A Royal Secret: Book 1 (Bad Boy Princes of Malvidence)

by V Vee

  Algerone wiggled his fingers free of her body, placing them to her lips. Valerie sucked them into her mouth, tasting herself.

  “Good, right?” Algerone asked her.

  Valerie nodded, then gasped as Algerone lowered his head to share his fingers with her, before taking her lips in hard, punishing kiss. She wriggled her hips as she felt the head of his swollen member against her wet mound. Taking him in hand, she slid him inside of her tight walls. She groaned with Algerone, goosebumps breaking out over her skin as he kissed the length of her exposed neck. She whimpered as he slowly pressed deeper within her. Lifting her legs, she wrapped them around his waist, pushing the heels of her feet into his ass to get him closer.

  Algerone nipped at the curve of her neck and shoulder, as he began to rock inside of her. Thrusting forward hard, once, twice, before dragging his length through her slick walls, until only the head remained before plunging back within her. Valerie’s body convulsed as Algerone continued his quick-quick-glide rhythm. Lights flashed behind her closed eyelids as she lifted her hips, meeting his every thrust, as he leaned down to take the tightened peak of her breasts in his mouth. She reached up to grip his shoulders, her nails digging in the flesh of his back as heat and passion dragged her beneath a tidal wave.

  Bowing her back as another orgasm claimed her, Valerie was distantly aware of Algerone’s hips speeding up, his cock pumping in and out of her harder and faster. She cried his name and shuddered as she felt the heat of his seed flooding her sex, and coating her walls and uterus.

  If she wasn’t already pregnant, that certainly would have done it.

  “I love you,” Algerone groaned in her ear as his body trembled above her own.

  “I love you too,” she responded. “So much.”

  Algerone collapsed down on his arms next to her head, his twitching dick still inside of her for a moment, no doubt to collect his breath, but Valerie, pulled him down more to rest on her.

  Algerone shook his head. “I don’t want to crush you or the baby,” he told her.

  “We’ll be fine,” Valerie assured him.

  Algerone grunted and rolled to the side of her. Valerie pouted for only a moment before he tugged her on top of him. Valerie snuggled into his chest and released a sigh of contentment. This was how it should be. Her and Algerone together, everything out in the open. She couldn’t ask for anything more.

  “What do you think about the two of us having a wedding. A real proper one?” Algerone asked after a long moment of silence.

  Valerie lifted her head and looked down at him. “Are you serious?” she asked him.

  He brushed her hair back behind her ears. “Yes, of course. Is that something you would want?”

  She leaned down to kiss him deeply. He chuckled against her lips. “Is that a yes?” he asked once she pulled away.

  Valerie rolled her eyes. “Algie, I would marry you fifty times, don’t you know that yet?”

  He nodded his head. “I’m finally starting to see it,” he told her.

  She grinned. “Good. Now, when should we get married?” she asked as she climbed out of bed to grab her sketchpad, she had the perfect idea for a wedding dress.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Four Months Later

  The Kingdom of Malvidence

  The Royal Gröntälje Cathedral

  V alerie stared at Ella in shock before looking down at her protruding stomach. “Um… what?”

  Ella’s skin darkened. “Yeah.”

  “How far along are you? You look like you’re about to pop!” she asked her younger sister.

  Ella groaned. “Five. Don’t let the size fool you, I still have four months to go.”

  Valerie’s mouth dropped open in shock. “but how?” she wondered. Her sister must be carrying a giant for her to only be five months and to be showing as much as Valerie, if not more so, when she was almost eight months along herself.

  Ella held up her hand and indicated how it was possible. Valerie shook her head. “You’re kidding! That many? But who?”

  Merlina walked up to them at that moment and adjusted the red silk sash above Valerie’s baby belly. “Yeah, Ella, tell her who.”

  Valerie looked at her sister, her interest peaked.

  Ella winced. “Jeonathon.”

  Valerie gasped. “Your boss?! Ella!”

  Ella tossed her hands up. “I know, I know, okay? I’m beating myself up enough for all of us.”

  Merlina snorted. “I doubt it.”

  Ella narrowed her eyes. “Hey, Lina, why don’t you tell Val about the guy you brought to the wedding, the same one handing you a packet of crackers.”

  Merlina waved away Ella’s comments. “Totally different situation.”

  Valerie pointed at her baby sister. “Are you pregnant from that man out there? The future Senator?”

  Merlina pulled back her shoulders and stared at Valerie, “Yes, but it’s different from our sister over there who is pregnant from her boss.”

  Ella scoffed. “Oh yeah? How?”

  Merlina mumbled beneath her breath and Valerie leaned close to hear her. “What? What did you say?”

  “She said it’s not different whatsoever,” Ella stated petulantly.

  Merlina rolled her eyes. “I said it’s different because he’s my husband.”

  Valerie’s mouth opened and closed in surprise, no words capable of coming out. When she looked at Ella, she saw the same expression and feelings of shock that currently coursed through her, showing on her sister’s face.

  “He’s your WHAT?” Valerie asked, the question coming out in a yell.

  A knock sounded on the door just then, preventing Merlina from responding. Their father poked his head in. “It’s time to go girls.”

  “Okay, Daddy,” Valerie responded with a smile, her body buzzing with excitement, and shock from her two sisters’ news.

  “Look at my daughters. All of my baby girls. So beautiful,” Lloyd’s eyes filled with tears and he swiped the back of his hand across his face. “I am so blessed to be your father. So thankful that you are all women of integrity, character, intelligence, strength, wisdom, your beauty is only enhanced by these things.” He came up and wrapped his arms around Valerie and Ella’s shoulders, tucking Merlina into his chest.

  “Valerie may be becoming a princess by the world’s standards, by society’s understanding, but you, all of my girls, have been Nubian princesses since birth. I love you all,” Lloyd said, his voice filled with emotion.

  “Love you too, Daddy,” Valerie’s voice echoed her sisters’.

  Lloyd stepped back and placed a kiss on each of their foreheads. “Now, let’s give your sister to Algerone properly, hmm? Can’t have that ol’ white boy thinkin’ I’ve been arie with how he just married my daughter without me ‘dere,” Lloyd said, his Caribbean accent coming out thickly as his emotions overtook him.

  Merlina and Ella hugged Valerie before they walked out the room to meet the rest of Valerie’s bridesmaids: Laeticia, Helen, Caroline, Toni, Lahni, Payola, Carmina, Hurti, Miakoda, Sitsi, Eloa, Vanya, and Rebecca—her sisters and all her college friends who were there in Spain to run with the bulls with her the day she met Algerone—to head down the stairs and down the long aisle to the altar. While Lahni had been in Spain with them, she hadn’t run with them, but instead had taken pictures of that memorable day. Valerie had them all wearing various shades of red, with gold or white silk ribbons tied around their waists, in honor of the Malvidencian royal family crest and the country’s colors.

  Valerie herself was wearing a long off-white dress, satin with a lace overlay that came up in an empire waist, with the front panel removed, to both detract from and highlight her pregnancy bump, depending on what side you viewed her from. A crimson sash was wrapped just above her belly, the bodice of her gown embroidered with raindrop pearls and diamonds, with a sweetheart neckline, and lace straps which were off-shoulder. On her hair, which hung in thick, black, loose curls, below her shoulders to the midd
le of her back, thanks to weave extensions, was a long off-white veil, that flowed down her back and was as long as the cathedral long train of her dress.

  Holding the veil in place were clips, hidden by the dazzling diamond-encrusted tiara Queen Araminta had given to her. Valerie had gasped and almost cried when she accepted her first “official” crown as Princess of Malvidence. It was only her mother’s admonishment to not ruin her makeup that prevented the tears from flowing.

  “Are you ready, baby girl?” her father asked.

  Valerie looked up and waved her hands in front of her face to stop the tears that suddenly sprung up from nowhere. Damn pregnancy hormones.

  “Ready, Daddy,” she said.

  She took her father’s elbow and walked with him out the door and into the hallway. They paused just out of sight and watched as Algerone’s brothers, her brothers, and his friends, as well as their children walked with her bridesmaids down the aisle to where Algerone and Augustus waited at the altar. Valerie noticed Duan whispering to Toni and narrowed her eyes when her friend smiled, her caramel skin showing hints of red in the cheeks. Augustus stared at Helen intently, his jaw tight as she walked on the arm of Algerone’s friend, Gabriel Worth. She knew Gabriel was married, his pregnant wife, My’chell was sitting in the audience of the chapel, so what was with Augustus’s expression? He was acting as if Helen belonged to him.

  Valerie knew that was something she would have to explore further. At the moment, her attention was snagged on Ella, who was her maid of honor, and the last to walk down the aisle ahead of her, frozen at the end of the aisle, staring at someone in the audience.

  “Daddy? Is Ella okay?” Valerie whispered to her father.

  Lloyd simply smiled. “She’s fine, sweetheart, just a little in shock. Your mama and I asked a little favor of your husband and it seems he came through.”

  Valerie opened her mouth to question her father further, but the sound of the music changing to the beginning strains of the Bridal March—a decidedly American and English tradition, not something the people of Malvidencian, especially the royal family engaged in—cut her off.

  “Save your questions for later, little girl. Let me get you to your husband, he looks ready to run up here and grab you for himself,” Lloyd stated with amusement.

  As Valerie walked with her father down the hallway of the chapel balcony, to the wide stairs leading to the end of the aisle, she looked at Algerone. Her husband. Her prince. The man she was about to marry again in front of all their friends and family. The nervousness of earlier evaporated, and excitement zinged through her. She tugged on her father’s arm to get him to speed up, huffing in frustration when he slowed her down.

  Algerone’s bouncing from foot to foot showing his own frustration and anxiousness to have her in his arms, made Valerie smile harder. Her cheeks hurting from her wide grin. She and her father paused at the end of the aisle so that the royal photographer could take a picture, and hand her the cascading bouquet of red roses and white hydrangea, with gold ribbons intertwined and flowing out, and taking another picture. Once the photographer had his pictures, Valerie and her father could finally make their way down the long aisle of the cathedral to where Algerone waited.

  The room was decorated beautifully, reds, golds, and whites tastefully filled the space of the cathedral in ribbons, flowers, sashes wrapped around the tops of the pew. Valerie and her father walked on a white carpet, trimmed in gold, with red roses, dropped by Chiamaka, My’lynda: Gabriel and My’chelle’s youngest daughter, Emerald: Antwaun and Amber’s daughter, and Saanvi: Eve and Farhad’s youngest daughter. They had been the most adorable flowergirls, Valerie had ever seen, each of them wearing white dresses trimmed in gold with white shoes.

  She smiled up into Algerone’s eyes as she and her father stopped before him. Algerone stepped forward to accept her hand, and her father wrapped their clasped hands in both of his. Looking at her father expecting deep, loving, and decades-earned wisdom, Valerie and Algerone both let out an explosion of laughter at what he did say.

  “There be no refund policy here, Son. She belongs to you now and we won’t take her back, so I suggest you treat her well, and treat her like she’s new every day.”

  Though Valerie could glean the wisdom that came through her father’s joke, and she also knew she would always be welcome in her parents’ home if she needed them, she appreciated her father attempt at levity in what could have easily been a moment too fraught with tension. Everyone inside the audience and the wedding party laughed as her father’s words echoed throughout the cathedral. Valerie shook her head at her father, then leaned up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his cheek.

  “Thank you, Daddy,” she whispered. “for everything.”

  Her father patted her cheek fondly. “Of course, anything for you. Don’t forget what I told you.” He lifted his eyebrows at her.

  She nodded at him. “I won’t forget.”

  Even without being married to a prince, she was a Nubian princess, just as her daughters were. And once she became a grandmother or reached a certain age, she would become a queen, and pass the mantle onto her daughters. It was something she wouldn’t forget.

  “Who gives this woman to be married?” the priest asked.

  “Her mother and I do,” Lloyd’s voice boomed with pride and emotion. He placed a kiss on her forehead, then turned to sit down.

  Valerie looked up at Algerone. “Let’s get married.”

  “Again,” he agreed with a smile.

  “We are gathered here today in the presence of God and His children present here to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. While a legal marriage in itself is simply a piece of paper, signed by two consenting adults to join their lives, homes, and hopefully their hearts together, holy matrimony, a marriage created by joining two lives, two souls, two spirits, two beings and hearts together, is much deeper. It is the connection of two people who have acknowledge that we are merely anchorless ships, flags blowing in the wind with no meaning or pole to keep us secured, unless we have love and the ties of others in our lives. Whether this is the love and ties of family and friends, or children, or significant others, we all need that bond, that anchor in our lives, else our souls will always be calling out into the void searching through the shadows for light,” the priest, an olive-skinned older man with kind, dark brown eyes stated.

  “Prince Algerone Smythe and Princess Valerie Hall-Smythe, took the steps required to build an unbreakable bond long ago. Before anyone could offer objections, or caution. They simply followed the beating of their hearts to one another, and because of their instinct to join their souls and fuse their spirits, they started a family, and lit the fire of a love that refused to be extinguished, regardless of the trials they endured. I have known Prince Algerone since he was a boy, and through all of his antics as a young man, there rested inside of him a warrior, and a seeker of truth. I knew that one day he would meet someone who would give him something to fight for, and reveal to him the truth, and the answers that he sought. The moment I met Princess Valerie, I knew Prince Algerone had finally met the woman to complete him, and bring the searching warrior, the wanderer to his peace and his home.”

  Valerie lifted her hand and discreetly wiped at the unshed tears in her eyes. When Algerone wiped them away with his free hand, Valerie smiled and turned to him fully. The love, possessiveness, and the peace she saw in his eyes gave truth to the priest’s words and caused Valerie’s heart to clench. She had spent so much time debating whether or not Algerone truly loved her, but to be on the other side of the look in his eyes, all doubt faded away. She knew she was loved. Totally and completely.

  Algerone looked down at her and grinned widely. Lifting her hands to his lips, he kissed both palms, before bringing them up to his chest and resting them there. “Two months ago, I saw the most beautiful woman I’d ever come across or seen in my life waiting to run with the bulls. And while I could tell she was nervous, maybe even frightened, she was encou
raging and offering support and comfort to another friend. I was enchanted by her good heart, her beauty, and when I spoke to her I was challenged by her intelligence. Seeing her talent when I visited her gallery showing stole my breath, but it was the moment we talked about our families, our goals and plans for the future and just speaking to her made me want to be a better man, that I’d known I was in love with her.” He placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “Valerie Hall, I love you, more than I thought was possible, and every day it just grows. I will spend the rest of my life hoping and trying to be a man worthy of your love. I will remain faithful and true. And more than that, I will always treat you as the princess, the queen, the goddess, the woman of worth, that you are.”

  Valerie felt her eyes flood with moisture as she remembered the first time she and Algerone had gotten married. As if he were remembering the same moment, Algerone’s blue eyes darkened and he mouthed: I always will.

  Tuning back into the priest’s words, Valerie knew that even though this wedding was spectacular and gorgeous, she would never forget her first wedding, on the balcony of Algerone’s hotel suite, with only their closest friends in attendance and Helen performing the ceremony. Because that was the moment she’d truly become The Princess of Malvidence, a royal secret to be sure, and yet, not a dirty secret, but a treasure waiting to be revealed at the right moment.

  “You may now kiss the bride,” the priest instructed Algerone long moments later. Valerie giggled when Algerone waggled his eyebrows at her, before scooping her up into his arms and taking her lips in a passionate kiss. Then the sound of applause and cheering faded from around her as she sank into her husband’s embrace.

  Algerone finally lifted his mouth from hers and winked. Valerie rolled her eyes in teasing annoyance, a smile perking up the corner of her lips.

  “May I present officially, though not for the first time: Prince and Princess Algerone Smythe, the Crown Prince and Princess of Malvidence!” the priest declared.