by V Vee
Augustus had agreed with King Callum. He felt that the Weshians were up to no good as well, but instead of sitting in Malvidence, twiddling his thumbs, he’d decided to be proactive. First, he’d begged, pleaded, and bribed Valerie and Algerone for Helen’s new address. Even agreeing to watch Eckha and Eliava for them. That had done the trick, of course. Even with their new nanny: Leyah Meer, the new-again parents were exhausted between all seven of their children, being married, and being royals who were required to make appearances and take photographs. After Augustus had gotten Helen's address he’d sat down with Taylor and informed her that they would never be anything more than co-parents. That was it. Fin, finito, end of story. He was in love with Helen, he couldn't imagine living his life without her. It was an unbearable future. And while Taylor had nodded and said she understood Augustus had a very strong feeling that she didn't.
But it wasn't his problem. No. He was focused on finding Helen and claiming her again. He’d apologize. Beg. Plead. Kneel and prostrate himself before her. Throw himself at her mercy, then, once she forgave him, he'd claim her again. Perhaps go a little further and marry her.
But first, he had to apologize for coming to her home and attacking her ex-boyfriend who was apparently in a loving relationship... with someone else.
He rose from the couch and saw the moment everyone—not merely Helen—noticed that he was awake and cognizant. He walked toward the trio and clasped his hands behind his back. He nodded at the couple who sat at the table, wrapped around each other—watching him warily. Then he turned his gaze to Helen and drank in her beautiful features. Her big, full breasts, slender waist, and round, full ass. She had a body like Nicki Minaj, but with a face like an angel. Indescribable. Awe-inspiring.
Heaven-sent.
Which was exactly how her personality was, and her big heart. Helen was filled with compassion and understanding. He could only hope she would give him some that day.
He turned to Garrett and... Delta? That was the name Helen had used for the woman, wasn't it? He bowed low to them, a sign of remorse, respect, and repentance.
“Forgive me for coming into your home and not only attacking you, unprovoked, but for disrespecting your friendship with Helen, and your relationship with your woman. I have not only been raised to behave with a better comportment and to act with dignity as befitting a royal, but I never want to do anything—else—to hurt or embarrass Helen again,” he said with remorse coloring his words.
Garrett glanced over at Helen, then back at Augustus. “I appreciate the apology, but um…” He hesitated and shrugged his massive shoulders.
“Why are you here, Augustus?” Helen interrupted, her voice hard.
He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. “I came for you,” he said firmly. Helen shook her head.
“No. That means nothing to me,” she informed him. “Why are you here? And how did you even know where I lived?”
“Valerie—”
“I’m going to kill her,” Helen muttered, and Augustus chuckled, he stepped towards her to kneel directly in front of her. Taking her hand with his own, he firmed his grip when she tried to tug hers away. He wasn’t going to let her. Not now that he was with her.
“She’s not at fault here. I bribed her with a promise to babysit the twins.”
Helen’s gaze softened at the mention of her new goddaughters and Augustus unashamedly pushed his advantage. He would use every advantage given to him.
“They’re so small and so utterly beautiful,” he told her, his thumb rubbing the back of her hand. “I know you would love to see them, and more than that, I know Valerie would love to see you.”
Helen sighed and glanced away. Augustus was distinctly aware of Garrett and Delta rising quietly from the table and walking out arm-in-arm. He would have to give them a gift for accurately reading the fact that he wanted a moment alone with Helen. Once they were the only ones in the room, Augustus grabbed a chair with his free hand and sat in it. For long moments neither of them spoke. Augustus was scrambling, trying to remember the speech he’d rehearsed on the private plane that had brought him over from Malvidence. When Helen rose from her chair and tried to tug her hand free of his grasp again, he knew he had to simply speak from the heart.
“I’m so sorry, Helen,” he rushed out. When she paused, he rushed on. “I would love to say that I don’t remember sleeping with Taylor, which I don’t, but the fact is, I do remember waking up in her bed.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t believe it when it happened. I’d been so dedicated to you. I am so dedicated to you. Only you,” he clarified. “The fact that I woke up in bed with a woman who was not you was alarming, shocking, and it didn’t make any sense. Not then and not now. But,” he went on when Helen opened her mouth to interject. “That doesn’t excuse anything. I should have told you. I should have shared with you the fact that it happened. That I couldn’t recall the moment that had led up to me waking up in bed with her, but I didn’t, and for that I will forever be sorry. But just know, I don’t take the gift you gave me lightly. It was a big deal.
“I cherish that night, and every night following. I feel so honored that you trusted me enough to give me your virginity. To be with me, and my life has never been the same. My mind. My heart was ensnared by you in that moment,” he told her. “Just as you gave yourself to me, I gave myself to you.”
He knelt back down in front of her again. “I can’t let you go, Helen. You’re the only thing that makes sense in my world right now. Please forgive me. I worked things out with Lady Taylor, but I made sure she knew nothing would ever happen between us. Not now, and not once our child is born. Because I belong to you. I belong with you. And only you.”
Helen sniffled and Augustus’s heart broke as he watched tears run down her cheeks again. He’d hoped to never see that again. He would rip out his own heart with his bare fingers just to keep that sadness from her face. But he would never lie to her again. He trusted her just as much as she trusted him, and he needed her to know that.
“You hurt me,” she pointed out.
Augustus nodded. “I know, I’m sorry miora ruĝa. It is my biggest regret. You have no idea.”
Helen turned her gaze away from him for a moment, when she looked back at him, the trust and emotion that shined in her eyes gave him hope. Even if it was small, it was something. He had a chance. A shot.
And he wasn’t going to mess it up this time.
“I’m not saying we’re completely okay,” Helen said, she shook her head. “We’re going to have to talk and take some time but…” she sighed. “I will return to Malvidence with you, even if just so I can meet my new goddaughters.”
“I’ll take it,” he told her with a wide grin.
If he’d known what would happen when they finally got back to Malvidence, he would have apologized, then left Helen right there in Seattle. Away from him and the danger that had besieged his family. He loved her enough to have walked away.
And she was safe in Seattle.
In Malvidence, her life was almost immediately put in danger.
Chapter Eighteen
Malvidence
Leyah
Leyah pressed herself against the bookshelves in the library as she eavesdropped on the argument between Augustus and Helen. The two hadn’t been back from America for that long before Lady Taylor had gone into early labor and the doctors had done all they could to delay it. They’d been able to but still, Augustus had rushed to the woman’s side, only to return to an irate Helen. An abandoned woman. Someone who was still hurting over his betrayal.
Leyah had heard all about the wedding fiasco and she admired Helen for wanting to give the prince another chance. However, it seemed as though their second-chance romance had ended before it ever fully got the chance to begin.
“I’ve told you before, it was one. Time! I’m not even certain that the baby is mine! Why won’t you listen to me?” Augustus’s voice was full of anger and desperation as he ran his fingers throu
gh his hair and stared down at Helen, who had her arms wrapped around herself, looking stunning in a light pink gown. The fabric straining to cover her large breasts and big, round bottom.
“It doesn’t matter if it was one or twenty times, Augustus! You promised me. You said you would wait. Remember? You said you would wait. For me! Wait for me to be ready. Or wait until we decided we wanted to get married. Not wait until you were away from me for a week or so, get drunk, and then sleep with a detestable… harpy!” Helen shook her head and turned away from Augustus. “I thought I could do this. I thought it would be okay, that I could be a good Christian and forgive you. Forgive her. That the three of us could co-parent if you and I decided to be permanent…”
“We are permanent!” Augustus interrupted her urgently and angrily.
“But now,” Helen continued as if he’d said nothing, “I’m just not sure. Because the two of you: you and Lady Taylor, you’re always going to have this bond. This connection that I’m not a part of. Your child… your daughter, when she’s born is going to be important to you. Your first priority. And that’s as it should be, but that means you’re always going to be around Taylor. And that means every time you leave me, I’m going to be wondering if you’re off sleeping with her. Breaking your promise to wait for me again. To be with only me.”
Leyah’s heart broke as she watched Augustus step up close to Helen, his chest pressed to her back. “I did promise, and it was a promise borne of good faith. I promise you. I had absolutely no intention of sleeping with her or anyone else. I got drunk because I missed you, because I missed your face. And it’s your face, it’s you that I want. No one else. Not now, not ever.”
Leyah wasn’t sure what it was that Prince Augustus had just said but Helen turned around and stared up at him, tears rolling down her brown cheeks. When Augustus wiped away her tears with his thumbs and lowered his head to press a gentle kiss to her lips.
You are my future. My destiny. You are my princess. My forever. I love you.
Augustus’s words to Helen rang through his ears as he met up with Alastair at the end of the aisle, adjusting his clothing. He hadn’t meant to get so carried away with Helen. Not in the library where anyone could wander in and catch them, but as always, the moment their lips met, the passion that always simmered between them had exploded. He wasn’t sure if he was thankful for the sound of gunfire that had caused him to leave her, or if he wanted to find the culprits and rip them apart. When Alastair quirked an eyebrow at him, Augustus flipped him off.
“Don’t say a kythrar gracvoring word to me,” Augustus growled. “I was this close,” he held up his index finger and thumb an extremely small distance apart from each other. “I need to find out who the gracvor I’m going to kill.”
Alastair nodded. “Agreed.”
Following Alastair’s lead, Augustus reached into the shoulder holster hidden beneath his tuxedo jacket, pulling out his Mark XIX Desert Eagle .50 AE semi-automatic pistol and releasing the safety. Stepping to the doorway of the library with Alastair, Augustus peered around the side of the doorway, expecting to see bodies littering the floor.
Seeing nothing, Augustus looked at Alastair in confusion.
“Hopefully they aren’t holding them all in one room,” Augustus muttered, his eyes narrowing, and his sky-blue eyes darkening.
“Is that likely?” Alastair whispered. Augustus led the way down the hall back toward the ballroom with Alastair following.
“It’s what I would do,” Augustus confessed. He stopped and looked at Alastair. “It’s what I have done.”
Alastair’s eyes widened for a moment, but Augustus refused to expound upon the methods he used as a solider in His Majesty’s Military. He had no remorse or guilt for the methods he’d had to employ in order to see a mission completed successfully, but that didn’t mean it was something he wanted to rehash. As they drew closer to the room they’d all vacated moments earlier, the strains of the orchestra playing reached their ears.
Why was the orchestra still playing? Were they the only ones not shot?
Augustus and Alastair came to the closed ballroom doors and stopped. The doors were closed. They hadn’t been shut when Augustus had taken Helen to the library earlier. The sight of Jeffrey Weshian, meandering through the crowd, gushing over the birth of his newborn granddaughter with “Prince Augustus”, speculating on when the prince was going to make an “honest woman” out of his precious daughter, had driven Helen into a rage and Augustus had needed to speak with her before she either chose that moment to use profanity for the first, or did something worse.
Like leave him again.
Inhaling deeply to calm his racing heart and still his muddled and frantic thoughts, Augustus held up a closed fist, preparing to give his younger brother the signal to breach the ballroom. They both held their guns at the ready as Augustus counted down from three. Before he reached one, the doors swung open and they both pointed their weapons at the head of the person on the other side.
It was only the sound of a feminine scream, then the thud as she hit the floor that let Augustus know that perhaps what they’d heard wasn’t exactly the murderous attack they’d assumed it was. He moved his gaze over the well-dressed guests who stood staring at him and his brother, then over at the guards who stood beside the open French doors that led out into the garden.
The garden where fireworks were currently being set off, to the screams and squeals of delight of some of the women in attendance. Alastair groaned, and when Augustus looked at him, Alastair’s eyes had slid closed. Alastair was the first to slide the safety back on, then placed it back in the holster, before gesturing for Augustus to look out at the garden with his head. Once he had, Augustus shook his head, put the safety back on his own weapon, and put it away.
“I am so sorry, Lady Lemieuge,” Alastair apologized as he helped her up from the floor.
“What the hell are you two thived isris doing?” Algerone hissed as he rushed over to them.
“We thought we heard gunshots and screams of terror and fear, so we came to check it out…” Augustus replied, his voice trailing off in confusion.
“Where were you that you did not hear your kothrar announce that we would be setting off the fireworks in the garden if anyone wanted to see them?” Queen Araminta asked as she came forward to stand in front of them, her hands on her hips.
Augustus swallowed sheepishly as he looked over at Alastair who looked… embarrassed. He’d never seen that expression on his younger brother’s face before. Had it been any other time he would have teased the younger man, but with their mother glaring at them, he knew it was a good moment to do so.
“We um… we were…” Alastair stammered.
“We were in the library,” Augustus answered, his voice determined and sure.
“Together?” Algerone asked, narrowing his eyes.
Alastair nodded his head. “Yes. Augustus was helping me find books on the history and the people of Waldakan. I want to know more about their reasoning for the Rebellion and see if I could find a way to help His Majesty arrange for a peace treaty,” Alastair stated, quickly coming up with an explanation.
“Hmmm,” Queen Araminta squinted at them as if assessing the truthfulness of Alastair’s statement. Augustus kept his face an implacable mask as his mother narrowed her eyes at him, then at Alastair. While that wasn’t why he and Alastair had been in the library, it was something that was plausible and easily believed. While Augustus was a soldier, he was also a student of psychology, and thanks to Andreas’s work with locating some of Helen’s biological siblings, and discovering the truth of her adoption, Augustus had become very fond of history and other countries as well.
His mother nodded after a while and turned back to their guests who had been doing an abhorrent job of trying to pretend they weren’t listening to their conversation.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the interruption and the distracting, and yes, fearing presence of our sons: Prince Augustus
and Prince Alastair, with their guns. However, they thought our fireworks sounded like real gunfire and your screams of delight, ones of terror. While this seems alarming, I want to reassure you they mean you no harm, and I think, perhaps we should all feel safer that our princes would run into battle to protect us from an attack, don’t you think?” Queen Araminta asked in a persuasive tone.
When the crowd murmured their agreement and began talking amongst themselves, calling Alastair and Augustus “brave” and “heroes,” Augustus knew his mother had handled things perfectly. He opened his mouth to thank her, the same time Alastair opened his own, but stopped when she held up her hand.
“Save it. You two will be discussing this with your kothrar and I tomorrow after breakfast. I do not believe you were in the library, alone,” she said firmly.
Valerie rushed up to them, just as Augustus was scrambling to come up with some excuse that would accurately satisfy their kuthrar, holding the gown of her emerald green dress in her hands. The color made her brown skin shine, and Augustus was glad to see his sister-in-law up and moving around freely again, having lost her baby weight already.
“Have either of you seen Helen or Leyah?” she asked breathlessly. “I can’t seem to find either of them.
The skin on his neck heated when his mother turned to glare at him and Alastair. Looked as if they’d just been found out. Augustus was certain that Helen would be gone from the library by the time he finished smoothing things over with the woman who had given birth to him. He would simply have to find her and try again.
Wonderful.
That evening found both Augustus and his youngest brother Alfie inside the gym, shirtless, sweating from the exertions of their workouts. Both of them there due to problems with women—just as Alastair was, who’d just stepped into the room—Alastair nodded at the other man as he went into the locker room to change, before coming out and grabbing tape to wrap his hands.