Aidan: Prince of Sorenia (Dirty Princes)

by Imani King

  “You clearly don’t understand the concept of wanting time away from you,” I said trying earnestly to keep any sign of a sarcastic tone out of my voice. That was something that wouldn’t go over well with Mother.

  “I assume then that you received my text, and that is what this phone call is about,” she said not rising to the bait.

  “Yes. I am in Paris. You already knew that, though,” I said.

  “And you’re not alone,” my mother said. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement of fact. As I had suspected, the jig was up.

  “No, I’m not alone. Another reason that I was taking this time away from you and everybody in Sorenia.”

  “Aidan, I think your father and I have been more than understanding about the various dalliances that you’ve had over the last several years. But as I told you at the beginning of the summer, there was a time and a place for those things, and they had to stop. Now is the time that you need to start being concerned about your reputation and the public image that you’re presenting to your people and the rest of the world. You represent the future of Sorenia, and it is time that you put aside foolish things. Send the girl back to Scotland, and come home. Today.”

  “That’s not going to happen, Mother. There are some things that I need to tell you and father, and I will be coming back in Sorenia tonight. We can talk in the morning.”

  “You are to come back to Sorenia alone,” she said firmly.

  My voice rose with what felt like futile anger. “I’m not twelve, and you can’t tell me what to do. I will do as I choose. We’re talking about my future and my happiness here.”

  “What in the world would make you conclude that we don’t want you to be happy? But you have to realize that part of that has to include thinking about your future and your country. You were born to be king, Aidan. I would hate to see you throw that all away over another American girl.”

  “Her name is Eva, and she's not just some American girl,” I said feeling a flash of anger. "Why in the hell is she any different than Abby?" I was done with listening to my mother talk as if we were so much better than people who hadn’t been born into a royal family. It was all going to stop, and it was all going to stop right now. At that moment, I made up my mind.

  "Because you're the one who will be king. And the law says--"

  I cut her off. “You know what? After this conversation, I don’t think that I am going to come back to Sorenia right now after all. Clearly, you and father have an outdated impression or perception of your influence on my life. I am going to go to Scotland with Eva. So no, you won’t have to see her again, but you won’t be seeing me either. Until you and Father can figure it out that this is the modern age, and we don’t do things the way that we used to do them, I have nothing left to say to you.”

  I closed the line and stared at the phone in the palm of my hand feeling a bit relieved and outraged at the same time. I had never hung up on my mother before, and I had a feeling that she would make sure that I would regret making that decision. My phone immediately began to ring again, but I turned it off. I had no interest in speaking to her anymore.

  Instead, I got onto my laptop and started looking for plane tickets to Scotland. I would take Eva home. That was where she had wanted to go to begin with, and I had been the bullheaded one who had not been listening to her. It would make her happy, and hopefully, it would bring the rosy color back to her cheeks again to be in the place that she felt comfortable. After all of the discomfort I had put her in for the last several days, I owed that to her.

  I booked the tickets not caring how much they cost. Then I printed out the itinerary and went to find her. As I entered the bedroom, I noticed that it was vacant. Then I saw Eva come out of the bathroom. She had tears in her eyes. She had been crying.

  “What is it?” I said as I went to her. She was shaking like a leaf. I pulled her into my arms and listened to the sobs as she cried against my chest. I’d only been gone for ten minutes. I wondered what could have happened to put her in this state.

  “You have to tell me what’s wrong. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong,” I said.

  She pushed away for me then and wiped the tears from her eyes. “This isn’t something you can fix.”

  I had no idea what she was talking about, and it scared me to death. “Eva? Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “What’s wrong? What’s wrong you ask. I have been so careful my entire life. I never expected anything like this to happen. What’s wrong, Aidan? I’m pregnant.” The words came out in a kind of cruel finality.

  I felt myself go stiff in shock. To be honest, those were the last words that I ever expected her to say to me. I saw her watching my face as if she was examining it for something there.

  “My periods have been irregular my entire life, even being on the pill. I didn’t think much about it. But if I was to guess, I’m at least a couple months along.”

  Eva was pregnant. Pregnant with my child. This idea was settling in, and I realized it didn’t scare me. If anything, I felt a growing burst of something inside they could only be described as happiness. I gently put my arms around her shoulders and stared into her eyes.

  “This is fantastic news,” I said sincerely. “Forgive me if I’m not jumping around and bouncing off the walls quite yet. But know that I want you, and I want our child. I would give up whatever you want. Whatever it takes to be with you.”

  Eva looked at me with an expression of shock. “I don’t know what I want, Aidan. I’m just so confused. I want to go home.”

  At least this I had done correctly. I showed her the piece of paper in my hands. “I’ll take you home. I was already planning to do it.”

  She gave a small nod of relief. “Thank you.”

  I drew her into my arms again. This time she didn’t resist. “I love you, Eva. I want you, and I want this child. I need you to believe that. We’ll talk more when we get to Scotland. Let’s just get our things and get you home so you can rest.” It was no wonder she had been so sick. It hadn’t been a virus. It had been morning sickness.

  I felt her nod against my chest and knew that this had been the right answer. Everything else fell away for me. For now, I was focused on only this woman and my future. It was going to look a lot different than I thought, but in the end, I thought it was possible that it might be even brighter than I could have imagined.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  I was still in shock and awe that this was my life. I thought that everything had been so simple at the start of the summer. I had fully intended to go to Sorenia, stay just long enough for Abby’s wedding, and go home. I had planned to avoid Aidan at all costs to make sure that I didn’t do anything that could potentially ruin the rest of my life.

  Instead of sticking to that plan, though, I had thrown caution to the wind, and fate decided to send a couple of big life curveballs my way. When I saw Aidan again, I hadn’t been able to resist him. I let him talk me into staying for the summer. Even though I had insisted that we were not in a couple in a relationship, I had let him talk me into taking a romantic vacation to Paris. And then in the midst of all of it, my birth control which had kept me safe since I was eighteen years old, failed at the time when I needed it the most to keep me safe. It actually could have happened any one of the countless times we’d been together over the last ten weeks. I had no idea exactly how far I was along. I didn’t know why I was focused on that particular detail, but it felt important for me to find out.

  So far, Aidan had still been nothing but considerate of my needs. My morning sickness was growing worse by the day. I called the hospital where I’d gone for a few random check-ups since moving to Glasgow to make an appointment. I had decided to speak to one of the doctors I had seen before who I felt like could be discreet. After all, the last thing we needed was for it to get out that Aidan was expecting a baby out of wedlock with some commoner. I could just imagine that scandal.

  Aidan had assured me, though, that it would all be okay
and that wasn’t something that I needed to worry about. It didn’t matter how many times he said it; I was still going to worry about it. After all, this affected both of our futures in a pretty dramatic way.

  I had appreciated that so far, there hadn’t been any indication that he was going to dump me, say that the baby wasn’t his, or pressure me not to have it at all. Of course, I never would have pegged Aidan for that kind of guy anyway, but someone who wanted to get out of a terrible situation would do or say almost anything. Instead, I was starting to believe him when he said that he wanted the baby too. Although we hadn’t spoken any further about what was going to happen when he would eventually have to go back to Sorenia, he hadn't done anything to indicate that there was any question about keeping the baby.

  Of course, there had been a brief moment of time when I had considered that question for myself. I was only twenty-three years old. My mother had died when I was little, and I had no idea what it truly meant to be a mother. The whole idea scared me shitless, but I knew that would be the wrong reason to make a decision not to have the baby. I dismissed the idea almost immediately knowing that wasn’t the right choice for me.

  We went together for my doctor’s appointment, and I felt a kind of nervous flutter in my stomach. This was completely unexpected, and even over the last couple of days, I had noticed the slight rounding of my stomach. Aidan had seen it too and told me at every opportunity how beautiful I was. I’d been sicker than a dog. I knew that I didn’t look anywhere near beautiful, but I had to appreciate that he was trying to make me feel better. It was better than the alternative.

  Aidan wore jeans, a T-shirt and a ball cap. Even though to me he still looked exactly like the man that I saw in his media photos, so far we seemed to have escaped anyone recognizing him. Sorenia was a smaller European country after all, and in Scotland, people seemed far more obsessed with the royal family of England than anywhere else. I did hope that his disguise would be enough to ensure that no one gave him a second glance. Even dressed down, he was still hot as hell--and a man like that will always draw attention.

  We sat in the waiting room for several long moments, and Aidan took my hand and caressed my knee. I was so nervous. I didn’t know what to expect. I just wanted someone to tell me that everything was going to be okay. It hadn’t taken long at all before I had stopped worrying about myself, and instead, was starting to worry about the life inside of me. It was an odd sensation of having my thoughts turn to somebody other than myself.

  “I’m sure everything is going to be fine,” Aidan said. “Don’t worry about a thing.”

  That seemed to be Aidan’s famous line these days. He tried to pretend that he wasn’t worried about anything, but I saw the frown on his face when he checked his email. I knew that he had spoken to his mother at some point, and there had been tense words exchanged. I could just imagine what they were thinking about him and about me especially. The trollop who was stealing the future king.

  None of this thinking made me feel any better, but I couldn’t help it. It was my new reality. I was pregnant by the crown prince of Sorenia. We were still trying to figure out how we were going to navigate what this meant for both of us and for our child. I could barely think about it for more than a couple minutes before I would throw up. Literally.

  We were finally called back to the doctor’s office. The man was a kindly looking grandfather type, and his eyes passed right over Aidan and focused on me. I felt another bit of relief. Perhaps we were to get through this whole thing without anybody knowing who had knocked me up.

  “Eva, you look like you are having a hard time of it,” he said as we settled into our chairs across the desk from him.

  “It has been hard,” I admitted. “I had been sick for ... a week or more, and I took a test. It said positive so I made this appointment. I wasn’t sure what came next.”

  The doctor looked over my file. “Well, the good news is you are young and in excellent health. I’m sure everything is fine. But we will need to do a couple of routine checks today. One is that will want to confirm your pregnancy with a urine test of our own, and then, although it’s a bit early, we will want to do an ultrasound to do what we call a dating scan. That will tell us how far along you are.”

  I felt my heart start to thud in my chest. I knew in the movies that seeing an ultrasound screen meant that we could see the baby. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that reality check yet. It was still so sudden. But I nodded and followed his instructions. After doing the pregnancy test, they took me into the room with the ultrasound machine. Aidan didn’t leave my side once we stepped inside. He sat in the chair right next to me as I lay down, and the doctor helped me expose my stomach.

  “Are you ready to see your little one?” the doctor asked.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said under my breath.

  The doctor started the scan, and I saw the TV on the wall across the room light up. I realized that I could watch the same movements the doctor was seeing on his monitor screen on the TV on the wall. Aidan held my hand as the doctor began his scan.

  “Yes, good,” the doctor murmured as he began to take measurements from what looked like a small sack with a figure inside. My eyes glazed over in wonder. I could see the movement of what could only be the heartbeat in the middle of the baby’s chest.

  “Well, well, what do we have here?” the doctor said. He moved the ultrasound wand over to another part of my stomach, and I realized with shock there was another small flickering heartbeat on the screen.

  “So I take it twins must run in your family,” he said.

  “No,” I said faintly. I couldn’t believe what I saw on the screen. Now both of them were visible. Two small little babies with flickering heartbeats beating faster than I could ever imagine.

  I didn’t even know what to think or say. This idea had never crossed my mind. Not only was I going to be the mother of one child, but I was getting a two for one deal.

  The doctor took the wand away and moved to clean up my stomach. He helped me sit up back into a sitting position.

  “Well, some hardy congratulations to the both of you. This is some big news. Twins are a lucky sign.”

  “Thank you?” I couldn’t say anything else. I didn’t trust my voice to work and say anything that was going to be productive at that moment.

  “I’m printing out some pictures for you now, and I will put them in with the booklet of information for you to look over to help with any questions you might have. There’s also number there for you to call. But otherwise, everything looks fine,” the doctor said. He touched my shoulder and gave me a sympathetic look. “Believe me--it’s definitely a lucky sign with twins. I’m telling you. We’ll see you again in a couple of weeks. And in the meantime, stay hydrated and get plenty of rest.”

  He left the room, and I barely noticed. Aidan helped me get to my feet. He put his arm around my shoulders as we walked out to the lobby. I scheduled the next appointment but was glad that they put the time on an appointment card for me because I was barely paying any attention. Aidan took the small packet of information that they handed it to me. It wasn’t until we were back at my flat that anything was said between us at all.

  “Eva, I know this was a shock, but it doesn’t change anything from my perspective. I still want to marry you. So we can get married here and stay together as a couple, or I’ll refuse the throne. But I want you to know that now that I have an heir on the way, this changes things. We can return to Sorenia, if we want. That was something that I wasn’t going to tell you, because it didn’t make any difference before now. But if I have an heir, who I marry becomes irrelevant. I can still be king, and you can be my queen.”

  I stared at him as if he had grown another head. I felt a rush of rage. It was as if he hadn’t been listening to me at all. “Can you give me a minute, and stop with the royal talk! I have no interest in being a queen. And that would be even if my in-laws liked me. I’m not going to get married just because I�
�m pregnant. I’m not going to do that to my babies or to me or to you. I will think about it, but only if we figure out a way that this makes sense for all of us. So that’s great that you don’t have to give up your throne, but you forget that I don’t want to be a queen. I don’t want my babies to grow up like that.”

  I realize that my outburst had caused him to backpedal a little bit.

  “We can do this however you want, Eva. I’m sorry; I wasn’t thinking. Everything will work out fine. But I’m not going to leave you and the babies. We’ll work this out. If you want me to abdicate my throne, I will. None of that matters anymore. As long as we’re together, that’s the important thing to me.”

  I felt bad for my outburst. I put my hand against my head feeling a headache start to grow in my temples. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blow up like that. I’m still in shock from finding out that we’re going to have twins. I will think about marrying you. I’ve been thinking about it all along, and that hasn’t changed.”

  “That’s all I’ve ever asked for,” Aidan said. The irony was, I didn’t know what I was supposed to ask for in return. Now that my life had been upended times two, it seemed that I had a lot more to think about. But I knew that no matter what I said, I did want to be with Aidan. I just didn’t know how.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  I was in as much shock as Eva about the fact that we were going to have twins. It was also surreal. Six months ago, I thought I knew exactly what my life held for me, and so far, everything about being with Eva had changed that. But I wasn’t upset about it. I realized that my life had been confining and dull, and I wasn’t that kind of person anymore. Being with Eva had changed me for the better. I was excited about the possibility of what our future held even more now.

  The only problem was that we continued to argue about that future, and I was becoming increasingly aware that Eva was not planning on changing her stance about joining the royal family. It was one thing to be with me, but it was another thing to think about being in a position of being seen as a member of the royal family. I understood her reluctance and had hoped that I might be able to change her mind, but it seemed she was digging her heels in on this particular point. I needed more time to see if this was just something that was coming out of her belief that she couldn’t do it or if it was truly something she didn’t want to do.