RELUCTANT ROYAL, THE

by Bastian, Laura D.

  “Do you think you could eat some bread, and broth?”

  Lily looked at the small tray on the table next to the bed. The bread looked edible and she lifted the cup with her good hand and waited for him to take it then hand her a piece of the bread. But instead of giving her the bread, he broke a piece off and placed it in her mouth, his finger brushing her bottom lip in the process.

  Eduardo seemed surprised at the touch as much as she did.

  “I can eat it myself,” Lily said, hoping to put him at ease.

  “It’s no trouble,” Eduardo said. “That way you can keep the drink to help with the pain.”

  Lily was almost certain whatever was in it would be a highly effective medicine since she had already almost forgotten her arm. “Okay,” she said enjoying the warmth that spread throughout her body.

  Eduardo tore off another piece of bread and placed it on her tongue, this time, not brushing his fingers against her lips. She smiled at him and he returned the smile, then looked at her lips again before bringing another small piece of bread to her mouth. After that bite, she took a small sip of the drink then leaned her head back against the headboard.

  Her eyes once again felt heavy, and her arm felt tons better.

  “I think it’s helping,” Lily said. “Tell the doctor thanks.”

  “Are you falling asleep?” Eduardo asked. “Should I help you lay down again?”

  “Mmm hmmm,” she mumbled wondering what on earth was in that tea. She felt the cup being removed from her hands and then after a moment, she felt his warm hands help her slide back down onto the bed.

  She moved her legs and her back as much as she could to be helpful in getting ready to sleep again, but she loved the way it felt to have his help.

  When he removed his hands from her arms and shoulder, she let out a little sigh of sadness. “Don’t go.”

  “I’ll stay here with you, princess.”

  “Hold me?” she asked, rolling to her side.

  “What?” Eduardo’s voice spoke from far away.

  “Hold me,” Lily said again. “Make it better. I’ll get cold.”

  “I can build up a fire,” his voice spoke again from a distance.

  “No fire,” Lily said. “Don’t want to burn down. Just hold me.” She waited, worried she’d fall asleep from the medicine before she could convince him, but eventually, she felt him against her back and his strong and protective embrace hold her from behind as she drifted off into a peaceful, healing slumber.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Eduardo couldn’t see much of anything besides the back of Liliana’s head, but he wasn’t going to complain. She had asked him to stay, and though that had surprised him enough, the fact that she’d requested he hold her as she slept gave him hope. Of course, it could have been the effects of the medicine. If she hadn’t been under its influence, she may never have even considered it. The room was large enough there would be plenty of space for both their belongings.

  He’d stayed by the side of her bed the entire time she was unconscious and the servants had brought his trunk as well as her trunk to the room. He would be staying through the night with her, and though he hadn’t planned to hold her as she slept, he wasn’t going to argue about it now that she’d requested it.

  “Why did you do it?” Eduardo asked softly against the back of her head.

  “Hmmm?” Liliana’s sleepy voice mumbled.

  “Are you awake?” Eduardo asked softly.

  She didn’t respond, but her breathing seemed slow and steady and he was mostly certain she was still asleep, yet not so deeply that she wouldn’t wake if he wasn’t careful.

  “You are so different than what I expected.”

  Eduardo waited to see if she’d respond, but the breathing remained the same and he spoke again. “I have known about this betrothal for years. I didn’t think much of it as a young boy. I knew it was expected and that it was just another contract and treaty to strengthen Aragonia. That didn’t bother me much. Not until I started to realize how much my parents disliked each other.”

  He paused a moment, trying to gauge if she still slept.

  “I didn’t spend a lot of time with my father. Mostly I saw him once or twice a day. It was difficult to have anything to say to him, especially when he looked at me as if I were a problem to be solved instead of a son to be molded and guided.”

  Eduardo reached up and smoothed down the hair on the back of Liliana’s head to keep it from tickling his face. The smoothness of her long golden tresses with hints of reds and copper made him wish he could see her hair more clearly. The partially open draperies and the candle on the table by the side of the bed didn’t do her hair color justice. He closed his eyes, and just allowed his fingers to twirl the soft curls around and around.

  “I have an angel mother, however. And I owe her so much. I know it was because of her that I will have any hope of making a decent king. She never spoke evil of my father, though I know they struggled to get along. She is a powerful woman who works hard within her influence to do good. Her level head and guiding hand has kept us from suffering more for my father’s impulsive actions.”

  Eduardo moved his hand to rest it on her shoulder, he placed it down softly, not wanting to wake her or jostle the arm since it must hurt terribly still. He’d never been shot by an arrow before. He’d been nicked multiple times as he learned to fence in order to protect himself. The bravery of the woman in front of him astounded him. She’d not run from the danger. She’d just acted immediately and saved his life, he was certain.

  The height of where it hit her outstretched arm would have been directly in line with his heart.

  Eduardo wished he could pull her close to him, and thank her personally for saving his life, but he couldn’t wake her. She needed the peaceful sleep that she could get in order to heal.

  He placed his hand on the curve of her hip, then allowed it to settle on her waist, marveling at the softness, yet firm body there in front of him.

  He closed his eyes again, and just focused on breathing slowly and soon his breathing matched hers and he fell sleep, holding her close against him.

  ***

  Lily woke to the sound of snoring. She lifted her head a little and tried to roll onto her back, then realized there was something warm and solid behind her.

  Eduardo.

  She’d asked him to hold her last night, and apparently he had. She’d slept so comfortably and peacefully in his arms. She was sure he’d talked to her last night, but apart from the lovely sound of his voice, she wasn’t sure of anything that was said. Her overall impression of the interaction was one of peace and tranquility. The most relaxed she’d felt since she’d arrived in the past and learned she would be marrying a prince.

  He was a good man, she knew that deep into her soul. When she’d discovered the person in the trees intended to shoot him, she’d not hesitated a second in saving him. Although she knew there wasn’t anything as strong as true love between them at the moment, the thought of losing him to assassination tore at her heart. He would be an incredible ruler, and the little bits and pieces she’d caught last night as she drifted in and out of sleep as he talked made her sure he’d make a good husband and even father someday.

  She just had to find a way to let him know she was okay with that. That she would accept him as a true husband and that she would be willing to be the mother of his children.

  Most arranged marriages were all about making the right connections either politically or financially. But Lily was certain they could make this one the kind that would be envied and hoped for through all the stories passed down.

  A snore from behind her made her giggle and she tried to cover it, but the movement must have woke him because Eduardo’s arms tightened around her middle and pulled her close.

  She let out a gasp of surprise and pleasure at the feel of him next to her and suddenly Eduardo’s arms and embrace were gone as well as his full body, leaving her surprised at the cold air that hi
t her back.

  “My apologies, Princess Liliana,” he said.

  Lily rolled onto her back and stopped short when the pain from her arm kept her from rolling the rest of the way to the side.

  “Please call me Lily,” she said. “Liliana seems so formal.”

  “Lily?” he asked as if trying out the shortened word. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” Lily said. “It’s what everyone calls me.”

  “I have heard no one speak that name before now.”

  “What everyone from home called me, I guess.”

  “Do you miss your home?” Eduardo asked, stepping a little closer to the bed, but not sitting on it.

  “I suppose a little,” Lily said, thinking for a bit about her past and her home. She didn’t really miss the apartment she’d been living in. It had been just enough for her to get by, but nothing she actually considered her forever place. Though could she consider the past here with Eduardo her real home now? She’d only spent two days in the castle he’d grown up in, then they’d started traveling, but she could totally picture the castle back in Aragonia’s capital city as her home.

  “I hope you will come to feel Aragonia is your home.”

  Lily smiled at him. “I already do.”

  Eduardo’s returning smile was enough to make her happy, but when she tried to shift in order to sit up, her arm hurt terribly and she gasped.

  “Be careful,” Eduardo said. “Here, let me help you.”

  “Go to the other side,” Lily said, not wanting him to touch that arm at all.

  Eduardo obeyed and Lily managed to scoot herself over to the side of the bed more where he could help her sit up. She realized for the first time that she was still wearing the same dress she’d arrived in. The room was mostly dark with only a small candle giving them light and the sky outside was dark through the curtains.

  “Is it still night?” she asked as she adjusted her back against some pillows at the head of the bed.

  “It is.”

  “I slept this whole time since we arrived?”

  Eduardo nodded.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sure that interrupted your plans for the visit.”

  Eduardo sat down on the side of the bed. “Please don’t apologize for this.” He reached out as if wanting to touch her injured arm, but stopped himself and looked back into her eyes. “It is my fault this happened to you. I should have been more aware of my surroundings. There should have been more guards stationed in the area and I was too distracted myself. I am the one who needs to beg your forgiveness.”

  “It was an accident,” Lily said.

  “The attempt on the life of a royal is no accident. I don’t think they meant to target you. But your quick thinking and brave action saved me, and I am forever in your debt.”

  Lily looked at the man in front of her. “What happened with the archer? Did they find him?”

  Eduardo nodded. “He’s been dealt with.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Don’t let it bother you,” Eduardo said, moving as if getting ready to stand from the edge of the bed.

  “Wait,” Lily said, reaching for him with her uninjured arm. “We have to talk. And since you are in my debt, you will stay and listen to me. We have to get a few things straight.”

  Eduardo looked at her as if she was crazy, but he didn’t move and she took a slow deep breath. If she was going to choose to stay here in the past and live with this man, ruling a kingdom by her side, she wanted to let him know what she expected as part of this deal. If he didn’t agree, then she’d just call for Lachele to zap her back to her own time, and she’d just chalk this experience up to an odd diversion.

  “Do you agree that you owe me that much?” Lily asked. “Will you listen to what I have to say and consider my opinions?”

  Eduardo nodded. “Of course.”

  “Good, because before anything else happens, you need to know where I stand and what my plan is for my life.”

  Eduardo looked at her hand that still held his then shifted enough to sit more directly on the bed to face her, making his upper thigh and knee touch her leg.

  I don’t even know where to start, Lily thought. She wasn’t sure if she should tell him right away that she had come from hundreds of years in the future. She had no idea what kinds of beliefs people from Aragonia had. Would he think her a witch and demand she was burned at the stake? Should she even bring it up, or just let him believe any of her oddities and weird modern opinions and beliefs were from the way she was raised in Durham?

  “I am not sure exactly how things work here in Aragonia. I know very little of your history and the way your country is run. Only what I’ve seen myself in the last few days. But if I am going to stay here, and be your wife, and rule at your side as queen, I must know that I am an actual part of it.”

  Eduardo looked as if he were going to speak, but she put her hand up. She wasn’t sure if it was the remaining effects of the medicine she’d had or what, but she wanted to get things out before she lost her nerve.

  “I come from a place where women are just as important as men, though there are still some outdated views on that. Men have their place, just as women do. And I don’t want to discount either of the sexes. I just want you to understand that I am smart enough to be consulted about things. I won’t shy away from the hard things, though I’m sure my emotions will be affected, I need to know how things are. I can’t help you make the important decisions for Aragonia if I don’t know anything about it.”

  “You want to be fully involved in all things relating to Aragonia?” Eduardo asked.

  “Yes,” Lily said simply. “I understand you know more of it than I do, but I will have valuable insight as well, and I would like to be consulted.”

  Eduardo nodded as if contemplating her words. Was she pushing things too hard?

  “It will be something new that many of the lords of the land may not agree with.”

  “And what does Your Highness think?” she asked, meeting his eyes straight on and holding his gaze.

  “I am not sure.”

  “While you are considering that,” Lily said, pushing ahead with her need to give him everything before she chickened out, she said. “I need to know what you expect of us as husband and wife.”

  Eduardo looked shocked at her bluntness.

  “Am I only to be the woman who carries your heir, or do you not even want that?”

  “Of course I want an heir.”

  Lily nodded. “I figured it was probably the case, and I know the last few days have been odd to say the least, but one might expect a husband to at least look at his wife with some kind of interest.”

  “You don’t think I’m interested in you?” Eduardo asked, his voice suddenly much deeper.

  Lily was surprised at the difference in him.

  “I am not sure what to think. You sent me away the first night, and then we’ve been traveling and you’ve requested different rooms, and when that hadn’t worked out, you seemed bothered by it.”

  Eduardo chuckled deep in his throat. “I’m not sure what to think about you, Liliana. Lily. You are so different from any other woman I’ve ever known.”

  Lily breathed out a soft sigh. “If you only knew.”

  “I am truly interested in you as any husband would be for his wife. But I didn’t want to frighten you. I am shamed at the actions and the behaviors of my father, and I wanted to be nothing like him.” He looked at her and took her hand softly in his, rubbing the back of her finger where a wedding band should have been. “My father is a rough and spiteful man. I worried that if I showed interest in you, that he would torment us just because he could. I thought keeping you at a distance from me would make him think his plan to force me into a marriage of his choosing wouldn’t work.”

  Eduardo raised her hand up to his lips and kissed the knuckles then looked into her eyes from above her hand that he kept against his lips. “But from the moment I saw you when you stood before my par
ents in your pride and radiance with not a shred of fear or anger for your fate, I knew you were the perfect woman for me.”

  “You did?” Lily asked.

  ***

  Eduardo nodded, and kissed her hand again. “In fact, I almost gave it away right then when you spoke to my father. I wanted to hold you close and praise you for your courage while at the same time saving you from him.” He knew he’d have to return home soon, but it was such a relief to be away from his father’s judging eye for a time.

  “I thought you were upset about the arranged marriage and my arrival.”

  “Honesty,” Eduardo admitted. “I was. Even after I saw you, especially with my father’s vile comments. It felt as if he had managed to manipulate and control me even more. I don’t know how he does it, but he manages to take everything and destroy it.”

  Liliana looked at him as if she were in deep thought.

  “I don’t think it was your father’s doing alone that brought me here.”

  Eduardo nodded. “I know your parents were involved in the treaty and the contract. I hope you had more say in your part of this.”

  Liliana’s smile looked like it hid so much. “I did choose to be a part of this. But I think perhaps I should tell you a little more about it.”

  She adjusted herself against the pillows as if stalling for time. Her injured arm lay bent at the elbow across her stomach, and she gently touched the bandage with her good hand.

  “You see,” she began, but then paused and looked up at the ceiling. “Oh goodness, I have no idea how to tell you this.”

  The concern in her voice made Eduardo worry that what she had to share would not be good. Would it change things between them? This comfortable way of talking with each other. The hope that things might actually work out between them. He didn’t want to let her speak and ruin it. But he could think of no way to stop her.