Page 3 of Princess Bride Swap

“She knows what’s expected of her,” Lyon said to his mother. To assure her. To assure himself. He’d had much longer to determine Zia’s appropriateness, but what was one sister compared to the other? Zia had known her role, and so Beaugonia did too. He had spent the past few months ensuring it.

Maybe he hadn’t met her in person as he might have liked, but he had made every other effort to ensure her offer was in good faith, and would not come back to haunt him. He had not found even ahintof scandal with Beaugonia, the little-known Rendall.

She was perfect. He’d make certain of it.

“We can still put this off, Lyon. Make certain she’s the right answer. It took us months to decide Princess Zia was the correct choice. You’ve switched over to her sister in a matter of days.”

Which wasn’t true. He’d been exchanging correspondence with Beaugonia for months. But he’d kept that from his mother, and he didn’t think it would assuage her fears any to let her know now.

Lyon turned to her and smiled. “I have it all under control. I will not disappoint, Mother.”

She studied him, her dark eyes impossible to read. But she smiled in return. “Your grandmother would be very proud of you, Lyon. You were her greatest hope.”

Yes. Grandmother had always told him that. He’d tried to carry that weight, but it tended to fit around his throat like a hand...squeezing. So much so that as a teen his mother had taken him to a therapist for his anxiety and he’d been put on medication.

His own failing, he knew, but his grandmother had never known, and he’d kept his anxieties under control thanks to those things ever since.

Lyon desperately wanted to loosen his tie right now, but he knew what his mother would say about that. She would worry even more than she already did that he was not in control of things. Particularly his own anxieties.

So he focused on keeping his breathing easy, his smile relaxed. He would make his mother proud, his grandmother proud—the way no man in her family ever had. It was his sworn duty.

His grandmother’s brothers had taken the role of crown prince with more and more disastrous results. Their children hadn’t fared much better. Divio had not seen a royal last more than two years in a generation.

Lyon would change that. And Beaugonia would be an essential part of it. She would be acceptable, she would know her place, and she would provide him with heirs, because this is what he’d decided.

And Crown Prince Lyon Traverso always accomplished what he decided.

CHAPTER TWO

BEAUGONIACOULDONLYstare at herself in the full-length mirror. She looked like an entirely different person in this beautifully elegant white gown. A whole team of people she didn’t know had swept in and done her hair and makeup. They had placed a glittering necklace of royal jewels on her neck. Her mother had provided a Rendall tiara.

Beaugonia was used to nice things, being a princess and all, but Zia usually got the full glamour treatment. Beau didn’t go to parties or events. She wasn’t seated at dinners. Herfaults, as her father liked to call them, had meant she’d been hidden away for most of her life.

So she felt a bit like she was playing dress-up. Like this was all make-believe.

She wished Zia was here, though Zia didn’t know what Beau was doing yet, by design. Zia would try to...stop this, no doubt. But she had Cristhian and the twin babies she was growing to worry about.

Still, it would’ve been nice to havesomeoneon her side with her. Beau felt surrounded by enemies. Which was an exaggeration of course. People had to care about her to be her enemy. None of Lyon’s staff thought much of her beyond their job. She was little more than a doll to them.

Her mother watched with shiny eyes and clasped hands like this was all a joy. And Beau wanted that to warm her, but she knew she was only in this strange position because her mother had never stood up for her. Or Zia.

Mother had never been anactiveenemy, but she had always been a passive one.

Father was somewhere, no doubt grousing about how she’d pulled one over on him, but he could hardly ruin anything without making their own kingdom look badly. So while he was an enemy, per usual, he was a neutered one.

Thatbrought Beau some joy. That and the fact that tomorrow they would leave, and she would not really have to deal with them much anymore. She would have her own life. Her own kingdom.

No more locked rooms. No more being hidden away. She would finally be...someone.

“You look beautiful,” her mother said, with tears in her eyes.

Beaugonia managed a smile at her mother. A woman who meant well but had no backbone. No...fight. She had let her daughters be bullied and threatened and manipulated their entire lives.

Beaugonia loved her mother, but she could not respect her, or lean on her, or trust her.

Beau was alone.

You have been on your own these past few months and you have done very well, she reassured herself.

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