The Reluctant Princess

by Raye Morgan

  His gaze was hard and pointed. “Someone like you?”

  She turned away. Of course she wasn’t going to turn him in and he knew it.

  “Don’t kid yourself, Kim. The Granvillis have had their day. They’re done. Monte allowing them to stay on this side of the island while things are sorted out was a pity play. It’s over.”

  Deep in her heart, she knew he was right. But there were reasons she couldn’t accept it. At least not in front of him.

  “Where was your loyalty to Pellea?” he went on. “You were best friends for years. Where did that friendship go?”

  She closed her eyes, keeping her temper in check as much as she possibly could. She might ask where Pellea’s loyalty had been, but he wouldn’t understand. He hadn’t been around when the world of Ambria had fallen apart and everyone had been forced to make their choices. What did he know of that? There was no point in even bringing it up.

  “And now that we know you are the last royal baby,” he went on in a matter-of-fact tone that she supposed was meant to help her start to accept it. “I think it’s time you made some adjustments to your thinking.” He turned in his seat so that he could see her more clearly. “Once you relax, you can start looking at the benefits of being a DeAngelis royal and maybe you’ll even begin to be happy about it.”

  She’d taken all she could and she turned on him with a vengeance.

  “I’m supposed to be happy about this?” she demanded sharply. “If this fairy tale you’re trying to spin is true, do you realize what that does to my life? If you’re right, you’ve just taken my world and ripped it apart. You’ve shown me that everything I believed to be true was lies. That the whole foundation of my life is a sham. That nothing is real. It’s all an illusion. I’m a fading ghost lost in a funhouse of mirrors and cackling clowns.”

  He looked mystified at her reaction. “Kim, don’t do this to yourself. This should be so easy.”

  “Easy? Easy?” She glared at him, her eyes shimmering with tears. “If all this nonsense is true, how am I supposed to go on living? It would mean that I’ve lost my mother. She was the woman who raised me. She was the one I loved. The only one who loved me.” Angrily, she brushed her tears away.

  “I never gave two figs for the DeAngelis king and queen. I never knew them, but what I knew of them was laughable. I mocked them time and again. And now you tell me they were my parents? How shall I make amends? Shall I jump off a bridge or s-s-omething?”

  There was a lump in her throat and a sob tore into her last word.

  “Kim,” he began, reaching for her.

  “Don’t touch me,” she snarled through clenched teeth. Her fists were clenched and her eyes were a bit wild. “I’ll…I’ll scream or something.”

  “No, you won’t,” he said calmly. “Come here.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  JAKE took Kim by the shoulders and pulled her closer. Despite all her fierce talk, she didn’t do a thing to stop him. He held her face and kissed away her tears and murmured soft, comforting words that seemed to weave a magic spell around her. She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the feeling. When his lips touched hers, she kissed him back hungrily, begging for more.

  She knew this was wrong and that she would regret it, but she couldn’t stop herself. It had been so long since she’d felt the strong, protective arms of a man around her. She’d been so alone for so long. His mouth was hot and she accepted him eagerly, reaching up to dig her fingers into his hair and pull him ever closer. His hands flattened on her back and she arched toward him, aching for him to touch her breasts.

  But he pulled his mouth away from hers, whispering something soft again, soothing her.

  “Hush, Kim, take it easy,” he said. “Don’t let yourself get crazy. You’re so tired…”

  Pulling back, she stared at him, realizing he had just rejected her. She knew he felt the sensual tug between them as strongly as she did. So why would he do this?

  Oh, of course. She knew exactly why.

  “What is it?” she asked him evenly. “Did you just remember I’ve been with Leonardo? Does that make me impossible to tolerate?”

  His face registered shock and then a sort of stunned horror. That only made things worse. People always reacted like that once you’d put your finger on their secret.

  “Kim.” He grabbed her shoulders again, looking like he wanted to shake her. Then he calmed down, blinking rapidly. “Oh, Kim,” he said, shaking his head. “This is really hard for you, much harder than I would ever have imagined.”

  Her return stare was a challenge. “So make it easier,” she suggested.

  He took a deep breath, then reached out to brush the tangled hair back off her forehead. “Okay,” he said. “This is the best I can do. I’m going to batter you with facts.”

  She shrugged, unimpressed. “Batter away,” she said coolly.

  “Here goes. The reason I believe all this stuff you call nonsense and fairy tales, is because there is scientific evidence behind it all. Now I know that a lot of scientific material is subject to interpretation, and different scientists come back from the same facts with different opinions, but this stuff is DNA. It’s like two plus two equals four. You can’t argue with it.”

  “Whose DNA are we talking about?” she asked, frowning.

  He didn’t let her question sidetrack his narrative. “This research has been going on ever since the DeAngelis family took back the castle. Archivists have been doing surveys and sending out samples and all sorts of scientific things. The results have come back from all over the world, from everyone they could find who was even tentatively related to the DeAngelis royals. And then, more samples were taken from hair, from skin, from anything they could get. The rumors of a last baby had always been there, but no one had any proof, so they used DNA from anyone who was around in those days, and anyone affiliated with the castle since.”

  She was waiting anxiously now. This was like a mystery. She wanted to find out who the real killer was.

  Or rather, the real last royal baby.

  “And?”

  “The results are in. It’s official. They’ve found evidence that you belong in the DeAngelis family.”

  “What are you really saying?”

  “I thought I was being quite clear. You’re a DeAngelis, a princess of the realm. Now that there is a realm again.”

  She tossed her head back and forth, still anguished by this theory. “Sorry, but that just can’t be right. Who else did they test?”

  “Everyone. You are the only one who matched.”

  She thought fast. “Maybe they had a bad sample?”

  “They had your hair from a brush in your room. They had your clothes. They had a sample of your blood from when you donated for the war effort. They had…”

  “Okay, okay.” She put her hands over her ears. She didn’t want to hear any more.

  “The other messengers that came. Didn’t they try to explain it to you?”

  “They told me gobbledygook and fairy tales that made no sense. I couldn’t make heads nor tails of it.”

  He shook his head. “This is it, the straight scoop. You are the last of the DeAngelis family. You were born three days before the castle was burned by the Granvillis, twenty-five plus years ago.”

  “I know that part,” she reminded him. “It’s common knowledge. My mother was Lady Constance Day, lady-in-waiting to the queen. She hid her pregnancy as long as she could.”

  He took her face in his hands and smiled at her sadly. “No. Your mother was Queen Elineas. Lady Constance pretended you were hers so that the Granvillis wouldn’t kill you.”

  She shook her head. It felt like she was doing it in slow motion, like she was watching herself from far away, and she saw her head move, and her hair
spray out, but too slowly. It wasn’t real.

  “No,” she said, and it sounded as though she were in an echo chamber. “No, that’s ridiculous.”

  “It’s true. Your DNA checks out.” Reaching out he took her hand in his. He could see how this was affecting her. Somehow he had thought, despite everything, that this might make things easier for her. That she might cling to these facts in a changing, shifting world where the sand underneath your feet tended to leak away when you weren’t paying attention. “Kim, it’s true. It’s science. You can’t fight it.”

  “No.” She was still shaking her head. “No. I don’t want to be a part of the royal family. I was raised as a servant, taking care of a certain class, but free as a bird. My mother was a servant to the queen. I was a servant to the independent ladies of the citizens’ regime. That was my place. Royalty wasn’t even an issue. We didn’t have any royals. We didn’t want any. We hated the DeAngelis pretenders with their snooty ways. We were free, we were proud. We didn’t need all that nonsense.”

  “That was then,” he said simply. “Things have changed.”

  She stared at him. “They would never accept me anyway,” she whispered to him. “They didn’t treat me like family when the chips were down. Why should I trust them now?”

  He stared at her, aware there was something here he didn’t understand. She’d been through things he couldn’t even imagine. He didn’t know what had happened, but he could see the shadows of the pain and anguish in her eyes.

  “They hate me,” she whispered, more to herself than to him.

  “What are you talking about? They always accepted you. They love you.”

  “No.” She knew things he didn’t. Deep inside, she felt hollow and alone. “Not when the chips were down, they didn’t. Leonardo…” But she wasn’t going to talk about that.

  He took her shoulders in his hands again and stared down into her face. “What about Leonardo?”

  “Nothing.” She shook her head. “Nothing.”

  He searched her eyes, but she wasn’t going to give him any more. Still, he wanted to give her something. He had to help her get through this and come out the other side. And so he made her a promise.

  “Listen to me, Kim. I want you to come with me to the castle. I know it will be for the best, for you and for Dede. But I’m not going to force you. The only way I’m going to get you there is if I can persuade you to come willingly.”

  He cringed inside. What was he doing here? His ace in the hole was always his physical prowess, the strong-arm stuff. His powers of verbal persuasion had never been strong. He had no gift of the silver tongue. And here he was, playing at the big table and putting all his money on the persuasion card. Wow. What an idiot he was.

  But it was too late to turn back now.

  “I swear to you, the only way I’m going to take you back is once I’ve persuaded you,” he went on. “When you come with me, it will be of your own free will.”

  She stared at him. This was new. He hadn’t felt this way before.

  Could she believe him?

  Maybe. Maybe not. She would have to take a leap of faith.

  “Sleep on it,” he suggested. “Let’s go to bed.”

  It really was late. Their lack of sleep was finally catching up with them. Kim directed Jake to a bed he could use.

  “You can sleep in my bedroom,” she told him, pointing it out. “Right in there. I’ll sleep on the little bed in Dede’s room. I want to stay with her anyway.”

  He hesitated, looking down at her, then swallowed hard and turned away. It was better to start learning to avoid kissing her. No good could come of it anyway.

  “Good night,” he said over his shoulder.

  He went into the room and started to unbutton his shirt, kicking off his shoes and reaching for the covers to pull them back. And there, on the newly uncovered pillow, lay a note. He took it up and held it to the light, but somehow, he already thought he knew who it would be from.

  Kimmee my darling, it said in a large, masculine scrawl. I have to see you. It’s been too long. But I have to be careful. Watch for me on the holy day. L.

  He felt cold and then he felt hot fury and then he felt lied to. So she had no contact with him? Then what the hell was this? The thought of her with Leonardo almost doubled him over with pain. And then he was mad at himself for caring. He swore a blue streak, kicked a rug, and stormed out into the living room again.

  “Kim,” he said loudly. “I’ve got to talk to you.”

  She came out, dressed like an angel in that damn white nightgown again. He tightened his jaw and hardened himself.

  “What is it?” she asked, suddenly anxious. “What happened?”

  He handed her the note. She looked at it blankly, then began to read it. All the color drained from her face.

  “Oh no,” she moaned, looking around as though she expected him to jump out of the shadows. “He’s coming. He’s coming here!” She looked into Jake’s face, her own eyes frantic. “We have to go. We have to get out of here. You don’t know what he’s like. I can’t be here.”

  “He’s not only coming,” Jake said calmly, “he’s been here.”

  She nodded, looking stricken. “I thought he didn’t know about this place. I never thought he would come here. I…” She looked around as though for someplace to hide.

  He watched her for a moment, and then he took her into his arms and held her close. He was convinced. She hadn’t lied to him. And she didn’t want to see Leonardo.

  And yet, oddly enough, he did. This was playing right into his hands. The timing couldn’t be better. If everything worked out the way it should, he would get his chance to make the man pay for what he’d done. Poor old Leonardo. He wouldn’t know what hit him.

  “Kim,” he said, stroking her hair and holding her loosely, but still being careful of his ribs. “Calm down. I’m here. I won’t let him do anything to you.” He pulled back enough to see her face. “Has he hurt you in the past?” he asked, wondering at her reaction.

  She looked at him, eyes wide, but she didn’t answer. “I think we should go,” she whispered. “He can’t see Dede. What if he starts to want custody? He has all the power.” She took Jake by his shirt and tugged. “Don’t you see? We have to go.”

  “Doesn’t he know about Dede?”

  She hesitated, then shook her head. “I think he knows she exists, but he’s never seen her, so she’s just an abstract to him right now. But once he sees her in the flesh and realizes she’s his….” Her face started to crumple, but she held it off. Still, her breathing was jagged.

  “He said he was coming on the holy day. I assume he means Christmas.”

  She nodded. “I’m sure he thought he was being cryptic. As if a five-year-old couldn’t figure out what he means.”

  “So we have over twenty-four hours,” he said. “We need rest. And we need to plan.” And he was going to have to find a way to explain to her that they needed to stay—because he needed to have it out with Leonardo.

  She was shaking her head. “No. We need to go.”

  But as she looked up into his face, she realized that he wasn’t really there standing with her any longer. Instead, he was back in some past time, viewing something horrible. For just a moment, she wondered what exactly it was that he was in danger of unleashing.

  “You asked me earlier about my baby,” he said. “About my family. Maybe it’s time I told you.” He glanced at her, then away again. “My baby and my wife were both killed in a market bombing over a year ago,” he said flatly.

  “Oh. Oh Jake, I’m so sorry. This damn war.” She saw the desolate look in his eyes and her heart broke for him.

  He shook his head. It wasn’t just the war. It wasn’t a random act of violence. That marketplace was del
iberately selected for punishment, and the man who meted it out was the man Kim had selected to father her child, Leonardo Granvilli. The ruler of the exiled realm.

  “I’ve never told anyone the whole story. Not even Pellea.” He looked down and touched her cheek. “But I’m going to tell it to you.”

  “Why? Why me?”

  “I think you’ll understand that by the end.”

  She nodded reluctantly, not sure why he put it this way, as though once she’d heard his story, she would assume some responsibility for it. She wasn’t sure she wanted that job.

  “Okay.”

  “I’m going to start way back at the beginning. You know that I grew up away from Pellea and my father, away from the castle, and mostly, away from Ambria. But I went to schools where other Ambrians went.” He smiled faintly. “In my own way, I’ve always been a patriot.”

  She led him to the couch again and they sat down, closer together this time.

  “I never met Pellea until we found each other in Hungary where she’d gone to find medical care for our father. I heard she was there and I went to see them both. It was amazing how suddenly that old family tie reasserted itself with a vengeance. Pellea and I looked in each other’s eyes and we felt the connection immediately. It was like looking in the mirror. I knew who she was and she knew who I was. Instant rapport.”

  Kim frowned and looked away. She’d felt that way with Pellea at one time. How could she warn him to beware? It wouldn’t last.

  Or maybe it would for him. After all, he was a real brother, not a pretend sister like she’d been.

  “I got closer to my father,” he was saying. “I met Monte. I met the whole crew and we all got along famously.”

  “They’re all very charming,” she said with a pang of memory.

  “Yes. I liked them a lot.”

  Of course. She’d liked them, too.

  “So you decided to throw your lot in with the new rebels,” she said, a trace of her sarcasm showing. “You got yourself involved in the invasion of Ambria.”

  “Yes. I signed on to their cause. I thought what had happened to the royal family when the Granvillis took over and burned the castle and killed the king and queen was outrageous and deserved punishment. I was all for the invasion.”