A Royal Elopement

by Emma Lea

  I stepped through the door and froze. Meredith had her back to me and I watched as she threw punches at the bag. The muscles in her back shifted with each punch and I couldn’t help but admire the strength of her body. I loved that she was more concerned about her body strength than how she looked in a dress - not that she didn’t look good in a dress. Some of the women I had dated would never work out with such intensity for fear of developing too many muscles, but I found Meredith’s muscles attractive.

  I cleared my throat and took a step forward, but she didn’t turn around. As I got closer I noticed the white earbuds in her ears. With a grin, I tapped her on the shoulder and then ducked as she swung around, throwing a punch in my direction. She saw me and her eyes widened before she pulled the earbuds out of her ears and glared at me.

  “You should know better than to sneak up on me,” Meredith said with a growl.

  “I’m sorry,” I replied, “I did try to make my presence known, but you seemed too engrossed in whatever it was you were listening to.”

  I could hear the music blasting from the earbuds still as they hung around her neck. The music was loud.

  “Alter Bridge,” she said and then turned it off.

  “Pardon?”

  “Alter Bridge,” she said again. “The band I was listening to.”

  I nodded.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, walking past me and over to the bench where her gear bag was.

  “Couldn’t sleep. Thought I could do with a workout.”

  She grunted a response before taking a long swallow from her water bottle. I watched as her throat moved and had to swallow myself. I looked away. I couldn’t let my body derail me. It was the first time she was actually being civil to me, I needed to take advantage of it and finally get her to listen to me.

  “Feel like sparring?” I asked.

  She lowered the water bottle and looked at me without speaking for so long I thought she was just going to ignore me.

  “Okay,” she finally said.

  I took a deep breath as we walked over to the centre of the mat. I hadn’t actually sparred since coming back to Kalopsia. I swung my arms around a few times and rolled my shoulders to warm them up. We faced each other and bowed before beginning to slowly circle one another.

  “What do you think of the island?” I asked her.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said and then lunged for me.

  I always forgot how quickly she could move. There was something so graceful about watching Meredith when she fought. Her body flowed from one move to another with a fluidity that was mesmerising. I had forgotten. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the time we spent in the gym.

  She became more aggressive as my body warmed up and I couldn’t help but smirk. She had been going easy on me but it appeared that now the gloves were coming off. My brain might have forgotten what it was like to spar with Meredith, but my body did not. I relaxed into the muscle memory of what we had done a hundred times before. I was breathing too hard to talk but that was okay. I needed this - we needed this. Something familiar. Something to remind us of a simpler time when it was just the two of us and the budding relationship we had been cultivating.

  I read her moves and knew I would get to make mine soon. I waited for the right moment and then took her to the mat. I wrapped my leg around her and locked my foot behind my knee, trapping her in the body triangle. She wriggled and tried to worm her way out, but we both knew she couldn’t break this hold. She went limp against me, her chest bellowing as she dragged in oxygen. I didn’t loosen my hold.

  “Now,” I said into her ear, “we talk.”

  Meredith

  My heart pounded in my chest and it wasn’t solely because of the workout I had just had. Jamie’s arms were tight around me and his legs kept me immobilised. I knew he wouldn’t let me go until he said what he wanted to say. I just hoped that he was willing to listen to me when he was done.

  “Agapoúla mou,” he said softly in my ear and I relaxed back against him.

  My love. The endearment rolled over me and I closed my eyes. I hadn’t known what the words meant all those times that he had said it to me in the past. After seeing him in the garden the day before, and hearing the words again, I had asked Tonia what they meant. Hearing the words from his mouth again brought tears to my eyes, but I forced them back.

  “I have been trying to talk to you for weeks, agapiméni gynaíka mou. I know you are angry about my deception but I didn’t have a choice. And it doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut and breathed him in. He surrounded me on all sides - his body was wrapped around mine, his words were in my ears, his scent in my nose. I had longed to be this close to him for weeks and it was my own stubbornness and insecurities that had kept us apart. He thought I was still angry, and I was; I was just angry at myself now, not him.

  “And—” I stopped to clear my throat. “And how do you feel about me?” My voice was small and unsure.

  His arms tightened around me, bringing me impossibly closer to him. “Meredith,” he said, his voice was rough with emotion. “I love you. I have loved you for a long time but was too much of a coward to admit it. I knew how complicated my life was about to become and I didn’t want to drag you into it.”

  “What changed?” I whispered.

  “I realised I couldn’t live without you,” he said.

  I wished I could see his eyes. This was a conversation we needed to have face to face. I understood his reasoning for getting me in this hold, I hadn’t exactly made things easy on him, but it was time we both behaved like adults and spoke from the heart.

  I rolled us to the side and shifted my leg back, breaking the lock of his legs around me before twisting away from him and rolling to my feet. He looked up at me, stunned. I grinned down at him as I stood over him.

  “Your head of security showed me a few tricks yesterday,” I said.

  He smiled as he stood. Then his face turned serious again. “You’re not going to run from me again, are you?”

  I shook my head and stepped close to him, resting my forehead on his chest. His arms came around me loosely, resting on my waist, and we stood like that for a few heartbeats before I turned my face up to his.

  “I need to apologise to you,” I said. He began to protest but I lifted my finger to press against his lips. He stopped speaking and waited for me to go on. I took a deep breath. Admitting I was wrong was never an easy thing to do. “I overreacted,” I said in a rush. “I got scared and pushed you away because I knew I wouldn’t survive if you told me you didn’t want me.”

  “You know that makes no sense, right?” he asked with a small grin.

  “I know,” I said, “but sometimes I’m a little irrational.”

  He chuckled and drew me closer. “And prickly, and infuriating at times but also sweet and kind and beautiful. I love you Meredith. I loved you when we went to the chapel and spoke our vows and I loved you when you told me you wanted an annulment, and I love you now. I know I will love you for the rest of my life and I want you with me for that long. I know it’s a lot to ask, I know you would be giving up a lot to take on me and this broken down country that I have inherited, but I have to know if you would ever consider staying my wife and being my queen?”

  I realised then that I had never told him that I loved him. He had spoken the words to me several times and yet I couldn’t remember returning the sentiment. I reached up to cup his face in my hands and looked into his eyes, eyes that were dark and stormy and full of hope that warred with doubt. I had put that doubt there and it made me ashamed of my cowardice.

  “I love you, Jamie,” I said and then pushed up onto my toes and fit my lips over his. He was frozen for a moment and then his lips responded and he tightened his hold on me. My arms went around his neck and my fingers burrowed into his hair. I couldn’t comprehend just how good it felt to be in his arms again. My heart soared and the tension that had been my constant compa
nion over the last months, melted away.

  “Is that a yes?” he asked when we came up for air.

  I smiled, “It’s a yes. S’agapo. Se latrevo.” I stumbled over the unfamiliar words but the way his face lit up when I spoke them made it all worth it.

  He kissed me again and I melted into him. I knew we would still have obstacles to overcome but I knew that, as clichéd as it sounded, we would face them together.

  He broke the kiss and looked down at me, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

  “You do know what this means?” he asked. “You do realise you will have to move here and give up your place as a royal guard and as a member of Alyssa’s ladies in waiting? You will need to move away from your family and friends and face the wilds of Kalopsia.”

  “Kalopsia is hardly ‘the wilds,’” I said with a chuckle. “And yes I realise what being your wife means. I am prepared to do it all - anything and everything it takes to have you in my life.” He picked me up and spun me around before kissing me soundly. “There is one thing you will need to do for me though,” I said when he put me down.

  His brow furrowed adorably as he looked down at me. “Anything. Name it.”

  “You need to tell my mother.”

  Jamie

  I felt like I was twelve and being called into my father’s office for a reprimand, not a king in his own right. I had been back to my rooms and showered. It had been hard to leave Meredith when I had finally gotten her to admit her feelings for me, but there was something I needed to do before we could announce our relationship to the world. I took a breath and gave my hands a quick wipe on my trousers before knocking on the door.

  “Enter.”

  I pushed the door open and stepped into the office. Lord Bingham sat behind a desk and when he looked up at me, he smiled.

  “Jamie,” he said and then chuckled. “Your Royal Highness,” he amended and stood before bending his head in a respectful bow.

  “Don’t,” I said, stepping forward. “Just call me Jamie.”

  “Okay,” he said and then walked around the desk and over to the arrangement of couches by the bookcases.

  We sat and he looked at me curiously. I swallowed and clasped my hands together, leaning forward.

  “I um, well, that is…”

  Lord Bingham chuckled again. “Whatever it is, Jamie, just tell me. Is it about you and Meredith?”

  My head shot up and my eyes connected with his. “You know?”

  He shrugged. “I’ve seen the way you look at her and the way she looks at you when no one is looking. I figured there might be something between you.”

  I exhaled roughly and sat back in the chair, raising my eyes to the ceiling. “There is,” I said. “Something between us, but it might not be what you think.”

  “Go on,” he said, his voice more serious now.

  I sat up straight and looked him in the eye. “I am in love with your daughter, sir,” I said, “and although it is a little late, I would like to ask your permission to marry her.”

  Lord Bingham studied me and I tried not to squirm. “Why is it a little late?” he asked, steel in his voice.

  “Because we’re already married,” I said and dropped my head. “When we were on Le Beau, before all this happened. We were both a little sad and a little reckless. We had been seeing each other in secret and I wanted more. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops that I had fallen in love with her so with a little bit of liquid courage, I proposed. She said yes. Father Felipe has a chapel there and he agreed to marry us.”

  I hadn’t looked away from Lord Bingham and I tried to read his expression, but the man was a vault.

  “Why has it taken this long to tell me?” he finally asked.

  “Because the next morning, Meredith asked for an annulment. When we went to the registry office, they told us we would have to wait thirty days. Then there was the attempted kidnapping in Barcelona and the whole exiled prince thing came out and frankly Meredith wanted nothing more to do with me. A couple of weeks ago she sent me annulment papers.”

  “I knew there was something going on with her,” he said quietly to himself. “Fool girl. Why didn’t she come to me?”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I understand if you don’t want to give us your blessing. Meredith wanted to be here but I insisted I needed to speak to you alone. I know I should have spoken to you before this, but it has taken me this long to convince Meredith not to dissolve our marriage. I know it is unconventional and that you may have misgivings about Meredith being here with me but I want you to know that I love her with all my heart and I will take care of her and keep her safe.”

  Lord Bingham snorted. “Don’t let her hear you say that.” He stood too and walked over to me. “Jamie,” he said, “I couldn’t be more thrilled that you and Meredith have found each other. I’m upset that you both felt as though you needed to hide it from me. I couldn’t ask for a better man to love my little girl.”

  Lord Bingham pulled me into a hug and my heart clenched. This man had always been kind to me and had stepped in when my own father couldn’t. Having his blessing was an honour and I was so incredibly glad to have it.

  “Now,” he said, stepping back and looking at me with a glint of mischief in his eyes. “We need to tell Meredith’s mother.”

  I groaned inwardly. Lady Bingham had always been a harder nut to crack. She hadn’t known who I really was when I came to live with her as a boy. All she knew was that I had been rescued from a dangerous situation. She hadn’t had a problem with me being in her home, but she had had a problem with me playing with her children. I knew she hadn’t approved of my relationship with Freddie and that couldn’t have been more obvious than when I was a groomsman at his wedding. Things had changed, obviously, but I still wasn’t sure that she would be all too pleased that Meredith and I had gotten married.

  Lord Bingham chuckled at my obvious discomfit. “It’s alright, I won’t feed you to the dragon. I’ll be right there by your side.”

  “How did she take the news when she found out who I really am?”

  Lord Bingham cleared his throat. “Yes, well, I’m still in the doghouse over that.”

  “Maybe we should wait—”

  “Ah, no. I think it’s best if we rip the bandage off and tell her now. Get it out of the way so she can concentrate on the fact that her daughter married a king.”

  “Right,” I said, straightening my jacket and pulling at my cuffs.

  Meredith

  I sat across the breakfast table from my mother and picked at my food. I knew Jamie had gone to speak to my father and my stomach was a mess of knots, making eating an impossibility. Alyssa breezed into the room, followed by Will, and she smiled at me. I hadn’t told her what had transpired between Jamie and me. I wanted to make sure my parents knew first. Freddie and Alex followed the royal couple into the room and my heart sank. Any hope of having a private conversation with my mother had just flown out the window.

  “What is with you this morning?” Mother asked.

  I looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

  She waved her hand at my plate of scrambled eggs. “The eggs have already been tortured enough, don’t you think? They don’t need any more from you.”

  I looked down at my plate and saw the mess I had made of my breakfast. I laid my fork down and covered my plate with a napkin. “I’m not hungry, I guess.”

  “Really Meredith,” she admonished. “Why fill your plate if you’re just going to play with it?”

  “Yes, Mother.” I looked down at my lap. I was too nervous about what was going on between Jamie and my father to get too upset with the way my mother spoke to me.

  The door opened again and there he was. My Jamie. He sought me out first and my heart gave a little skip when our eyes connected. He smiled and some of my anxiety left me. My father stood behind him and gave me a wink over Jamie’s shoulder which made me grin. One down, one to go.

  “Your Royal Highness,” Mother said, risin
g from her seat.

  “Oh please, no. You don’t have to do that,” Jamie said. He took a breath and sought my eyes again before speaking. “I was wondering if I could have a word with you Lady Bingham.”

  “Of course,” she said as she shot a look at Daddy, who smiled encouragingly. “Shall we—”

  Daddy shook his head. “I think here will be fine.”

  “But…” Mother looked around at the audience who looked on with rapt attention.

  Daddy smiled. “What Jamie has to say can be said in front of everyone.” He turned to the others. “Take your seats.”

  I stood and walked over to Jamie. He took my hand and looked down at me with adoration in his eyes. How could I ever have believed I could live without him?

  When everyone had taken their seats, Jamie cleared his throat. “I—”

  “We,” I said, cutting him off. He looked down and me and smiled.

  “We have an announcement to make.”

  I felt the weight of everyone’s eyes on us, but I kept mine on Jamie.

  “Meredith has agreed to be my wife,” he said with such affection and softness that I felt my heart melt just a little.

  “Oh thank goodness,” Alyssa said.

  “About time,” Freddie said at the same time.

  I glanced over at them, their faces bright with smiles.

  “What?” Mother asked, shooting a look at Daddy. “I, ah, I don’t understand.”

  “It appears young Jamie and Meredith have been seeing each other for a while now,” Daddy said.

  “Yes, and, um, we may have eloped while we were on Le Beau,” Jamie added.

  “What?!” Mother jumped to her feet, her eyes darting between Jamie and me. “You’re already married?”

  I looked up at Jamie and squeezed his hand. “We are,” I said. I held out my hand and showed the plain gold band that adorned my ring finger. The same band that I hadn’t taken off this whole time. “Wait,” I said, looking at Freddie. “You knew?”