sent him into blissful darkness, Helen’s face the last thing he saw.

  “What the hell is he doing here, Len?” Garrett hissed at her, as she placed the bag of frozen peas to his eye.

  “How the heck should I know, Gare?” She shook her head and looked over at Augustus who was sprawled out on their couch. Unmoving but breathing. Still as gorgeous as the last time she’d seen him.

  The day you found out he got another woman pregnant.

  “He wouldn’t just show up here unless you sent for him,” Garrett grunted.

  Helen rolled her eyes. “You don’t know Augustus like I do. He totally would do that.” She sighed and sat down at the table next to Garrett, dropping her head into her hands. “I thought I was done with him.”

  “Well apparently not,” Garrett said softly. He shook his head. “Damn, Len, when you rebound you do it well, don’t you?” he teased her.

  Helen chuckled and punched his shoulder. “Whatever, jerk.” She blew out a frustrated breath, then another one of remorse and helplessness. “He wasn’t a rebound. I thought he was… it, you know?”

  “Yeah, yeah. I know,” Garrett muttered.

  The sound of the front door opening and closing made them both turn their heads. In walked one of Helen’s new favorite people. Her biological sister, Jenna’s best friend, Delta. Like Jenna, Delta was thin, almost too thin, with curves at all the right places. Jenna, whom Helen had met in person thanks to Augustus’s brother, Andreas, had skin that was almost obsidian, just like one of her brothers, Legus, whom she’d also met, Emerald, aka “Emmie,” her second oldest sister, along with their eldest sister, Nefertiri, or “Tiri”, whom she’d been able to see only briefly, who was in hiding right in Tepprysi with her daughter. Tiri had shared Helen’s birth name with her, Kafele, and it had so resonated with her, that Helen had gone with Jenna and Emmie to have it tattooed on her skin. Delta’s skin tone was tawny in color. Just like Jenna, she was a professional dancer. That was actually how Delta and Jenna met, both of them were dancers, and had roomed together at Julliard School of the Arts. Though Delta was a ballerina and Jenna danced contemporary. Delta had even been there when Jenna had discovered she was actually a Tepprysian princess sent first to England, then to New York, to keep her safe.

  Helen had been stunned to find out that her older sister was so close to her for all these years. She’d been even more surprised by the sight of the burly, bearded man, wearing a flannel shirt and jeans, who looked as if he ate people for lunch, who’d been standing next to Jenna, holding a tiny Yorkshire Terrier in his arms. When she’d discovered that his name was Bradford, and he was Jenna’s husband, Helen had been even more surprised.

  But not as surprised as she was when she met Emmie’s husband. He was Pakistani, the heir to a multibillion dollar fortune, and completely smitten with his “African princess.”

  Helen had been surrounded by love over the last few months. It was literally every where she turned. And while each time she met a new happily-in-love couple she both wanted to gag, and wanted to gouge out her own heart, she couldn’t help but hope that maybe… just maybe.

  She shook her head and banished that particular thought from her mind before it even had a chance to take root. No matter what Valerie told her whenever she called to check in on her two newborn goddaughters, Helen did not care that Augustus had spent the last few months pining after her.

  She didn’t.

  Really.

  “So, who’s the hot lump on our couch with all the bruises?” Delta asked as she stepped into the kitchen, wearing a pair of grey sweatpants over her black leotard. Her curly, black, natural hair was pulled up to the top of her head and she still had a slight sheen of sweat on her skin, no doubt from the hours she’d spent rehearsing for her next ballet performance.

  She smiled at Helen before she turned her eyes to Garrett. Helen watched as her eyes widened and she cringed at the gasp that escaped Delta’s lips as she rushed over to her fiance.

  “Babe! What happened? Did Helen hit you? Did you get in a fight?” Delta asked, exclaiming over Garrett’s black eye.

  Helen rolled her eyes. “Why would I hit him?” she asked exasperatedly.

  Delta turned to look at her and shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe you remembered about your relationship and the two of us, and…”

  Helen was already shaking her head no before Delta was halfway through the sentence. “Nope. I am so glad you two found each other. Garrett and I weren’t right for each other. I’m happy for the two of you. And so grateful that you’re allowing me to stay here until Jenna returns from her babymoon,” she laughed, then quickly sobered.

  “That’s Augustus,” she informed Jenna with a nod to the living room where the man was currently passed out.

  Delta gasped. “That’s the Malvidencian prince?”

  Helen nodded as Delta turned her narrowed eyes at Garrett. “And why does it look as if the two of you went a few rounds with each other?” When Garrett didn’t respond, simply looked down sheepishly, she bouned off his lap and tossed her hands in the air. “Garrett! You’re a doctor! You should know better! Were you jealous or something?”

  Garrett rose quickly and grabbed Delta, jerking her into his arms. Helen watched as he kissed Delta passionately, and she turned her head towards Augustus, whose eyes were open in thin slits.

  “You are the only woman I want, Delta. You know that. I fought him because, first, he attacked me. Secondly, he hurt Helen. Our friend. And yes, she’s my ex, but he took her innocence, lied to her, and broke her heart. I feel guilty for having done two of those things to her, and I promised her when we invited her to stay with all of us here, that I would do whatever I could to make sure she didn’t experie
nce that type of pain again. That’s all this was. Me keeping a promise to a friend.”

  Helen looked back over at the couple and nodded at Delta. “Believe him, Delt. It’s the truth. Besides, there’s no way I would come between the two of you. And no way Garrett would let the best thing that ever happened to him, go.” She cut her gaze over to Augustus who was sitting up on the couch at that point and made sure he heard her words.

  “He’s not that stupid.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Augustus acknowledged Helen’s words with a nod. She was right. Only a stupid man would ruin the best thing that ever happened to him. Which made him the king of all idiots. He’d destroyed something so precious between them. Not on purpose. Then again, didn't most cheaters say it was an accident?

  Another check for the idiot box, Alex.

  Even after all this time, Augustus still couldn't remember actually sleeping with Taylor. He barely remembered that night at all. Which led him to the realization that he had a drinking problem. He had to be an alcoholic if he got so blindingly drunk that he not only lost an entire day but had unprotected sex with someone as well. He’d been in rehab over the last few months as well, working on other coping mechanisms and trying to get to the root cause of his drinking.

  It hadn't been easy. Especially when every day that he’d gone without talking to or seeing Helen had done nothing but make him want to drink more. Not to mention his father moving Taylor into the palace until the baby was born. Augustus had been shocked, alarmed, then devastated by his father’s actions, thinking King Callum was going to try and force him to marry Lady Taylor, but the man had another idea about things.

  “I want to catch the little slut in the act. I want to watch her closely and I can't do that if she's not here. We can't do that.” His father shook his head then turned to glare at Lady Taylor who was speaking disrespectfully to her staff who were bringing in her clothes and trunks of shoes. “I don't trust her or her father. They're up to something. I know they are. I just don't know what.”