She gave a mocking wave. “Leaving so soon, Anwen? Sorry I can’t see you off, but I have a wedding to prepare for. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to take care of Liam.” And with a sinister laugh, she turned and walked in the opposite direction, disappearing around the corner that led to Their Majesties’ quarters while I was forced to retreat.
This couldn’t be happening, especially now that I knew how much Liam cared for the real me and we’d finally found the path to being together. I struggled to turn around and return to him—or even to stop walking, but each attempt only caused the pain in my hand to intensify.
No! I struggled to shout for Liam, to even speak to the passing servants of my plight, but both actions must have fallen under the princess’s new contract, for my throat sealed each time, forcing my silence.
I stumbled down the grand staircase. At my approach, the footmen opened the front doors with a bow. Again I tried to speak, but once more the ring’s power prevented me. I found myself outside and heading for the ornate gate, a portal to a world I no longer belonged in. I glanced back at the palace, lit up with the rising sun that glistened off the gilded marble. When I’d first arrived months earlier, the palace had seemed formidable, part of a world not my own. But Liam had made it not just my world but my home. I couldn’t lose it—or him—now.
I was nearing the gates, which I knew I couldn’t pass through. I couldn’t leave Liam. I loved him. I loved his kingdom and his people. I couldn’t subject him or them to Princess Lavena’s cold cruelty, not when he and I belonged together. I knew it with every fiber of my being. I couldn’t let the ring tear us apart. Surely there was a way to stop it; after all, every contract had a loophole.
My mind flickered back to the night of my nightmare when I’d shown more of my true self to Liam and the ring had remained strangely silent. Why hadn’t it protested that breach of my contract? Could it be that I’d given the ring greater power over me than it really had?
The truth slowly dawned on me: the ring didn’t determine my true identity; I did.
I exerted all my energy and struggled to stop. The ring sensed a shift in my thoughts and attacked anew. I forced myself to speak through the throbbing pain. “I belong with Liam.”
His name came out choked and sent a wave of pain so fierce it pierced my head, causing an excruciating headache to pulse against my temples. But I’d breached the ring’s contract and spoken his name. Hope flared in my chest, spurring me onward.
“I love Liam,” I said more forcefully.
In retaliation, searing flashed through me, so acute I thought I’d faint, but then it began to fade, as if the contract on the ring was weakening. I continued to struggle, fighting against the intensity, the headache, and most of all the compelling power of the ring trying to force me to do its horrible bidding that would tear me away from the man I loved.
I gritted my teeth against the pain. “I am the true Crown Princess of Draceria.”
With those words, the pain vanished so instantly I felt I’d been doused with water. I collapsed onto the grass in exhaustion. For a moment I just lay there, staring up at the sky, dazed with the absence of the burning that had consumed my senses.
I slowly rolled over to my knees and sat up. I glanced down at the ring, the metal now cold, its usual malevolent glisten faded, as if it’d died. I yanked it off and held it in my palm, staring at it. Had I broken the contract? It appeared I had. I closed my hand around the ring in triumph.
I stumbled to my feet and ran towards the palace. As I neared the front doors, they opened and Liam hurried out, his expression frantic. He was halfway down the steps when he spotted me. “Anwen!”
I beamed and increased my pace. He met me halfway and scooped me into a tight hug, burrowing his face against my hair. I basked in his embrace. This was where I belonged.
“My Liam.” I tipped my head back so I could stare up at him. He stroked my cheek, his gaze almost hungry as he caressed my face.
“Lavena told me you’d left, but I didn’t believe it. Yet you were nowhere to be found. What happened?”
I extended my hand so he could stare at the ring on my palm. “Another sinister contract, one that would force us apart. But I broke it.”
His eyes widened. “You did? But how?”
I smiled. “Every contract has a loophole. This one happened to be true love and belief in my true identity.” I cradled his face. “We’re meant for each other, and nothing will ever separate us again.”
He grinned my favorite boyish dimpled smile. “I couldn’t agree more.” And he sealed his words with a heated kiss that left me no doubt that he wanted me, common handmaiden and goose girl. But now I was also Liam’s princess and Draceria’s future queen.
I was right where I belonged.
Chapter 28
Hand in hand, Liam and I made our way to the meeting room, where Liam’s parents and the King and Queen of Lyceria were waiting for us to present our case that would finally break the unwanted engagement contract. Liam held the books while I clutched the papers close to my chest as we took the grand staircase two steps at a time.
“Have you told your parents what we found?” I asked.
“Not yet. I wanted us to do it together. I merely told them I wanted to meet with them and the Lycerian king and queen. I can’t wait to see Lavena’s expression when she sees you. We’ll wipe that gloating smirk right off her face.” He seemed almost giddy at the prospect.
We arrived a few minutes later. “Shall I announce you, Your Highness?” The guard standing outside the meeting room began, but Liam ignored him and pushed the door open himself.
Inside, Liam’s parents, the Lycerian royal family, and several sleepy-eyed advisors from both courts were already seated around a large circular table. The Queen of Draceria anxiously rose first.
“There you are, Liam.” She hurried forward and hugged him. “I hope whatever you’ve found is strong enough for us to finally break the contract.” She pulled away to take in our connected hands with a frown. “Do you think it was wise to bring Anwen to the palace before we have this all sorted out?”
“Yes, for she’s the one who discovered the loophole.”
The king stood. “So you found one at last?”
Liam beamed. “I believe so.”
He led me further into the room, towards where the Lycerian royal family sat. The King of Lyceria scowled, Prince Nolan smiled, and Princess Lavena stared wide-eyed.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed. “I thought I’d—”
“Gotten rid of me for good? Would you like your ring back, Lavena?” I triumphantly extended my hand, palm up, where her ring rested. She stared at it in disbelief. “Unfortunately, you failed to consider one thing when you attempted to bind me with another one of your contracts.”
Princess Lavena continued gaping at the ring. Prince Nolan reached out and plucked it from my hand. “I’ll be taking that.”
At his words, her shock dispelled enough for her to lift her gaze, glaring. “How could you possibly have broken its enchantment?”
“Because every contract has a loophole, both your ring’s and your engagement contract.”
She paled. “You couldn’t have found one, not when Draceria’s advisors have searched everywhere.”
Liam merely smirked. “Everywhere except the Dracerian summer palace library.”
“The Dracerian summer palace?” the king asked. “Did you find anything useful in those archaic volumes?”
“We did, in fact.” But before he could say anything further, the King of Lyceria spoke up.
“Considering your apparel and the fact you’ve been gallivanting off to the summer palace, I take it you weren’t currently engaged in meetings with Prince Deidric, as you told us you were? That lie was exposed when I sent an advisor to investigate when you were gone too long. I thought you’d run away from your duty.”
“No, that type of offense is only committed by your daughter.” Liam glared at Princess Lavena.
“Exactly. That’s the crux of our argument for breaking the contract.” The King of Draceria turned once more to the Lycerian King and Queen. “For the dozenth time, Princess Lavena has broken her end of the agreement, an offense that proves she’s unfit to be Draceria’s future queen. I don’t understand why you insist on overlooking that fact.”
“Be that as it may, the integrity of her actions cannot void our contract,” the King of Lyceria said. “I still don’t understand why you no longer desire the coveted benefits of our union merely because of a single transgression, especially when she’s returned to atone for it.”
The King of Draceria’s eyebrow twitched, a sign of his disapproval. The Queen of Draceria used the opportunity to speak up. “We’re concerned that due to her past actions, Lavena has shown that she places little value on the responsibilities that she’ll carry as the future queen. Thus we cannot in good conscience pass the crown to her.”
The King of Lyceria pounded his fist on the table. “Enough of this. We’ve hashed this out for weeks. There is no loophole, and we refuse to break the contract. There are too many benefits for Lyceria to do so, and unless both parties agree, it’s still binding.”
“Might I be allowed to present our case?” Liam asked. Everyone looked over. Liam took the documents I’d been cradling protectively and set them with his books on the table. “Your arguments are now irrelevant, considering the contract is already void. In fact, it was void upon Kian’s death.”
Shocked silence followed his announcement. Liam’s mother spoke first, her eyes glassy. “I don’t understand, Liam. How?”
He tapped his finger on the top document. “For the simple fact that the contract was drawn up not between me and Lavena, but between Lavena and the Crown Prince of Draceria.”
I waited for understanding to fill the others’ expressions but they merely looked confused. “We know that, Liam,” Princess Lavena said, scoffing. “But it changes nothing.”
Liam smirked. “It appears you fail to see what Anwen was the first to realize—the engagement contract was drawn up between Lavena and the crown prince, which at the time was Kian.”
“Yes, dear,” the queen said. “But after his death, you inherited his title and all that came with it.”
Liam’s grin widened. “That’s what we have all been erroneously assuming from the start—that I inherited everything from Kian when I became crown prince, including his engagement contract. But though I did inherit his title, I did not inherit his betrothal.”
“This is nonsense,” the Lycerian king muttered.
Hope filled the King of Draceria’s expression. “What are you saying, Son?”
“Had I inherited Kian’s contract it would be ironclad, but we’ve discovered that contracts are an exception to the law of inheritance. According to our research, a contract has to be drawn up again if there is a change in title with either party.”
He lifted another document we’d uncovered during our late night library research.
“We found in the first edition of Laws and Traditions—which our kingdom followed several hundred years ago—that every contract inherited along with a title needs to be formally redrawn, something we failed to do when I became the new crown prince following Kian’s death.” He glanced down at the document he held. “We did our research. Over time, that formality fell out of practice, and tradition dictated that to ensure a smooth transition, those who inherited titles were honor-bound to accept all that came with it, including any contracts between parties or kingdoms. But technically, it’s still law that formality needs to be followed—in this case, redrawing up the engagement contract, something we failed to do.”
The King of Draceria grabbed the document and began reading frantically.
“True, it’s a rather archaic law,” Liam continued. “One that hasn’t been enforced in several hundred years. But it’s still law.”
The king kept reading, his eyes widening. Slowly, he looked up with a proud grin. “Well done, Liam.” And with his words, I knew we’d won.
My heart lifted and Liam wrapped his arm around me. “Anwen was the one who first realized the solution to our dilemma could be found in examining the laws surrounding the inheriting of contracts.”
The king gave me such a fatherly look of approval. “Then well done, Anwen. You’ll make a fine queen.”
I blushed but couldn’t help smiling. While the thought of being queen was still rather daunting, with it came Liam, a man who, despite everything, would finally really be mine.
The King of Draceria turned back to the Lycerian monarchy. “Liam and Anwen are correct. While for years we’ve upheld the inheriting of contracts as tradition, law dictates that when Liam inherited Kian’s title of crown prince, the engagement contract needed to be redrawn. It wasn’t, which means—”
“The engagement contract is void.” I’d never seen Liam so happy, the heavy burden he’d carried for years lifted at last.
The King of Lyceria stood and snatched the document to read it for himself. With each word, he slumped in defeat. “Such an archaic law shouldn’t have to be honored—”
”Archaic or not, the law is still the law,” the King of Draceria said with a firmness that forbade any further argument.
“But to have a mere technicality break such a coveted—”
“This mere technicality is sparing my son from a horrible marriage and our kingdom from a woman unfit to be its queen.”
The king sighed, his acquiescence. Princess Lavena’s expression turned sour. “It can’t be true.”
The King of Lyceria rested his hand on her shoulder. “You have only yourself to blame for this, Lavena. If you hadn’t run off several months ago, you’d now be the Crown Princess of Draceria.”
Princess Lavena sneered at me. “But how could a common goose girl with no formal education have discovered such a loophole?”
“I obtained the knowledge several months ago when I found myself quite invested in researching contracts due to a certain one that you placed me under.” I pointed to my finger, where up until a few minutes ago, her contract ring had been.
Prince Nolan laughed. “You dug your own grave, my dear sister. Perhaps in the future you’ll start taking more responsibility and not make such foolish choices.”
Her scowl deepened but she didn’t say anything more. The Queen of Lyceria spoke up. “If this contract is void, then we can simply draw up another, perhaps one with greater benefits as an incentive for you to reconsider a union with our kingdom.”
“I’m afraid we’re not interested in an alliance that would involve Princess Lavena,” the King of Draceria said dryly.
The princess’s expression darkened. “But there would be no advantage to Draceria by having a handmaiden as queen.”
“Anwen offers many benefits to my kingdom that may not be as tangible as a contracted alliance,” the king said. “She’s proven herself worthy to be Queen of Draceria by her compassion and willingness to serve her subjects whereas you’ve only put your self-interest above all else.”
”But—“ Princess Lavena stuttered. Prince Nolan wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“It’d be wise to cease speaking before you make even more of a spectacle of yourself,” he said. “I propose a calming stroll through the gardens. Come, Lavena.” He led her towards the door, sending Liam and me a smile of congratulations over his shoulder, whereas Princess Lavena cast us one final glare.
“How did you break the ring’s enchantment?”
I lifted my chin with a smile. “Throughout our switch, I came to learn that being of royal birth doesn’t make one a princess; true royalty is compassion and service, not just sitting on a throne. Once I realized I was the true Crown Princess of Draceria, the ring’s contract broke.”
Princess Lavena scowled at me as the door closed behind her.
The King of Draceria rested his hand on Liam’s shoulder. “I’m proud of you, Son. Anwen may have found the loophole, but you pr
esented it in a dignified manner worthy of a future king. You’re finally embracing the role I’ve never doubted you could fulfill.”
Liam lifted his chin. “Because I’ve finally accepted that I am the Crown Prince of Draceria, and as such I’ll do all I can to fulfill my responsibilities to my kingdom to the best of my abilities.”
“I have no doubt you’ll succeed.” He patted Liam’s shoulder before stepping aside so the queen could embrace him.
“We’re so proud of you, dear.”
Liam’s grin became mischievous. “I did do a rather fantastic job, didn’t I? Perhaps a reward is in order? I have only one in mind—a hasty wedding to Anwen—today, preferably.”
The queen smiled. “I think that could be arranged. What do you think, dear?” She turned to her husband.
“I believe that would be wise so that we can put this matter behind us as soon as possible.”
Liam beamed and gently tugged me towards the window overlooking one of the gardens. He held my hands close, his eyes adoring. “Now that we’ve overcome all our obstacles, nothing will stand in the way of a lifetime of adventures.” He scooped me in a tight hug. “We won, Anwen, which means we can finally marry, for real this time.”
I hugged him back, feeling dazed. Despite all odds, we’d fought for and achieved our happily ever after, and in this moment of victory, I wanted to enjoy all I’d won—not just Liam’s heart, but the privilege of getting to keep it.
Beaming with happiness, I released my tears. “We can really be together? You want me?”
“I want no one but you.” He lifted my hands and kissed them softly. “I want my goose girl, the woman who is so sweet, intelligent, kind, and caring, the woman who not only makes me a better man, but who makes me unbelievably happy.”
My smile grew. I hooked my arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe to press my forehead against his. “And I just want my Liam.”
“Does that mean you’ll marry me in a quick, private ceremony as soon as Archer arrives so that you can officially become my future queen?”
The Kingdom Chronicles Box Set 1 Page 88