Page 32 of Guarding the Princess
“It seems Mr. Duke is needed back in California as his older brother has been arrested for an unwise association with an underage girl. The media is going wild.” He straightens and looks at the far wall with a bored stare like he didn’t just deliver a verbal bomb.
“What?” I stand up quickly, my chair tipping and rocking loudly as it tries to stay on all four legs. My extremities tingle, the first stage of fight or flight when adrenaline starts pumping and has nowhere to go. The news can’t be true. My brother would never do that.
The Queen looks at me coldly. “Seems you better get home where you belong, Mr. Duke.”
The insinuation is clear. I’m a stain on her family, a mistake on Charlotte’s record, an intruder who doesn’t deserve to be in the palace. I clench my fists and scramble to think of something to say that would change her opinion of me. The words don’t come because there’s nothing I could say that would succeed.
“Sir?” The butler is at my side, and though he looks old, I bet he’d put up a decent fight if I resisted his attempt to escort me from the room. Is this what my life has become? A fistfight with an elderly butler in a royal palace?
“Ryker, let me come with you.” Charlotte is a teal blur of activity, jumping out of her chair and coming to my other side, her eyebrows drawn together in concern.
The King stands next in this debacle. He doesn’t say much normally, leaving the orders and plans to his wife, but when he does speak, everyone listens.
“Charlotta, give Ryker some privacy. Let him call his family first and then you can both decide what to do.”
Charlotte looks at me, wanting my answer before she gives her own. I appreciate her dedication to stay by my side more than she’ll ever know, but I need to find out what’s going on with my brother before I drag her into this. If the allegations are serious, I can’t possibly be with her in any personal capacity. I’d tarnish her name as well.
I love her and I won’t do that to her.
Decision made, I give her a tight smile and pat her arm.
“He’s right. Let me talk to them and then we’ll chat.”
She clamps her hand down on mine and squeezes. “Okay. I’ll find you after dinner.”
And with that promise, the butler puts his hand on my back and gives me a push. I may not be right for this family, but no one has the right to push me, royal or not. I give him a death glare, to which he moves away a few inches.
I turn to the table, determined to be a gentleman to the bitter end. “Thank you for the lovely dinner. My apologies for the disruption.” I nod and head out the door, eager to get ahold of my family and set the record straight.
I can’t move on with Charlotte until I do.
But something tells me this may well be the final nail in the relationship coffin.
13
Charlotte
Dinner was a train wreck. Crash and burn, baby. First it was Mother’s overreaction to Ryker and me dating. Or should I say her belief that the relationship is just a farce to get me out of being Queen. Then the ill-timed phone call about Ryker’s brother being in trouble. Once he left the room, I had to endure the knowing smirk from Magnus the entire time I tried to eat the food that had turned to dust in my mouth. It comes as a relief when dinner is finally over and we stand up to leave. My only focus is on finding Ryker and finding out what’s going on.
“Charlotta. A word, please.” Mother snags me as I have one foot out the door.
Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard, which happens to be one of my favorite American phrases. Reminds me of one of my tutors over the years who had long nails which she’d let drag on the chalkboard as she wrote out my lesson. I begged Mother to upgrade to the twenty-first century and do all our work on computers after a few days of that torture.
I spin around and let the others leave the dining room before Mother speaks again. The lines on her face seem deeper this evening, but I can’t seem to dig up any sympathy at the moment.
“Why are you so opposed to carrying out your family duty?” Her face scrunches up like she’s sucking on a lemon. I honestly think she just can’t understand my need for freedom. “I’ve devoted my life to this country and raised you to do the same. I gave you three years to get this nonsense out of your head, but perhaps that was a mistake. I don’t understand why you continue to drag your feet. And making up some relationship with an American who is obviously no good for you is taking it too far.”
I straighten my spine. “You’ve never understood Rasmus’s or my need to get away from the constant pressure. The need to do things our own way. No one has arranged marriages anymore, Mother. Everyone is free to choose their own occupation. I should be given those rights as well.”
She flinches as I say Rasmus’s name. I know she endures the pain of his loss, just as I do, but we can’t continue to tiptoe around his suicide. It’s a national secret, but it shouldn’t be a secret in our own family. He deserves to be talked about openly.
She too pulls herself up taller. Her eyes go hard and I know there will be no reasoning with her today. “We are not discussing him. We are discussing you. To be named Queen is an honor, one you should be grateful for. I’m not opposed to letting you choose your own husband, but use good judgement. Marry someone good for the country, not some rebellious dalliance on your part.”
My heart sinks. I had hoped she would come around to accept Ryker, but I fear that may never happen.
“I wish you cared more about the good of your daughter than that of the country.”
With that parting shot, I leave the room and go to find Ryker. He needs me there to support him in whatever is going on in his family. I’ll have to fight my mother another day. What I refuse to do is give up on Ryker when we’ve only just begun to explore what we mean to each other.
