Page 6 of Mistaken as His Royal Bride

What the hell was going on now?

‘I can’t believe you came all the way to the festival to find me.’

Maddi was still trembling from the excoriating look King Aristedes had just given her. It was clear that he couldn’t be more disgusted by her. She cursed herself again for not taking more care to pack her clothes in the tent. For not at least grabbing a sweatshirt or jacket.

King Aristedes’s jacket was warm around her shoulders. His scent was tantalising, deep and complex. Tones of leather and wood and something more exotic. She imagined a dark flower, blooming in the rocks against the odds, sending out a musky scent...

King Aristedes said, ‘I was growing tired of having my invitations ignored or rescinded. Enough is enough. We have a pact to honour, and it’s time to get on with our lives as King and Queen of Santanger.’

Maddi felt a spurt of loyalty to Laia. ‘And of Isla’Rosa. You’d be King of our—’ She corrected herself quickly. ‘Mycountry too.’

He inclined his head. ‘That is part of the agreement, yes.’

Maddi’s hands curled into fists. ‘I don’t want Isla’Rosa to get lost in this agreement. The pact doesn’t say that we have to lose our independence—and yet that is what will happen, isn’t it?’

He said with casual arrogance, ‘Your marriage to me can only benefit Isla’Rosa, it needs investment to reach its full potential.’ And then, ‘There’s no reason why the privy council who are ruling until you come of age or marry can’t go on doing their very fine work. Let’s face it: they’ve proved their ability to rule during your...frequent absences.’

Maddi went cold. Laia had been right. He had no interest in her or her desire to be ruler of her own kingdom. Maddi knew that the members of the privy council appeared to be the ones with all the power, and in many ways they were. But Laia had been assuming more and more control since their father had died, and the council now deferred to her on almost every decision. She was no mere figurehead.

But of course King Aristedes didn’t know that, because her sister had been promoting an image of pleasure-seeking sybaritic socialite at every opportunity, in the hope of putting him off.

It was common knowledge that King Aristedes was famously serious and strait-laced. Unlike his playboy younger brother, Crown Prince Dax, who seemed to be his opposite in every regard.

Thinking of the King’s intransigence, Maddi said, ‘Are you sure this is a good idea? We’re not very alike.’

One of Laia’s complaints was that she wasn’t even his type. He seemed to favour tall, leggy blondes. Ice-cold and perfect. Laia and Maddi bore the features and colouring of their mixed ancestry—Roman, Greek and Moorish.

King Aristedes’s deep voice pulled Maddi back to the conversation.

‘It’s not about whether we’re compatible—it’s bigger than that. Our marriage will honour a peace pact made by our fathers to ensure long-standing harmony in the region.’

The father Maddi had never met.

It was as if King Aristedes was pushing against that wound, bringing it back to life.

Hadn’t her father ever wondered about her? Cared what had happened to her?

Loved her at all?

In a bid to stop her mind going to dark places, Maddi focused on the conversation at hand, while trying not to let herself notice how King Aristedes’s muscles moved and bunched under his shirt and waistcoat. She’d somehow imagined the King to be...softer. But this man was the opposite of soft. He resembled a prize fighter in civilised clothing.

‘So you have no objection to a marriage that is not built on common interests or love?’ she asked.

‘None. And nor should you. This marriage is an important strategic alliance. Maybe if our countries had done this a long time ago we wouldn’t have suffered so much war and hardship.’

Maddi had studied the history of Isla’Rosa, and by extension some of the history of Santanger, and from those early battles in the Middle Ages right up to the last battle in the last century, it had been brutal.

Maddi still found it hard to get her head around the thought of such carnage on the pretty streets of Isla’Rosa’s main town and in the clear blue-green seas around the island. Maybe King Aristedes was right.

Maddi immediately felt disloyal to her sister.

It wasn’t that Laia didn’t want to do her duty—she did, passionately—but she’d revealed that she wanted to do it with someone by her side who could offer a real relationship. Love and respect and loyalty to the crown of Isla’Rosa, as well as her, of course.

Maddi admired Laia for her idealism about love, but she couldn’t understand it personally because she had grown up watching her mother do her best to hide her broken heart. She’d married eventually, and she was now relatively happy, but Maddi had always been aware of the deep sadness inside her.

So Maddi couldn’t envisage what it was to strive for love. As far as she could see it just brought pain and destruction. It was somewhat disturbing to realise that King Aristedes was making some sense to her...

‘Where are we going?’ she suddenly thought to ask, belatedly.

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