Page 22 of The King's Fake Bride

On the cover is Xander and a stunning blond woman sprawled out on the deck of a boat. I grab the magazine from the rack and hand money to the man watching me.

“Interested in the king?” the man asks, his accent thick. “You tourists always are. He’s nothing special, you know. He’s going to run Katastinia into the ground, and there’ll be nothing left of it.”

“Is he off on boats with women a lot?”

He shakes his head. “Not so much anymore. That’s a copy from months ago.”

I flip through the pages, and in the middle of the magazine is a massive spread of Xander and the woman. “He looks happy with her. Is she the queen?”

Maybe playing dumb is wrong, but I want more opinions on what I’m getting myself into.

If I can’t tell the people who I’m about to be, then maybe I can still fish for information.

“Not the queen. Most suspect he will never take one. More likely to get some poor woman knocked up on a luxury vacation and claim the bastard is next in line to the throne.”

Biting the inside of my cheek, I nod and turn away, tucking my magazine under my arm and continuing the trek back up the hill to the castle.

As stunning as a castle on a cliff overlooking the water is, getting back to it after being all the way down at the harbor is hard on the calves.

Eventually my muscles will stop burning.

I creep around to the side door, only to find Xander standing there with his arms crossed.

He glances down at the magazine tucked beneath my arm. “So, you snuck out and went into town and scared me half to death for a magazine?”

“No.” I shift, keeping my arm pinned tight to my body. I don’t want him to see what’s on the cover.

He’d ask why I have it, and then I would have to admit that I’ve been asking people in town about him. Then, I wouldn’t hear the end of it.

Either that or he would never talk to me again for snooping instead of asking him.

It doesn’t sound like a great way to start our marriage.

Xander pinches the bridge of his nose. His eyes show concern for me, but his body language says he’s upset. “You can’t sneak out of the castle like that. Not anymore. You have to at least tell your security team where you’re going to go. They need to go with you.”

“I don’t have a security team.”

“You do as of this morning. You’re going to need them.”

“Does that mean that there are people who will try to hurt me?” I ask, my heart leaping into my throat. “You didn’t tell me that was part of the deal.”

“Nobody is going to try and hurt you that I know of, but it cannot be ruled out either. There are people who want to see the crown fall, which is why you need a team following you.”

“Then why did you sneak out the night we met? You didn’t have anyone following you that I saw.”

The corner of his mouth twitches as his hand drops to his side. “Because I’m an idiot. You’re not, though, and you need to be more careful. Please. I don’t ever want to be told that the team can’t find you again.”

I nod. “Fine. I’ll take the team with me.”

Atticus comes charging over the moment we’re through the door. “You two need to get inside. We have things to do. News of the engagement went live early, and the wedding has been set for three months from now.”

My jaw drops as I turn to Atticus, eyebrows pulling together. “I thought we were going to be engaged for six months.”

He glares at Atticus. “What’s the meaning of this? Neither of us agreed to shorten the engagement. If there was a decision made to change it, we should’ve been consulted.”

“Yes, well, Jorge thought it better to expedite things. He took it upon himself to get the rest of the council to decide on a very short engagement.” Atticus sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Daphne and I voted against it, but we were the only ones who did so.”

I gape at both of them. “Three months? I have to walk down the aisle in three months?”

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