Leopold: Part Five

by Ember Casey

  Stephan clears his throat—it seems like he’s lost his patience, not that he probably had much to begin with.

  I hear something that sounds almost like a growl come from Leo’s throat as he takes my hand in his. “My companion will be retiring to her chambers, Stephan. I’ll escort her there before I go to my father—”

  “You’ll both be seeing His Royal Majesty at once.” He motions us into the hallway. “And the young…” He clears his throat. “The woman will be leaving tonight as planned. His Royal Majesty will no doubt agree, now that you’ve both already undermined the arrangement he agreed to with this abominable behavior.”

  Leo tugs at my hand and we walk into the bright hallway, turning to face Stephan. Leo’s voice is low, almost growling. “As I said, I’ll be escorting Elle to her chambers—”

  “You’ll be following me to see your father.” The man sneers, narrowing his gaze at me. “Disgusting American filth…” He almost hisses the words. “Though I never could have imagined such behavior under His Majesty’s own roof—”

  Leo pulls his hand from mine, his fingers curling into a fist.

  I grab his arm as he’s reaching back, pulling at it before his fist can connect with Stephan’s jaw. “Leo, no!”

  Leo blinks a few times and turns to me. “I’ll not have him speaking about you like that. I’ll not have anyone—”

  “Stop trying to defend my honor.” I shake my head and pull his arm down to his side, trying to loosen his grip enough to take his hand in mine. “I’ve told you before, Leo, I’m not worth it. You need to stop—”

  “You need to stop, Elle. Stop saying that—”

  Stephan interrupts with a sound of utter revulsion. “You both disgust me. Now…” He motions down the hallway ways with his hand. “His Royal Majesty will be waiting.”

  It’s like a death march, walking through the corridors of the palace. Leo grips my hand more tightly than he ever has, almost like he thinks if he lets go, I’m going to bolt.

  He’s probably not far off if that really is what he’s thinking.

  Reckless. That’s what I’ve become—how I behave around Leo. And that isn’t who I am at all. Leo might be able to embrace each day as it comes—enjoy whatever the moment brings. But I’ve never been that way. Everything he says sounds good. Right, even. But things aren’t that way for me. And considering how the universe seems to always intervene, I know that this isn’t meant to be. That there is no room in my life for happiness. I’m not sure why I ever thought there could be. Blind lust—clearly there’s room for that—but happiness? Love? No. Not so much.

  I stop walking and turn to Leo. “I can’t.”

  He turns to me and frowns. “He won’t expect you to say anything, Elle. The blame lies entirely with me—”

  “Enough with this, the both of you. I demand that you follow me.” Stephan stamps his foot and crosses his arms over his chest again.

  Leo’s jaw clenches for a moment and he turns to the man. “Go fuck yourself, Stephan.”

  Stephan’s mouth falls open and his eyes widen. “His Royal Majesty—”

  “Go.” Leo interrupts, motioning with his head. “Run down the corridor and tell my father what I’ve said. And do know, Stephan, that as soon as I arrive, I’ll be advising him of the stunt you pulled with Elle this evening while I was preparing for dinner. How you betrayed his wishes and went behind his back.” He lifts a brow and motions with his hand. “Do go. I’m going to delight in telling him of how you offended a guest of the palace. How you betrayed him.”

  Stephan flinches every time the word betray is used. But he doesn’t cower away—he lifts his chin, almost in defiance. “Then we shall both delight in our conversations with His Majesty this evening, Prince Leopold.”

  As much as I might love seeing Leo win this particular pissing contest, it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t affect anything about what’s happened tonight—or how we really have already violated the terms of the agreement with our behavior.

  Why the hell couldn’t we have waited until we got back to my room? For the love of God, I don’t think I’ve ever been this out of control in my entire life. And I don’t like it at all.

  “I’m going to go, Leo. I mean, maybe it won’t fix anything between you and your father, but it’ll at least—”

  “No.” Leo’s jaw clenches again and he turns back to me. “I’m not going to say it again, Elle. You’re not going anywhere.”

  I’m not sure if it’s the situation or the sheer exhaustion, but tears sting at my eyes. I try to blink them back, but I can see in Leo’s reaction that he saw them, too.

  “Elle…” His expression softens and he pulls my other hand into his. “Please…”

  I shake my head and blink and blink and blink to try to stop it, but it’s too late. I know I’m going to fall apart as soon as the first tear begins to slide down my cheek.

  Leo’s gaze snaps to Stephan’s. “You see what you’ve done, you detestable piece of—”

  I hear a woman’s voice I don’t recognize behind us. “Leopold.” Her words are clipped, almost curt. “That will be all, Stephan.”

  Stephan bows his head and takes a few steps back. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  Oh. Fuck. No.

  A female Your Majesty can only mean one thing. Leo’s mother is somehow in the hallway with us now.

  But Leo doesn’t seem to care. He wipes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs before he pulls me into an embrace as soon as Stephan turns. And he holds me like that for at least a minute.

  I close my eyes and let myself believe—if only for that moment—that everything is going to be okay. That somehow this really isn’t a giant mess.

  The woman—the Queen of Montovia, for God’s sake—clears her throat softly after a few minutes of us standing there like that. Her voice is low and soothing. Kind, even. “We should speak somewhere in private.”

  Leo tips his head and places a gentle kiss on my forehead. He looks into my eyes, raising his eyebrows—asking me without words if I’m okay.

  I nod.

  He gives me the smallest of smiles and takes my hand in his again.

  The queen has already turned by the time I look over at her, and she’s leading us to a room in the middle of the hallway.

  She walks in first and waits beside the doorway until Leo and I have passed through before closing the door firmly behind us. She turns, giving me a small nod and motioning with her hand behind us. “Why don’t we sit down?”

  The small room is softly lit with a few table lamps. It’s not quite a library, but there are bookshelves lining the walls with a seating area in the middle of the room. Leo leads me to one of the sofas and we sit.

  The queen sits in a large armchair across from us. She’s silent for a moment, but she doesn’t appear to be angry. She’s looking at Leo with an expression I don’t quite recognize. She lets out a small sigh. “Leo, would you care to explain…?”

  His expression softens, too. It’s respect, I think. And love. Whatever it is, it definitely isn’t the kind of relationship I had with my mother. He stares at the floor for a moment before lifting his gaze to hers. “Mother, it’s entirely my fault. Elle should bear no blame…”

  Her lips curl into a tiny smile and she looks over at me. “So, this is Elle.” Her smile widens. “It is such an honor to meet you. I’ve heard so many lovely things about you and I do hope we will have the opportunity to get to know each other.”

  My brow furrows. “I…” I’m not even sure how to reply. “Me…too?” It comes out as more of a question than a statement.

  She chuckles. “You must be exhausted, dear. And starving—my son forgot to feed you this evening, didn’t he?” She glances at Leo, lifting a disapproving brow. “I’ll have dinner sent to your chambers. You should eat and retire for the evening. Tomorrow, we can discuss the arrangements for your stay in Montovia.” She pauses for a moment. “If you still desire to stay, of course.”

  If I still desir
e to stay? She obviously hasn’t heard about me breaking her antique settee.

  I open my mouth to reply, but Leo speaks first. “Mother, Elle and I will be sharing a room. I hope that doesn’t shock you—”

  She interrupts with a shake of her head. “It doesn’t shock me at all, Leo. But it also isn’t behavior that your father will lend his approval to.” She looks between the two of us. “You are both adults. And I expect you can be a bit more…discreet.”

  My cheeks burn at her words, but she’s right. We definitely can be more discreet. It’s keeping the damned lust in check that’s the difficult part.

  “Of course, Mother. As I said, it was my behavior that was imprudent. Elle should bear no—”

  “I’m an adult here, too, Leo. And I…” I hesitate for a moment, unable to meet either of their gazes. “I’m at least as much to blame. And I’ll pay for the broken furniture.”

  She laughs. “You’ll do nothing of the sort. I’ve always hated that settee, so you’ve actually done me a favor.” She folds her hands in her lap and looks between the two of us again, smiling. “I’ll speak with your father, Leo. But…” She pauses, her voice dropping slightly. “I expect he’ll want to speak with you tonight, as well. I will, however, convince him that your guest is in need of rest and is unavailable for a meeting this evening.”

  Leo nods and squeezes my hand.

  “Good.” She smiles and looks at me. “I’ll have dinner sent to your room, Elle.” She glances at Leo. “Escort your guest to her chambers, Leo. And by escort, I mean walk…” She grins.

  His cheeks turn pink, but he nods again.

  She stands and smiles down at me. “Very good. And Elle, we’ll have tea tomorrow afternoon. Just the two of us.”

  “Oh…kay.” My heart skips a few beats thinking about it, but I’m sure I can figure out a way to get out of it by tomorrow. There is still time to run away, after all.

  She nods again and turns to walk to the doorway. She glances over her shoulder before she opens the door. “Walk her to her room, Leo. And then come to see your father.”

  “Yes, Mother.” His voice is low, almost reverent.

  She walks out, leaving the door open.

  He holds my hand for a few moments before he speaks. “We should go to your room.” His voice lowers, but it isn’t in reverence this time—it’s lust. “We’ll have a few minutes before I have to see my father. We can finish what we began in the parlor—”

  I snap my head around to meet his gaze, interrupting him. My brow furrows. “Leo, we just got caught having sex. We were just lectured by the Queen of Montovia about our indiscretion, and you’re seriously asking me to finish?”

  “Well, I do believe we were both quite close to finishing, Elle. It would be a shame—”

  “Leo.” I shake my head. “Insufferable doesn’t even begin to cover—”

  He closes his eyes and grins. “I love the way you say that word, Elle. You have no idea what it does to me.”

  I groan. “I have some idea.” I stand up, pulling my hand from his. “Can you please just show me how to get back to my room? I swear to God, every door here looks the same. I have no idea how you tell them apart.”

  He stands and smiles at me for a moment. “Paintings.”

  “Excuse me?”

  He nods, motioning to a painting over the fireplace on the other side of the room. “The artwork in the hallways. It’s how I learned the rooms. Your room is three doors past my tenth great-grandfather.” He shrugs. “That’s how I remember them. Because you are correct—every door does look the same.”

  He holds his hand out to me and I take it. We walk back to my room in silence.

  Leo swings the door to my room open and I step through, but he doesn’t. He stands on the other side of the entryway.

  “I’m not inviting you in, Leo. My dinner will be here shortly, remember?”

  He nods and smiles. “I remember.”

  “Good.” I reach out, running my hand over his chest, across the crest on the pocket of his jacket. I have to force myself to ignore the pull I’m already feeling—the white-hot energy coiling up inside me again. “If you can be discreet, Your Highness, you may come to my room.” I pull my hand away when I see his eyes close. My voice drops to a whisper. “Later.”

  His eyes flutter open and he presses his lips into a line. I can see how difficult it is for him not to reach out to me—how he’s forcing himself not to touch me right now. His eyes are dark, probably a mirror of my own.

  But he takes a step back into the hallway and nods at me. He stares at me for a long moment before he nods again. His voice is only barely above a whisper, too.

  “Later.”

  Leo

  The last thing I want to do right now is speak to my father, but I have little choice. My body aches with unspent desire, and my head throbs at the thought of dealing with my father tonight.

  It’s your own fault for losing control, I remind myself. It hasn’t even been a night, and already I’m having trouble keeping to the conditions of my arrangement with my father. In my defense, though, I thought I was about to lose her again. That does things to a man.

  God, I wish Elle had let me punch Stephan. That man could use a good fist right to the jaw.

  When I reach my father’s suite, I straighten my clothes once more. While I’m not ashamed of what happened with Elle, I know better than to walk into my father’s presence flaunting any evidence of my indiscretion. I rap lightly at the door and wait.

  A moment later, Stephan opens the door for me, looking as sour as ever. I flash him my best grin as I stride past him. I have no intention of letting him win this little power struggle between us.

  My father is sitting on a small sofa next to the fireplace, my mother beside him. Though each of my parents has their own suite—another one of those traditional palace customs that my father is loath to give up—my mother often spends the night here, and I’m grateful for her calming presence tonight. Personally, I much prefer being as far across the palace as possible from the man.

  “Good evening, Father,” I say, giving a shallow bow. “Mother.”

  My father doesn’t look the least bit pleased.

  “I warned you, Leopold,” he says, his eyes hard. “I gave you a chance to prove yourself, and you’ve already broken the terms of our arrangement.”

  “Actually,” I say lightly, “I believe the terms of our arrangement dictated that I would stay out of the tabloids and avoid causing any scandals. Which I have done.”

  My mother gives a small shake of her head, probably warning me that cocky impudence will get me nowhere. She’s right, of course, but I refuse to let my father—or Stephan—know how much the events of this evening have shaken me.

  My father’s frown has deepened. “That settee was over two hundred years old. This isn’t a brothel, Leopold. I won’t stand for you indulging in licentious acts in places where we entertain foreign dignitaries.”

  My mother places her hand on his. “I think Leopold understands the inappropriateness of his actions.”

  “I do,” I say. “And I apologize for my impropriety.” As much as it pains me to ask for forgiveness from this man.

  But my father just shakes his head. “It’s been one night, Leopold. One night, and already you’re showing me that you have no intention of changing—”

  “Change takes longer than a night, darling,” my mother says to him. “Have patience with the boy.”

  My father’s eyebrow twitches. “We had a bargain—”

  “And I’m sure he is doing everything in his power to keep to that bargain. Come, Edmund—he’s young and very much in love. You know quite well what that can do to a young man.”

  If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear my father’s cheeks redden slightly.

  “That’s not an excuse,” he sputters. “He still should know better.”

  “I believe he’s learned his lesson,” my mother says. She looks up at me. “Haven’t you, Leopol
d?”

  “Yes,” I say, bowing my head. “I assure you, Father, it won’t happen again.”

  “It had better not,” my father says.

  I straighten my shoulders. “I promise I will be the picture of propriety from this moment forward.” Or at least make damned sure we’re not caught next time.

  My father’s brow is still wrinkled, but my mother’s gentle touches on his arm seem to be calming him.

  “I’ll not stand for such shameless, wanton acts under this roof, Leopold,” he says. “I cannot control your behavior when you are on the other side of the world, but while you are within this palace, you will obey my rules.”

  “I understand.”

  “Consider this your only warning,” he continues. “If you step out of line again, our arrangement will be forfeit.”

  I give another nod. “Understood.”

  I’m almost suspicious of how easy this is—normally my father would never come around this quickly. But my mother gives me a smile of encouragement as she squeezes his hand. This is mostly her doing, I know—and I suspect that this will be my one and only reprieve. Even my mother can only do so much.

  My father rubs his chin. Only recently have I become aware of how exhausted—how old—he looks these days. The weight of running a country—even a small one—is a burden I’m grateful I’ll never have to bear. But even fatigue is no excuse for his complete backwardness or his treatment of Elle.

  “You are dismissed,” he tells me with a wave of his hand.

  “Thank you,” I say, grateful to be able to return to Elle so quickly.

  As I turn to go, though, I see Stephan standing by the door and am reminded of how we all came to be here in the first place.

  “One more thing,” I say, turning back around. My mother gives me a look of warning, but I refuse to let that weasel get away with what he’s done. “Andrew has already said he would speak with you later, but I wanted to let you know why Elle and I were on that side of the palace in the first place. Apparently, before we came to dinner, Stephan paid a visit to Elle. Even though she is here as a guest of our family—even though he knew you and I had made an arrangement—he called her a courtesan and told her she wasn’t welcome here. In fact, he arranged for a car to meet her outside the servants’ door. You aren’t a man to go back on your word, Father, so I can only assume he did this without your knowledge or permission.”