Page 2 of Mistaken as His Royal Bride

She harboured no bitterness or resentment at having lived a parallel life. She was inherently shy and not academic. In the infrequent moments when curiosity had driven her to look her sister up online, and she’d seen Laia’s poise and confidence in social situations, she’d always felt totally intimidated and relieved not to be in that position.

Her sister spoke five languages fluently!

Maddi spoke one.

So in fact she still felt very ambiguous about taking up her rightful place as a Princess of Isla’Rosa. The prospect was terrifying, and she wasn’t remotely ready, even though she’d spent the last year working as Laia’s lady-in-waiting. It had been Maddi’s suggestion when Laia had said she wanted her to return to Isla’Rosa with her.

Working for Princess Laia as one of her staff had afforded Maddi the chance to get to know her sister undercover, and also to get to know her ancestral home.

The last year had been a revelation.

She hadn’t expected to fall in love with the small island and its rocky landscape dotted with flowers, its pristine beaches and charming medieval main town, Sant’Rosa. Or the smiling, friendly people she’d immediately felt connected to.

She hadn’t expected to feel as if she belonged somewhere for the first time in her life.

She hadn’t expected to fall in love with her half-sister, older by nearly two years. She wasn’t just a sister—she’d become a best friend.

For most of Maddi’s life she’d kept people at arm’s length, aware of the huge secret she carried within her. Aware of the fact that her father had chosen to reject her before he’d even met her. She’d carried it like a bruise all her life, on top of the guilt and responsibility she felt for her mother’s exile.

Meeting Laia and going to Isla’Rosa had gone some way to soothing some of those very complex emotions. Maddi even hoped that her mother and Irish stepfather might return to Isla’Rosa for an extended period. But as yet her mother hadn’t decided what to do...

As they stood in the queue for food, Maddi smiled at Laia’s obvious enjoyment of the spectacle around them. She’d noticed in Laia a growing preoccupation recently as the coronation drew closer, and had suggested this trip as a diversion.

She’d said, ‘It’ll take your mind off things, and it’ll also help maintain your image of feckless socialite with nothing on her mind but fun, even in the face of huge responsibility.’

Laia had looked at her and then stood up from behind her desk in her office at the castle on Isla’Rosa and said, ‘Brilliant. Two birds with one stone. When do we leave?’

Maddi felt a prick of guilt that the burden of becoming Queen was all on Laia’s shoulders and always had been, even though it was totally irrational for her to feel guilty—she’d never been recognised publicly as a member of the royal family.

And, as much as becoming a princess terrified her, she knew deep down that it was her destiny now, and she owed it to Laia and her own mother to at least do her best to fulfil it. At least then her mother’s exile and heartbreak might not have been completely in vain...

At that moment Maddi noticed the sun glinting off something in the distance. It was a small sleek plane—a private jet—touching down on the runway. For some inexplicable reason a tiny shiver went down her spine. A sense of foreboding.

She kept looking back, and now she saw the tiny dot of what had to be a motor vehicle coming towards the festival, a plume of dust and sand in its wake.

‘What is it?’ Laia asked. ‘What are you looking at?’

‘A plane has just landed—a small one. Someone is coming.’

‘People are arriving all the time.’

Maddi couldn’t explain whythisarrival felt different. But now Laia was watching too, and as the vehicle got closer they could see that it was a black SUV with tinted windows. It looked official in some way. Officious. The opposite of the crowd and vibe around them.

Laia tensed beside her and said, almost to herself, ‘He wouldn’t have followed me here... I mean, I wanted him to see the pictures we leaked to the press, but to actually come all this way...’

Maddi knew who she was talking about. The man who had been growing more and more frustrated by Laia’s reluctance to meet with him, to discuss the fact that they were due to be married. She’d been promised to him in marriage since her birth. An archaic arrangement that had shocked Maddi when she’d first heard of it.

‘He’was King Aristedes de Valle y Montero of Santanger, the neighbouring kingdom to Isla’Rosa. Their marriage was to be a union to unite the two kingdoms, which were enjoying a rare period of harmony after hundreds of years of bitter enmity and war.

The only problem was that Laia did notwantto marry King Aristedes, because doing so would endanger Isla’Rosa’s independence. As the smaller country, it would naturally be dominated by the bigger, richer entity of Santanger.

Laia had a vision for Isla’Rosa. She wanted to solidify peace between the countriesnotthrough an archaic marriage pact but through modern diplomacy, agreements and trade deals. And she was afraid that King Aristedes—known for being a stickler for tradition and rules—wouldn’t listen to reason. That he would insist on the marriage and force her into it by appealing to her sense of duty and responsibility.

Laia was passionate about her country retaining its independence, and since she’d come to know and love it so was Maddi.

The car drew to a halt on the edge of the crowd and as Maddi watched, the driver got out and opened a back door. She held her breath. A man uncoiled his tall body from the back of the car, and she knew from Laia’s indrawn breath that it was indeed King Aristedes.

Maddi had never seen him in the flesh. Even though he was still at some distance she could see that he stood head and shoulders over most of the crowd. He was wearing a dark three-piece suit which made him stand out even more among the outlandish costumes. He started to walk through the crowd with a couple of men who had to be his security detail, also dressed in suits and wearing sunglasses.

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