Crowns & Courtships Compilation Volume 1

by Carol Moncado

  He was on the phone, jabbering away in Italian as he waved for her to have a seat. She perched on the edge of one of the armchairs and waited. A minute later, he hung up and turned.

  Tears filled her eyes at the thought of his impending disappointment in her.

  “Do I need to have a seat for this conversation?”

  All she could manage was a curt nod.

  He sat in the chair behind his desk and waited for her to speak, but his patience wouldn’t last forever.

  “I met someone,” she finally blurted out.

  Her father just rocked a bit in his chair and stared at her.

  She wished for anything but the disappointed stare that was only going to deepen.

  She had to just say it. “I’m pregnant.” She forced the words past the lump in her throat, the whisper ripping from her.

  His face remained impassive, though his rocking faltered for just a second. He was a king. Presenting the face he wanted to the world was part of his nature.

  After nearly two minutes of disappointed silence, he spoke. “Who is he?”

  Tears streaked down her face, and Esther swiped at them with the back of her hand. “He went by Dare.”

  His head shot up at that. “Not Jordan’s friend?”

  She shook her head. “No. He would never cheat on Betsy, you know that.”

  “I know a lot of things, some of which I didn’t know as well as I thought.”

  The now well-worn card went on his desk. “I found that after he left. I looked him up. The picture matched.”

  Her father picked it up and stared at the words on the card stock. “You didn’t recognize him beforehand?”

  She shook her head. “I hadn’t seen him since we were children. Probably before his father died.”

  “Did he know who you were?” He held out a box of Kleenex to her.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, taking one. “I don’t think he did. I told him my name was Star.”

  “So you want me to march in there and inform them that he’s the father of your child when he doesn’t even know he slept with a princess, much less the daughter of his father’s best friend?”

  “I didn’t ask you to do anything.” She wanted him to, needed him to, but she hadn’t actually asked him to do it.

  He let out a deep sigh and stood, walking around the desk until he stood in front of her. “Oh, Esther. My little star. Come here.” He held open his arms and she stood, collapsing against her father and his strength.

  Deep, gut wrenching sobs, tore from her as he held her in his arms until they slowed.

  “How far along are you?”

  She managed a shrug. “I haven’t seen a doctor.”

  “Then when did you meet him?”

  “Earlier last month when I went to that resort in Islas del Sargasso.” Jacqueline Grace was supposed to go with her but had taken sick and decided to stay home. Given the security already inherent at the private resort, she’d only taken minimal security of her own and was left basically to her own devices - especially when she essentially didn’t leave her hut for several days in a row. Either her small security team didn’t know Dare stayed with her those days or chose to keep their mouths shut since she wasn’t in any danger.

  “Six weeks ago?”

  “Something like that.”

  He moved away from her, and her father disappeared to be replaced by his king persona. “I have to go see them in ninety minutes or so anyway. Get cleaned up. You’re coming with me, and we’ll deal with this together.”

  Esther nodded. She had no real choice and no stylist to help her. She’d have to do her best and pray she didn’t look like an absolute mess when she came face-to-face with Dare again.

  No.

  Not Dare.

  Prince Darius Stephen Anthony Marcus Quatremaine.

  Younger brother of King Benjamin and first in line for the throne of Eyjania.

  Darius didn’t know why he’d been asked to attend this meeting with his brother and uncle. He didn’t even know who else would be there. As long as he could, he’d stay in the background. None of it concerned him.

  He arrived in Isaiah’s office to find only his uncle present. “Where’s Benjamin?”

  His uncle didn’t look up from his paperwork. “He won’t be joining us.”

  “Who is us?”

  “Edward.”

  Who was Edward? Darius didn’t ask, not when Isaiah was in this kind of mood.

  The intercom buzzed. Isaiah reached out and pressed the button so a tone would sound in the other room. A minute later, another door opened, and a man walked in.

  Oh. That Edward.

  King Edward of San Majoria.

  Isaiah didn’t look up from his desk but waved toward the seats across from him. “What do you want?”

  King Edward’s face didn’t show any emotion. “This meeting will not happen without King Benjamin present.”

  “He sends his regrets. I am authorized to handle anything you have to discuss on Benjamin’s behalf.” Isaiah still didn’t look at the other king.

  King Edward spun on his heel. “We’ll see what he has to say about that.” He exited into the reception area, leaving Isaiah’s office door wide open. Did he know Benjamin’s office wasn’t the one next door?

  He must, because he walked through the outer office and started for the stairs. One of the security guards - a bald one whose suit said he was more senior than most - let him pass but followed in his wake as King Edward turned and went up the stairs leading to the monarch’s suite of offices.

  “Benjamin!” His yell could be heard in Isaiah’s outer office.

  With a string of muttered curses, Isaiah finally pushed back from his desk. Darius stayed a step behind his uncle as he strode purposely toward Benjamin’s office.

  “He’s not here. He has another engagement,” Isaiah told King Edward as he entered Benjamin’s office, the one King Edward had entered without being invited.

  King Edward sat down, unbuttoning his suit coat as he did. “I’ll wait. But I won’t wait long. Benjamin will be here, as will both of you, in the next fifteen minutes. Otherwise, I will go to the press, here and in San Majoria, and make certain they know exactly how this family has treated mine for the last six months or longer. Contracts changed. Appointments inexplicably canceled or delayed with no notice, for both myself and Kensington as my representative, and several other things I’m certain you’re aware of.”

  King Edward turned his gaze to Darius. “I’m certain they’d also be quite interested in the actions of one of the late king’s other children in Islas del Sargasso a few weeks ago as well.”

  Only years of making certain Isaiah didn’t know what he was thinking kept Darius from reacting. How did King Edward know about that?

  “None of the children were in Sargasso recently.”

  Darius breathed an internal sigh of relief. At least his security team hadn’t broken his confidence. Everyone else likely still believed he’d spent a week in Ravenzario. No one needed to know about what happened in Sargasso.

  “What’s all this?” Benjamin walked in with file folders in one hand. He held them out to Isaiah. “This is the information you wanted, though I don’t understand why it was so urgent.”

  Darius did.

  “So you wouldn’t be at our meeting,” King Edward told him, still seated. He understood more than Darius would have guessed.

  “What meeting?”

  King Edward snorted. “You and I had a meeting scheduled for nearly an hour ago. I was kept waiting in Isaiah’s reception room for over forty-five minutes. You weren’t present, though Darius was, at my request.”

  Benjamin set the folders on his desk when Isaiah didn’t take them. “What is this about? The meeting wasn’t in my schedule.”

  Shocking. Isaiah trying to run everything without keeping Benjamin informed.

  “Kensington married Anabelle.” King Edward seemed to watch Benjamin closely for a reaction.

&nbs
p; Benjamin sat in his desk chair. “Give your son my congratulations.”

  Darius knew who Kensington was, but not Anabelle or why it was relevant.

  Benjamin reached for his phone, picking up the handset. “I’m not sure why you felt I needed that information, but I have work to do.”

  “Put the phone down.” King Edward’s voice carried the authority of a king, much like Darius’s own father’s had done. “I’m not done with this conversation.”

  “Yes, you are.” Isaiah grabbed King Edward’s forearm. “Get out.”

  King Edward didn’t move. “You forget your place, Isaiah. I am king of San Majoria. You are eighteenth in line for the throne of Eyjania and were never Benjamin’s regent. Get your hand off me.”

  “Kensington interfered with the king’s betrothal.” Isaiah glared down at Edward. “Amends must be made.”

  “Why?”

  Benjamin wasn’t really paying attention.

  “Because amends must be made. Astrid will marry Benjamin.”

  King Edward actually laughed. “Astrid is happily married. Besides, she couldn’t marry Benjamin even if she wasn’t. As my heir apparent, if she were to marry another heir apparent or a monarch in this case, she would be exiled from San Majoria. Eyjanian law wouldn’t allow it, anyway.”

  “Eyjanian law will allow for us to deny entry to San Majorians and prevent exit by Eyjanians bound for San Majoria, even those headed to the Games of the Sargasso Sea.”

  “You wouldn’t.” Undertones of King Edward’s words told Darius he wasn’t someone to be messed with, but Darius doubted Isaiah would heed the warning.

  “I would. Right, Benjamin?”

  Darius had been watching his older brother who hadn’t been paying any attention whatsoever. “Sure. If you say so.”

  “Benjamin,” King Edward snapped.

  Benjamin finally looked up.

  “You would do well to pay attention to what is going on around you, otherwise you will find yourself out of a throne.”

  “What makes you think that will happen?”

  “Your uncle will either find a way to take it from you or the confidence of the people in your ability to lead will continue to fall, and you’ll find your homeland with no throne at all.”

  “Are you accusing me of treason?” Isaiah’s yell sent fear through Darius. Making him mad was on the bottom of everyone’s to do list or should be. King Edward didn’t seem scared at all.

  “Benjamin, keep what I said in mind and pay much better attention to what is going on around you and being done on your behalf. I have a proposition that may satisfy your uncle’s need for someone in my family to marry into yours.”

  “I’m not going to marry one of your daughters.” Benjamin’s words seemed decisive, but his tone was anything but.

  “I didn’t say you were. As monarch, you can issue a special license for members of your immediate family. The ceremony, secret and private, can be conducted by yourself or another monarch in the case of a member of your family marrying a royal from another country.”

  Benjamin shrugged. “If you say so.”

  “There will be a wedding today. After the wedding, they will move to the States where my child will attend University. Your sibling can choose to attend as well or can get a job but will not be a freeloader in a home I own. When my child finishes University, they will move to San Majoria, unless I give my consent for them to return here or live somewhere else.”

  The knot in the pit of Darius’s stomach grew. If Kensington had just married someone, that meant Genevieve and Evangeline weren’t the siblings King Edward had in mind.

  That meant King Edward was talking about him. Josiah was too young, though he was almost ready for University.

  King Edward turned to look straight into Darius’s soul. “Darius is going to marry Esther. Today. Or else.”

  Esther? Why would Darius marry Esther? That made as much sense as the rest of this.

  “Or else what?” Isaiah seemed unimpressed with the threat.

  “Or else I go to the press, tell them everything I mentioned earlier, and go one step further. Tell them Darius impregnated my daughter and refuses to have anything to do with her or the child.”

  “You wouldn’t.” Isaiah was clearly livid.

  “Maybe not, but I would put the Treaty of 1702 into effect. Esther would become your queen.”

  Isaiah’s anger turned quickly to fear, though Benjamin looked as confused as Darius. “You wouldn’t.” Isaiah whispered the words this time.

  But the other king’s words were finally starting to sink into Darius’s mind. Comprehension began to dawn.

  The look on King Edward’s face struck as much fear into Darius as Isaiah ever had. “Try me.”

  Esther had always followed instructions. Except for those few days in the hut with Dare, she’d been the good girl she was supposed to be; the princess her parents and the people expected her to be.

  So she sat in her father’s limousine and waited for word that she was wanted inside or for his return that would likely send her home as a single mother.

  The door opened. Esther looked up to see no one standing there, a certain sign she was expected inside. Her father would have already been inside the car if they were leaving.

  She climbed out and looked around. A bald man walked out of the palace. The wire leading from under his collar to his ear identified him as a member of security.

  “This way, Your Royal Highness.”

  Her heels clicked over stone floors likely older than her country. Priceless paintings, suits of armor, and tapestries depicting scenes from Eyjania’s past lined the halls.

  A staircase rose in front of her, extending higher than the ones Rocky faced in the 80s. An ex-boyfriend made her watch those movies, claiming they were classics.

  She didn’t understand their appeal.

  One foot in front of the other, she started the climb. At the top, a massive reception area greeted her. An aide opened a door that had to weigh more than the limo she just exited.

  Inside, her father stood next to Benjamin. The man with his back to her had to be Dare. He didn’t turn around. No one else was around to witness this thing.

  Her father cleared his throat. “Darius, I believe you know my daughter, Princess Esther of San Majoria.”

  Darius glanced over, but his face showed no emotion. “We’ve met.”

  She knew what was coming. Her father had told her in the car what the possibilities were, and, in many ways, this was the least objectionable.

  “When are we doing this?” Darius’s voice held no emotion. She wasn’t sure if that was preferable to the anger she’d expected.

  “Now,” her father answered. “Benjamin has given you a special license. It’s all very legal but won’t be filed publicly until later.”

  “When later?” Darius didn’t look at her again.

  “There is no time frame,” Benjamin answered. “I will file it officially when you tell me to and can change the date. However, it is a legally binding marriage and would take a divorce to end it.”

  “You both understand the gravity of the situation?” Her father stood with his hands behind his back. “Your choices, made in Islas del Sargasso, led to this point.”

  “I understand.” Darius’s voice wasn’t quite what she remembered. No tenderness or affection or amusement. Not even resignation.

  “Esther?”

  “I understand,” she whispered.

  Her father held his tablet. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to witness the marriage of Princess Esther of San Majoria and Prince Darius of Eyjania. If there are any objections, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

  No one spoke, but only the four of them stood in the room. Not the Queen Mother or any of the siblings. Not even her brother who was in the country.

  Her father read the vows. She and Darius both repeated them. There were no rings. Just till death do you part.

  When they reached the “you ma
y kiss your bride” part, her father skipped it. “You’re legally married.”

  Benjamin cleared his throat. “In Eyjania, with a special license such as this, there must be two things.”

  “What are those?” her father asked.

  “A kiss at the wedding and confirmation of consummation.” Benjamin managed to stare somewhere over Esther’s head.

  Her father acquiesced. “Darius, you may kiss your bride.”

  They’d been holding hands since partway through the ceremony. Esther turned, closed her eyes and waited. A second later, she felt his warm breath and a light brush of his lips against hers.

  Then he was gone.

  His hand even slipped from hers.

  “As for the other, Esther is pregnant, isn’t she?” Her father looked annoyed. “That confirms that consummation has taken place.”

  “That’s not enough, and you know it,” Benjamin told her father.

  Darius took a step away from her. “How do we even know she’s really pregnant, Benjamin? I haven’t seen test results or an ultrasound. And if she is, how do we know I’m the father?”

  “Did you sleep with her?” Benjamin asked.

  “That’s not the point,” Esther’s new husband argued back. “How do we even know we can trust what they’re saying? Maybe Edward has just been looking for an opportunity to put that Treaty of 1587 in place and take over our homeland.”

  “1702,” her father corrected.

  “Whatever.”

  Esther couldn’t take it anymore. “Does anyone care what I have to say?” She turned to Darius. “I’m pregnant. With your baby. Marrying you is pretty much the last thing I wanted, but it seemed like the best option until a few minutes ago.” She jabbed a finger in his chest. “I want out of here. Now. I leave in the morning for the States where I’m going to University. Are you going to uphold your end of the bargain?”

  Darius grabbed her upper arm and practically dragged her to a wall where he pressed against it until a door opened. With no choice but to stay close, she followed him through the tunnels and up stairs until he opened another door.

  She blinked as they stepped into a brighter room.