Page 20 of The Heart of the King

That only happened once.

“How are you feeling?” Jasmine’s voice remained quiet, and her hand remained tucked in his arm.

“I don’t know. Not how I expected, but I’m not sure what I expected.”

A knock on the door broke through the tension in the room.

David stood up and buttoned his suit coat. “That would be Stewart or someone with paperwork for me to sign.” And in a couple of hours, a parade of sorts would travel from this home to the palace. He’d been told citizens were lined up along the anticipated route already.

Whether they would be wishing him well or criticizing remained to be seen.

Randall opened the door and let Stewart and the Chairman of the Council into the room.

“Your Majesties,” they said in unison as they bowed at the waist.

David nodded in acknowledgment. “I would imagine there’s paperwork for me to sign.”

“Yes, sir.” The chairman walked to the conference table and pulled a stack of papers out.

Taking his seat at the head of the table, they walked through the documents he needed to sign, including a new Orders of Precedence. Jasmine was now officially Her Majesty, Jasmine, Queen Consort of Auverignon. His brother, Gabriel - now the Prince Consort of Islas del Sargasso - was on the list, but his children wouldn’t ever be, unless something really strange happened. Then came David’s uncle and a few other people he rarely saw. An odd footnote made it clear that former monarchs, regardless of the reason they left the throne were specifically excluded from ever taking it again, though they retained their titles unless convicted of felonious behavior.

That was going to go over well with his father.

Once he finished, they all stood as the chairman and Stewart both left. David tilted his head toward the door. The photographer and Randall stepped out. He didn’t want to be alone, but didn’t necessarily want Jasmine there either. He’d barely seen her in the two days since they’d arrived at his home. He certainly didn’t know her well.

His parents’ relationship had always been toxic. His grandparents’ less so but still not something to emulate.

It wasn’t until he saw Gabe and Esme together that he started to realize that things could be better. He started looking at others, particularly royal families they had relationships with. He had watched Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip from a distance until the duke’s passing the previous year. He’d been able get a much closer look at King Edward and Queen Miriam of San Majoria - at least until the yachting accident nearly a year earlier. They were the only couple of the previous generation in a stable relationship, until Queen Mother Eliana married Thor anyway.

He wanted that. He wanted a good marriage. A strong relationship. This job wouldn’t be easy, especially since the popularity of his family and confidence in his abilities were exceptionally low. He needed to prove himself, while also somehow managing to move his government into the twenty-first century.

That meant a good relationship with Jasmine, at least on a surface level. Hopefully, a good relationship on a deeper level would come with time.

David knew he had a long way to go and likely had no idea what he needed to do to be a good husband or king.

Jasmine slid her hand into his elbow. “Now that it’s just us, how are you feeling?”

He turned and wrapped his arms around her. His family had never been overly demonstrative, but he found he liked holding her in his arms. “Overwhelmed. I have no idea how this is going to go. We still don’t know why we were denied entry to Auverignonian air space. There’s a good chance some of the palace staff are still loyal to my father. In general, the Council is a wild card, so who knows what they’ll do. Plus, my father still has to be sentenced, and the coronation is Saturday. It’s overwhelming.”

Her head rested against his chest as her arms went around his back. “Then I’ll pray for your peace.”

David had no idea six such simple words could lift a weight off his shoulders, but they did.

Maybe it would be okay.

7

Maybe it was time to stop ignoring text messages from her family.

Jazz had sent out a message that she was going out of country unexpectedly with a friend. She’d be in touch, but would be out of contact most of the time. It wasn’t the first time she’d taken off on a trip with little notice, though she’d never gone overseas suddenly before.

After all, in about an hour, she and David would be driving from his house to the palace, where they’d live from now on. She hadn’t heard anything about her identity really getting out. Her name was in the press release, but she didn’t think anyone had found her or her family yet. She needed to tell them before they heard about it onCelebNewzTonightor some other tabloid show.

She hadn’t seen David much since they arrived at the house. Against her better judgment, she’d looked up the photos of them arriving at the house. The comments weren’t exactly flattering but weren’t overly bad either. Most of them were reserving judgment until they knew more about her and what kind of queen she was going to be.

David mentioned in passing that she’d have an assistant named Marie and a stylist and several other people who would work for her. Jazz didn’t know how she felt about that.

Regardless, she didn’t have them yet, which meant it was up to her to decide what to wear and how to do her hair for this parade ride thing. It wasn’t really a parade, but wasn’t really not one either. They were going to be driving in a highly visible vehicle from the house where David had lived for the last couple of years to the palace where he’d live and work as king. The road would be lined with people. She turned on the television, listening to the commentary as she tried to decide what to wear.

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