by CN Thornton
With a struggle, Theodore climbed out of bed. "Thank you," he said. "I have so much to get done today."
"Like what?" I asked as I followed him into the next room.
He gave me a sinister smile. "I cannot tell you, my princess. It would ruin the surprise. But you will know soon enough.
"Now, how about you go check out the Ladies Room? I believe my mother frequents it, and I think you would benefit from getting to know her."
He escorted me downstairs and then left as he went into an office. When the door opened, I heard voices, one I recognized as the king's. The other sounded a bit like Jeremy or James—I couldn't tell which because they sounded so similar.
I started down the hall to the leisure wing to go visit the queen but came to a sudden halt when I reached the doors to the library. I knew then what I had to do.
The second I logged on to Facebook, I went straight to my messages and started one to Liam. I had three unread messages from him, but I knew I couldn't read them.
I'm sorry if I ever mislead you, but I cannot allow what small connection we had to go on any longer. It was a pleasure being your friend, but know that is all we can be.
I think it is best if we no longer have any contact with one another.
I wish you the best in life, Liam.
I clicked send and then checked for a response from Sebastian. There was none, which had me worried, but I didn't have time to linger so I clicked out of the computer and left the library.
Meeting the queen was at the front of my mind. I hoped she would have some tips for me on how to survive the expectations of being a queen.
I was intimidated upon seeing the Ladies Room for the first time. Everything was so... not me. Too much pink, lace, frills, and flowers. In the center of the room, chairs circled a round table. A tea pot was placed in the middle of the table with three additional porcelain containers, and a saucer and tea cup sat in front of each placement.
A sitting area was in the far corner and sitting in one of the chairs was the queen. She seemed entirely absorbed in the book in her hand.
Holding my head up high, I crossed the room to stand before her. She glanced up and smiled.
"Emmaline, please sit. How are you feeling?" she asked.
With a smile, I took a seat across from her. "I am definitely sore, but it is a great day to be alive."
She dropped her voice and continued. "I was worried about you after I left you last night. The flogger isn't my favorite form of punishment."
I frowned. "Theodore saved me. He took some of the lashing for me."
Queen Victoria smiled to herself. "Yeah, he did. He thinks highly of you."
I sat up straighter, hanging on her every word. She explained how much his future relationship was important to him. He didn't want just a partnership, but a marriage. He wanted to feel connected with his queen.
"He told me that," I admitted.
Victoria crossed one ankle under the other and clasped her hands in her lap. "Are you nervous?"
"Petrified, about—"
"Officiating the marriage," Victoria finished.
I nodded my head. "It's weird. I can't do that with people watching!" I exclaimed.
"You must. It will be quiet and dark, and the four-poster has curtains that give some privacy. Just close your eyes and pretend Theodore is the only person in the room.
"Now, how are your periods? Have you received yours this month?" she asked me.
I felt uncomfortable discussing such personal details with a woman I barely knew, but I answered.
"Good, that is perfect timing. You might be able to conceive right away."
My face hardened. Me, having kids... being a mother... I couldn't do that. I didn't even know how to begin with that. And the crying... I didn't think I could handle a crying baby.
The queen noticed my tension and leaned forward to place a hand on my shoulder. "You're nervous—about all this. I understand. I was forced into an arranged marriage with the king. It wasn't a long engagement that started at birth like yours and Theodore's, but one that was thrown together in the course of two fortnights. Then I was a mother. All when I was just sixteen years old."
My eyes widened. An arranged marriage at sixteen. A mother by seventeen. And I thought I had it bad.
"It didn't get easier for me, because the king and I..." She paused. "I see the way you and Theodore look at each other, and I know things will be different because there is love. You will get through this."
Right. I could get through this. Theodore wasn't like King Edward—he was different in every way imaginable. Like Victoria had said, he loved me, and maybe some part of me loved him.
I smiled at Victoria.
"You are absolutely right," I said, in a voice filled with newfound confidence. "This can be a good thing. I think I can find happiness with him."
"You think?"
I frowned. "I'm used to my happiness being short lived. What if after all is said and done, Theodore realizes he doesn't love me, or that maybe he never did to begin with? What if I end up alone in all of this?"
"Theodore is the king's son, but he is also mine. When it comes to his temper, that's his father—but when it comes to loving someone so passionately... he learned that from his mum.
"Before your mother met your father, she was my lady in waiting. She was also my best friend. The day it was set in stone that you and my Theodore would one day be married, I made it a priority to raise him to be not only a strong monarch but a decent man. The thought of him one day treating you like Edward treats me made me sick."
"At first he was terrible," I admitted.
"I wouldn't doubt it. He was probably trying to do things the way his father would expect of him, but it was I who truly raised him."
That made sense, but I didn't want to think on that part of our... relationship. As far as I was concerned, that had been erased. Those moments didn't exist to me anymore.
After lunch with Queen Victoria, I visited Christine to tell her about my conversation with the queen. She, like myself, was set to marry the king's son—Theodore's twin brother. Unlike me, she had always been happy about the arrangement. She and Alexander had grown up together and clicked well.
She hadn't needed to be forced into this stuff. This life. Of course, she wasn't particularly fond of the role, but she definitely handled it better than I did. Christine had her own way of coping—the copious amounts of paraphernalia in the form of maps, drawings, music, and more that she kept in her room.
Thirty minutes into my visit, a knock on her bedroom door grabbed her attention. It was Alexander, but I easily mistook him for Theodore until I realized he was smiling. Theodore smiled, but not often. He had a more serious personality. Alexander, on the other hand, seemed to wear a grin all the time.
I quickly left and returned to my apartment to get ready for dinner. I was supposed to eat down in the dining room with the royal family today, and I was terrified.
Theodore escorted me downstairs and to the table. The second I sat down, I felt King Edward's eyes on me. It was like he was waiting for me to do something deserving of reprimanding in the form of flogging.
Dinner was... nice. Despite Queen Victoria, Christine, and myself not talking. Instead, we sat there and listened to King Edward and his two sons chat about random things. Turned out Alexander traveled a lot through the various kingdoms to oversee corporal punishment in the form of executions.
Any of the kings could administer sentences and punishments, but when it came to an extreme case like a prison sentence longer than a year or an execution, it was Alexander's job to go over the crime, the evidence, speak with witnesses, and give an officiating response.
Today he'd had to officiate the beheading of a woman who had killed her husband for raping and impregnating her thirteen-year-old sister.
I tuned everything out after that. I didn't want to hear about how it took four swings for her head to come completely off because the executioner had drunk too m
uch the night before and forgot to sharpen the blade.
When dinner was over, I was relieved. I couldn't have left the room any faster—at least without getting flogged by the king. I'm sure he'd find a way to make walking speedily an inappropriate offense.
My first official work as a queen would be to get rid of corporal punishment for petty things. I didn't like getting flogged for something as silly as walking around barefoot or speaking out of turn. Though, I would have to convince Theodore to pass the law. If he loved me as much as Queen Victoria thought he did, then there wouldn't be much of a problem. Right?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Another week whittled down and soon the palace was busy with maids throwing together decorations for the upcoming nuptials. I kept to my room as much as possible because I was terrified. Theodore made it a priority to check up on me as frequently as possible when he could get away from his work.
He finally divulged to me the reason he had been so busy lately—riots had been breaking out across the country of Linacre due to the rebels who weren't particularly fond of me marrying Theodore and leading the country alongside him.
It was the hardcore Linacrean's that felt my growing up in America tainted me with their customs. They were targeting me out of the fear I would destroy everything that Linacre was.
Despite my increasing worry, Theodore kept reminding me there was really nothing to worry about and that things would settle down once the wedding was over.
"They are just afraid of change. Nothing more. They will love you, I promise," Theodore would say every time I voiced my worries.
"They loved your father and will relax once we've been crowned. They'll see that their worries were foolish," he would add when I argued back about it.
None of it comforted me or changed the nightmare that frequented my restless nights. Every time I closed my eyes, the nightmare replayed in my head—people carrying torches and weapons, stampeding into the courts. Breaking into my apartment and taking me hostage. It was too much for me.
I had just finished my lesson for the day, this one taught by Queen Victoria herself. She had gone over her various philanthropy projects and explained the pros and cons, then had me come up with a few ideas of my own.
The idea of relaxing when I returned to my apartment was short lived when my ladies whisked me away to be changed for lunch. They explained that some of my guests for the wedding had arrived and I would be having lunch with them out in the gardens.
At fifteen minutes before noon, Theodore gathered me and we started down to the gardens. Instead of the small table Theodore and I usually ate at, I saw a long rectangular one with eight chairs around it—and several people already seated.
When I got close enough to actually make out their faces, I froze in my steps, jarring Theodore—who was walking arm in arm with me—to a sudden stop.
"What is it?" he asked as he turned his back to them and took my face in his hands.
"My mother—why is she here?" I rushed out.
Theodore leaned his forehead down to touch mine. "It is a requirement for them to be here during a royal wedding and coronation," he explained.
I closed my eyes against the world and took a deep breath. I can do this. I am the soon-to-be queen of Linacre. My mother shouldn't scare me, right?
I nodded my head and then held it high as we continued over to the table.
With a smile on my face, I greeted them. "It is wonderful that you could all be here." Along with my mother, my uncle William was here, as well as my cousin Camille, her husband, and their two sons. I smiled to each of them.
"You look beautiful, sis," Camille said to me. I bit my lip. It was clear she still assumed us to be siblings.
"Thank you," I replied kindly, playing along. When the time was right, I would come clean to her.
Lunch was served shortly after, saving me from having to make small talk with a family I felt so distant from. The wedding was mere days away and for once I wished it would come sooner, so it could be over with and they could all go home.
After the lunch dishes were cleared away, we were served a lovely wine. To my own surprise, it didn't take my mother long to lose her filter and jump in on the nag-Emmaline train she normally rode.
"You look frumpy. Did your ladies even bathe you today? Theodore, you might want to look into replacing those ladies; they are losing their touch."
Theodore nodded his head kindly to acknowledge her, then turned away.
"Sit up straight!" my mother snapped again, minutes later. "I taught you better than that." My brows furrowed as I looked at her.
"If I sat up any straighter, I would be standing in my chair," I retorted, rolling my eyes.
"What did you say to me!" she shrieked.
I scoffed. "Mother, silence."
This earned another fierce look from my mother before she shouted, "I will not be talked to in such a way. Do you not know who I am? I have half a mind to—"
"MOTHER! SHUT. UP," I yelled. "Do you know who I am? Or have you forgotten through sheer ignorance that I am soon to be the next crowned queen of Linacre. You will respect me, or I will have you flogged!" I threatened.
It was as if my mother's expression couldn't get any uglier. "You do not have the authority to make such threats," she sneered.
I pursed my lips. Theodore, then, to my surprise, placed his hand on mine. "But I do," he cut in. "I would appreciate it very much if you held your tongue for the duration of your stay. If I hear you so much as speak in an ill tone to my fiancée again, I will have you flogged." Theodore squeezed my hand reassuringly.
My mother did not speak a single word for the remainder of our lunch. And during dinner, she didn't even look my way. This ignited a warm fire deep inside me that seemed to only grow with every passing second I sat beside Theodore.
Halfway through dessert, he laced his fingers through mine and brought my hand to his lips. If the king hadn't been sitting at the head of the table, I probably would've melted out of my seat; but even I knew better at this point. Until I took the throne, he would have the power to flog me. Only after would that power rest solely in Theodore's hands.
The dinner lasted longer than normal, with seven courses, three desserts, and the spirits. When Theodore and I headed upstairs to my apartment, I was doing everything I could to keep my eyes open. I had eaten so much that I was practically in a food coma.
"Would you like to come in?" I asked him, hoping to spend a few moments talking to him before bed. I enjoyed listening to his Linacrean accent.
"I have something for you," he explained as he entered with me. "Once you have dressed for bed."
"What is it?" I called from my dressing room as my ladies began undressing me.
Theodore didn't say anything but just laughed, seemingly amused at whatever it was. The process of my ladies dressing me for bed seemed to take extra long as I was so impatient to know what it was Theodore had for me. He had never really given me a gift before, unless I counted the seafood he'd made sure to have available for me, and my father's things.
"So, what is it?" I asked curiously as I took a seat beside him in the sitting room.
Theodore rose to his feet and held out his hand. "It is an early wedding gift."
I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet, bringing me into his arms and kissing me chastely before leading me out of my apartment and into his.
"It took me a long time to sort things out, but I did it," he said as he led me to his sitting room. "Sit here." He gestured to the couch. Then he went into his bedroom, where I heard him muttering something.
"Eyes closed," he called out, and I closed them, grinning to myself the entire time.
I heard footsteps behind me and I took an anxious breath. Then he had me stand up and turn around.
"Open your eyes," he finally said.
I didn't think it was humanly possible to feel the way I felt in this moment. In a manner I knew was inappropriate, I jumped over the couch and into his arms. Seba
stian's arms.
Tears poured down my face as I wrapped my trembling arms around him. "I-I can't b-believe you are here!" I shrieked into his shirt. "B-but h-how?" I looked to Theodore, who had the biggest grin I had ever seen on his face.
He put his hands in his pocket. "Simple. I offered him a job and he took it."
"I can officially put being a photographer for the royal Linacrean family down on my resume." Bash grinned as he set me on my feet.
I walked over to Theodore and put my arms around him.
"I..." I took a breath, nervous about what I wanted to say to him. "I love you, Theodore," I said, and he suddenly wrapped his arms around me.
"As I love you." Then we were kissing so passionately, and the room around us slowly began to dissolve as if nothing else existed.
Only when Bash cleared his throat did I pull away.
"I know, I know, I cock-blocked you," he said, and Theodore gave a small chuckle before quickly composing himself.
I turned back to Bash. "You work here now? Does that mean you're staying?"
Bash nodded his head. "I have nothing left to go back to. Marcus and I broke up, so there was no reason to stay in that country, and I didn't want to go back to America and try to piece back my life there without my best friend. Of course, I have to wear Linacrean clothes and act all gentleman-like, and I'm pretty sure the gay scene is non-existent, but it's whatever. I'd rather be miserable with you than attempt to be happy without you."
"Oh, Bash..." I sighed. I had never seen him this lost before.
"Well," Theodore said as he glanced at the clock on the wall. "I'll let you get settled in and ready for bed and—"
"Where is he sleeping?" I cut in.
"My room, until I can have a room prepared for him." Theodore said, then bowed his head to Bash.
I gave Bash a quick hug before Theodore and I left and headed back to my apartment. It wasn't until my door was closed that the thought crossed my mind—where was Theodore going to sleep?