Bad Nerd Rising

by Grady, D. R.

  “Doesn’t the princess have to be a virgin?” Tia asked, curious again.

  “Technically that’s better, and I was, until that night,” Gracia said, but broke off. “If it was Aleksandr that night, he would have known.”

  “There wouldn’t have been any need for the examination, which Aleksandr would have also known,” Graham stated, obviously knowing how his friend and cousin thought. “He also knew it was him, not Gracia, who might be the cause of them not having children.”

  They all thought on that for a moment before Aleksi broke the silence. “Tia also pointed out that even if I am not Aleksandr’s son, he raised me like I was. So back to that technical factor, I would still be his son since he trained me to be the next prince.”

  “Yes, that is true,” his mother said. “But it sounds like you are definitely his.”

  “The prostate problems might have prevented you from having other children. That might also explain why Aleksi doesn’t have siblings. In addition to the lead poisoning,” Tia commented, as she connected more dots in this puzzle.

  “That’s correct. Our great grandfather only had one child and our grandfather two, but he married earlier than Aleksandr. We believe Aleksandr inherited the problem. And there weren’t good treatments at that time.” He glanced at Aleksi. “There are now.”

  “I didn’t inherit that problem.” Aleksi wiggled his eyebrows at Tia, who blushed again.

  “I wish Aleksandr had told me these things.” Gracia’s voice sounded so sad. “I could have helped.”

  “He didn’t, because he loved you.” Tia had to point out the obvious. Theirs had been a different relationship, and she knew she didn’t want one like it. She wanted Aleksi to love her like she loved him. And yes, those feelings bubbling deep inside were the direct result of her love for him. His illness and anxiety about his parentage, not to mention the amazing man he was, all cemented her love for him.

  “Yes.” Gracia’s sigh was soul deep.

  “I am relieved to know that I’m my father’s son,” Aleksi said. “Now that we have cleared that issue, may I sleep?”

  Tia laughed, and he grabbed her wrist and tugged her down for a kiss. She gave him one and contemplated another. Maks entered and immediately started an argument with Aleksi about drinking more fluids. Gracia, Graham, and she all waved goodbye as they left the patient in Maks’ capable hands.

  “Maks is another reason why I wondered,” Gracia said to Graham.

  “I know. Maria and I are amazed all the time by how similar they are. But Aleksandr and I do share the same genes. You know that brother and sister married brother and sister, so we were first cousins twice over. It would make sense our children are so similar.”

  “I didn’t know brother and sister married brother and sister.”

  “That’s how it was done back then. Royalty had to marry royalty.”

  “I see.” Tia glanced at Gracia. “You know, Gracia, if you’d like to make that visit to America, my family would adore hosting you.”

  Gracia’s eyes widened. “I’ve been horrible to you. Why would you extend such an invitation?”

  “You were horrible because of the lead poisoning. Aleksi said you’re nearly back to normal, as he remembers you.”

  Her eyes softened. “I’m happy to be back to normal. I had grown weary of myself. I still must undergo additional treatment. But I responded after a few days, so that heartened me.”

  “You’ve made astounding progress already.”

  “Yes, Gracia, you have. If you keep this up, you should be fine for the wedding.” Graham’s lips spread into a knowing smile.

  “What wedding?” Tia asked. Gracia seemed to know what he was talking about, so why didn’t she?

  “Her son’s, of course,” Graham said complacently. This time both of them sent her knowing looks.

  They also both laughed at the bright pink color she was sure flooded her cheeks because she could feel them burning.

  Oh, no, pink is not our best color, her rational side moaned.

  Doesn’t matter, we caught the prince, her irrational side purred.

  Tia made a hasty retreat.

  Chapter 25

  “How much of that did you hear?” Aleksi asked his best friend as soon as Maks closed the door behind his father, Aleksi’s mother, and Tia.

  Maks sent him an are-you-kidding look.

  “All of it, that’s good. Think it’s why Vlad had that trouble?”

  His friend shrugged. “Maybe he thought Dad also fathered you. But I’m not sure how he figured it out. Your dad never worried because he knew it was him that night.”

  “Maybe Vlad overheard something about my mother fearing it was your dad instead of mine who fathered me.”

  “But why would she say that aloud?” Maks paused to think but then went on before Aleksi could answer. “It doesn’t matter. Sounds like you are your father’s son.”

  “Did Emerson fill you in on all the details?”

  “Everything he heard your mother say earlier.”

  “Good. I don’t think I could have told you everything.”

  “That must have been a terrible shock. I’m glad we know everything now.”

  “Yes. It was also a relief to hear that nothing was going to stop him from marrying the woman of his choice,” Aleksi said. It was a good sign for his own future.

  “That sounds just like your dad.”

  Aleksi grinned. “It does. And makes it easier for me to choose my bride.”

  “I think everyone will be happy with Tia.”

  “She said the wells are still contaminated.”

  “She’ll figure it out. No one doubts her abilities. And while you were sick, she and your mother handled that pompous jerk from that private island near yours. He made some trumped up excuse that I don’t remember for ‘stopping by’.”

  “He was here?” Aleksi groaned.

  “Yes, and we all left Tia and your mother to him. They charmed him right out the door. It was a sight to behold Emerson said.”

  “You cowards left the women to handle things?”

  Maks raised an eyebrow. “We’re not stupid.”

  “Wimps, as Tia would say.”

  “She already did. She said we deserved to have our pay docked. That woman has no heart.”

  Aleksi laughed. “That sounds like Tia. She’s going to be a fierce princess, you know.”

  “We’re not worried. Hubert talked her out of her off-with-their-heads mood. He’s a handy boy to have around.” Maks grinned as he apparently enjoyed the moment again.

  “How long did the jerk stay?”

  “Eight hours. Tia, smart woman that she is, mentioned we were having well problems and everyone had to carry their own water for bathing and such. He left pretty fast.”

  “What a woman, and she’s mine.” Pride interlaced his voice.

  “That’s debatable.”

  Aleksi nearly fell off his bed. “What did you just say?”

  “I said that’s debatable. You haven’t asked her to marry you, so until you do, she’s up for anyone’s grabs, isn’t that the American term?”

  He glared at his friend. “She is not up for anyone’s grabs but mine.”

  “Maybe you’d better announce your engagement then.”

  “Tia wouldn’t look at another man now anyway.”

  “I’m sure she wouldn’t. It’s not her you need to worry about. It’s all the roués who come through here who’ll see that nice little unmarried morsel and want her.”

  Like he didn’t have enough problems. How did a man ask a woman to marry him from his bedchamber? It wasn’t romantic at all. And far below what his princess deserved.

  ***

  “Where did this data come from?” Tia asked Helena as she reread the results another time.

  “It came via the post today. None of us knew you sent out vials of water to be tested at an independent lab.” Her voice almost sounded accusatory, but overwhelming relief overrode it.

&n
bsp; “It’s standard operating procedure. I didn’t like to take chances with results this important. In the excitement of recent days, I forgot I sent these.” She tapped the data sheets as relief swelled.

  “We’re grateful you did because those tests reveal the wells are fine,” Jorge said behind them.

  “Yes, I see that. Why did our data read like it did while this came up fine?”

  “Who sampled the wells for the tests you sent out?” Maria asked as she trailed closer.

  “We did,” Jorge answered.

  “Who sampled the wells for the tests we ran?”

  “The water technicians... Oh my.” Helena’s eyes widened.

  Maria perked up. “Could they be our problem?”

  Tia frowned. “Have the wells continued to show contamination?”

  “Yes, they have.” Helena shuffled several reports and set them all out on the bench so they could see them.

  “Why don’t we go test these wells?” Jorge suggested. He tugged on his ear.

  The four of them agreed and grabbed their testing materials before they prepared to leave the lab. “Why didn’t we think of this?” Tia asked.

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Tia. We did train these techs on proper water testing techniques,” Helena said.

  “We tested those samples, and they were fine,” Jorge added.

  “Yes. The testers shouldn’t have been the problem, but I’ll personally be relieved if that’s all this is.”

  “So will we,” Maria muttered as the four of them paraded out of the lab.

  “Either way, we’ll know in a few days.”

  “Let’s hope,” Tia replied.

  ***

  “So how are you going to ask her?” Emerson, as usual, was being a pest.

  Aleksi sent him a death glare, which he ignored, as usual. “Who says I’m planning to ask Tia to marry me?”

  Maks choked on the sip of coffee he’d taken. It didn’t help Aleksi’s cause. “Thanks, pal.”

  Both of his friends grinned unrepentantly. “He’s going to say, ‘Tia, you’re marrying me,’ and not give her a choice,” Maks decided.

  “Nah, he’ll ask her over breakfast. ‘Tia, will you marry me? Excellent.’ Then he’ll go back to reading the paper and ignore her.” Emerson added his bit and Aleksi contemplated calling the palace guards to come and throw the pair out. Then he realized the guards would add their two cents, and then he would be the one who’d have to leave the room. Since he had a lot of work to catch up on, and it was his office, that wasn’t a good option.

  “I have a principality to run,” he growled.

  This created more guffaws, but his friends did take the hint and eventually left. He sighed and opened the secret drawer in his desk. There he had placed a family heirloom he removed from the jewelry vault. His father had long ago showed him the secret drawer and the ring he now inspected in the morning sunlight.

  The diamond, emerald, and sapphire heirloom reminded him of Tia. Of her beautiful blue-green eyes he loved so much. He knew the ring would look perfect on her finger. His grandmother had worn it, and she would have been pleased to see the ring on Tia’s finger. Especially her wedding finger. He knew she’d have enjoyed Tia very much.

  They were cut from the same mold. He had a difficult time believing this same woman had offered Aleksandr such a difficult time in choosing his bride. She certainly had proven very grandmotherly when it came to Aleksi. That special lady had never told him no.

  Maybe that’s why he selected this particular ring for Tia. It held excellent memories for him. And he wanted to create new ones with Tia.

  Now he just had to figure out how to ask her to be his bride.

  ***

  “I have the last of the samples from this building. Did you finish up the other samples?” Tia asked as she hurried up to the rest of her team.

  “We have all of them,” Maria answered.

  “Excellent. All right, let’s go back and test them.” Tia bit her lip.

  “It’s going to be fine.” Helena patted her consolingly.

  “It has to be,” Jorge muttered.

  Tia took a deep breath and followed them back to the lab. For some reason, her stomach kept rumbling ominously and she felt like sweat had broken out across her forehead.

  She’d been fine yesterday, and the day before, as a matter of fact. Right before Nick climbed on the plane for his seminar, he slipped in that she looked glowing and happy.

  That had been two or three days ago. Aleksi was up and about, and while still weak after four or five days of being so ill, he appeared to be improving. The palace had resumed normal activities. They could even stop boiling the water soon if today’s results were as good as they hoped. This was their third day of testing, and by today, they should have plausible data to allow them to determine once and for all whether the wells were contaminated.

  She figured the acid test on whether she was sick or not would be determined by how her stomach reacted to the odors of the lab. If it responded poorly she probably had caught what Aleksi suffered, if not... Tia took a deep breath before she entered the lab, but her stomach didn’t respond. After she set her sample kit on the bench she moved over to the incubator that held the first day’s tests and removed a stack of Petri dishes.

  “How do they look?” The others crowded around her.

  “These plates look fine,” she said and handed random plates off. Eager hands took them from her, and she heard her lab mate’s consensus.

  “The wells are fine.” Maria’s voice sounded relieved.

  “No more boiling water,” Helena said gleefully.

  “We better retrain those techs,” Jorge muttered.

  ***

  “That was the only problem? The techs didn’t sample properly?” Aleksi stared at Tia in surprise.

  “After we cleaned the wells, yes. The problem then was poor sampling techniques. Jorge has already set up a re-training session for them.”

  “So Rurikstani doesn’t have to boil the water any longer?”

  “That’s correct.”

  He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. “This is excellent news, Tia.”

  “Yes, I know. We did it. We fixed your wells.”

  “So what is wrong?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why are you not meeting my eyes?” He reached out and tilted her chin with his finger. When their eyes collided, he saw trepidation there.

  “That was the good news. I have some bad news as well.” She bit her lip. He hated to see such abuse, so he leaned forward and salved the abused flesh with his tongue.

  Tia seemed to lose her train of thought.

  “What is the bad news?” He had to keep the litany up in his brain so he wouldn’t lose his thought processes, too. That would be bad.

  “Um, the bad news is that you’re going to need a team to keep monitoring those wells.”

  “For how long?”

  “Indefinitely.”

  Hmmm, this information he could use. He leaned against his desk and surveyed her for a moment. She still had trouble meeting his eyes.

  “I see no problem in this.”

  Her eyes widened. “You don’t?”

  “No.” Aleksi stood and walked around his desk to that secret drawer. “It actually plays into my sales pitch.”

  She frowned. “What are you trying to sell?”

  “Rurikstan. Me.”

  He plucked the ring from the drawer and strode around the desk before he dropped onto one knee in front of her.

  “You?” Her eyes grew soft.

  “Tia Morrison, I think I have loved you since the first moment I set eyes on you. I do not want you to return to America. I need you. Please marry me.” Okay, so that all came out way too fast and a little clipped. He still held the small jewelry box open so she could see the ring he selected for her.

  Tia gasped and pressed her hands to her heart. “You love me?”

  “I have for as long
as I can remember. It just took me a long time to discover this.”

  “And contaminated wells.”

  “And contaminated wells. Wells that prove I have need of a professional to oversee for the rest of her life.”

  Tia grinned at him and leaned forward to kiss him. He nearly dropped the ring. Instead, he placed it on his desk as he rose to his feet and tugged her into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung.

  When they finally parted lips, he stared her down. “You did not answer me.”

  “What?” She sounded dazed, but a smile kept flitting around her lips.

  “Are you planning to marry me?” He held his breath, which wasn’t very comfortable.

  “Of course I’m going to marry you. I realized I loved you while you were sick.”

  He couldn’t speak, so instead he drew the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger. As he guessed, it fit perfectly.

  “Aleksi, this ring looks like it’s really expensive.” She fretted and looked scared. “Plus, I don’t like pink, am allergic to makeup, and I’m not graceful in high heels.”

  Now she spoke too fast.

  He tugged her close again, then picked her up and sat down in her seat, with her in his lap. “It is okay, Tia.”

  “It is?” He felt her swallow.

  “Yes. We shall ban high heels, pink, and makeup.” He held up a hand, palm up. “No problem, as you Americans says.”

  “We can do that?”

  “Of course. You will be the princess. You can do anything you wish. Actually, the people of Rurikstan love you because you fixed their wells. They will follow whatever you do.”

  “I’m not sure I want that kind of power.”

  “My mother will help you. And there’s Sara and Karis, and Helena and Maria...”

  “Yes, there are plenty of people to help me, aren’t there? Nick told me my niece, his youngest daughter, will come and show me how to walk in high heels.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes, Starla is adept at those sorts of things. Are you sure about this ring?”

  “It was my grandmother’s.” He smiled at it and then her, when she made a sort of choked gasp.