Читать книгу Claiming The Royal Innocent - Jennifer Hayward - Страница 9
ОглавлениеARISTOS’S MOUTH WENT SLACK. Nikandros’s half sister. He couldn’t have heard her correctly.
“Can you please,” he said deliberately, “repeat that?”
Aleksandra, if that was even her right name, rubbed a hand against her temple. “My mother, Melaina, was Queen Amara’s lady-in-waiting. She had an affair with King Gregorios during her tenure at the palace. The queen knew about her husband’s indiscretions, but when she discovered the affair with my mother, it was one step too far. She fired her. No one knew my mother was pregnant. She went home to her village and raised me by herself.”
He blinked. “Why keep it a secret? By Akathinian law, you would have been a royal.”
“My mother knew I would be taken away from her if anyone found out. She didn’t want that life for me. She told everyone, including me, that my father was an Akathinian businessman she’d met while she worked at the palace who was killed in a car accident before I was born. It wasn’t until the king had his heart attack that I learned the truth.”
Thee mou. His head spun. The queen’s lady-in-waiting. The ultimate betrayal.
It was well-known that King Gregorios had indulged in countless affairs. But a child kept secret this long? Born to the queen’s most trusted aide? If true, it was a scandal that would put all before it to shame.
He scrutinized the woman in front of him. Was she telling the truth? Her skin was pale beneath her olive-toned complexion, the vulnerability that emanated from her a quality he didn’t think could be manufactured. Nor did he think she was a threat to anyone. She was not a practiced liar, that was clear. But he had learned long ago never to trust first impressions. Particularly when it came to a woman—the most deceptive creature on the face of the earth. One who wanted an audience with the king.
It hit him then, that same feeling of familiarity he’d experienced from the first moment he’d seen her. Those eyes... That particular shade of blue belonged to only one bloodline he knew. They were Constantinides blue. It was like looking at Nikandros and Stella.
His blood ran cold. She was telling the truth.
Aleksandra pressed her lips together. “I told you you were going to regret doing that.”
He closed his eyes. For once in his life, he did. He and the king had just gotten their relationship on a solid footing after an adversarial start. This he didn’t need.
“Just because you have the Constantinides eyes, as rare as they are, doesn’t mean your story is true,” he said roughly. “It will need to be verified, as I’m sure you will appreciate. You can understand my suspicions.”
Her eyes flashed. “Your suspicions, yes, but not your tactics.”
“Like I said, it took two to make that kiss.”
That shut her up. He paced to the edge of the terrace, his brain working furiously. They were smack in the middle of a royal function with every paparazzo camera, gossip and royal watcher in the country in their midst. This could not get out before it was verified and the ramifications considered. But that was the king’s job—not his.
He closed the distance between them. “What were your intentions coming here tonight? What do you want from the king?”
“I want to see my father. Talk to him. That’s all.”
He studied her for a long moment. Cursed under his breath and pulled his mobile phone from the inside pocket of his jacket. A phone call to the man in charge of security brought a detail in a dark suit out to the terrace.
“This is how this is going to go,” he said to Aleksandra. “You are going to stay here with him. You do not move from here, you do not talk to anyone and if you do, he will restrain you. Understood?”
Her eyes widened, skin paling. “Yes.”
She looked as if a good gust of wind might blow her over. Intensely vulnerable. His heart contracted despite his effort to stay distanced from the explosive situation unfolding in front of him. It had taken an immense amount of courage for her to come here and do what she’d done. He could only imagine how terrified she felt.
Closing the gap between them, he slid his fingers under her chin and brought her gaze up to his. “The king is a good man. You have nothing to fear.”
He, on the other hand, did, if she spilled what had just happened to Nikandros.
* * *
Alex’s heart thudded painfully beneath her ribs as her rather ominous-looking security detail nodded at her to precede him into the room. She stepped inside the palace library, its elegant chandeliers and wall sconces illuminating shelf upon shelf of precious volumes.
With her voracious passion for literature, the shelves might have stolen her attention had it not been fixed on the man who stood at the far end of the room looking out the windows, hands buried in his pockets.
She stood there, fingers biting into her tiny silk clutch as the king turned around and studied her, his expression intent. His eyes widened imperceptively, then that perfectly controlled countenance that made him vastly intimidating resumed its tenure.
He turned to Aristos. “Efharisto.”
Aristos nodded and headed for the door. She fought the crazy urge to beg him to stay—he who had threatened to put her in handcuffs and have her tossed out—but after a long glance at her that seemed to say keep your head up, you can do this, he left, the door clicking quietly shut behind him.
The king nodded at the two leather chairs beside the window. “Please. Sit.”
She obeyed, her weak knees only too happy to find a resting place. The king sat down opposite her. All at once, she was struck by how much they looked alike. The bright blue eyes, high cheekbones, dark ebony hair her brother wore short and cropped.
“You are Melaina’s daughter.”
“Yes.” She cleared her throat as the response came out faint, raspy. “You knew her?”
“I was only eight when she left, but yes, I remember her. My mother and she were very close.”
Until my mother had an affair with your father and was thrown out of the palace.
“Aristos has filled me in on your conversation. On your claim that my father is your father.”
She lifted her chin. “It isn’t a claim. He is.”
“Forgive me,” he said bluntly, “if I cannot accept that as fact. For over two decades your mother has kept you a secret, but now when my father is nearly in his grave, she’s seen fit to speak out. Why?”
“She was afraid I would be taken from her. She didn’t want my life marked by her mistake. She thought I would be better off with her, rather than carry the stain of my illegitimacy. But your father’s heart attack hit her hard. I think she realized she had made a mistake in denying me my birthright.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “So you came here tonight to...”
“Know my father. To know you and Stella. I—” Her gaze held his vivid blue one. “I don’t have any siblings. I don’t want anything else. I have a life in Stygos that I love.”
He narrowed his gaze. “You can’t be so naive as to think everything will stay the same if it’s confirmed you are a Constantinides. You will be of royal blood. Third in line to the throne.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want any of that. I am not so naive as to think I would be welcomed into this family given the nature of my birth.”
The king’s eyes flickered. “There is a...complexity to the situation. But if you are telling the truth, the blood that runs through your veins cannot be denied. It must be dealt with. Acknowledged. But that is dependent upon us having the facts. A DNA test will need to be performed.”
She nodded. Had assumed as much would be required. Knew she couldn’t have expected more. So why did her insides sting so much?
The king stood up. “I must get back to my guests. You’ll understand, given the need for security at the moment, if I have you escorted to a suite where you will remain for the evening. In the morning, we will address this.”
“Of course.” She got to her feet.
* * *
The beautifully appointed suite she was shown to at the back of the palace overlooked the formal gardens. It was done in gold and a soft moss green, the shimmery, wispy fabrics of the sweeping brocade curtains and the romantic overlay of the big canopy bed like something straight out of one of the fairy tales she’d devoured as a child.
When a maid showed up minutes later with a beautiful silk nightgown and inquired if she needed anything else, Alex fought back the hot tears that gathered in her eyes. She’d accomplished what she’d come here to do. She would see her father. But what she wanted in this moment was for her brother to have believed her.
She assured the maid she had everything she needed. Unable to sleep, she wandered out onto the terrace. The band, whose lazy serenade had been drifting through the open windows of the ballroom, stopped playing. Then there was only the buzz of the cicadas as she contemplated row after row of perfectly tended, riotous blooms in the floodlit gardens.
A quiet knock reached her from inside the suite. Frowning, wondering who it could be at this late hour, she padded inside and inched the door open. Standing in the dimly lit corridor stood the princess, still clad in her silver gown.
“I had to come.”
Alex stared at her sister. The princess’s startling blue eyes were counterbalanced by a wide mouth and the high cheekbones that were a signature of her mother’s aristocratic haughtiness. Arresting rather than classically beautiful, Stella stared back at her, all of her earlier poise stripped away, her carefully applied dramatic makeup standing out in stark contrast against the pallor of her skin.
Her quick intake of breath was audible. “Thee mou, but you two look alike.”
“Who?”
“You and Nik.”
Alex swallowed hard, a tightness gripping her chest. Her legs felt unsteady, consumed by the emotion of the day, as if one more blow would fell them. She forced herself to move past it, stepping back to allow her sister in.
Stella slipped inside and shut the door. “The party just finished. I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“I expect not.”
They regarded each other in silence, wariness and shock filling the air between them. She searched her sister’s gaze for the mistrust her brother had displayed, finding only bemusement and curiosity in return.
“The king told you I was here?”
“Of course not.” The princess’s lips curved in a wry smile. “At least not willingly. Nik is too protective for that. I overheard him and Aristos talking.”
Her lashes lowered. “He is suspicious of me.”
“My brother has to be cautious. He has a million grenades being lobbed at him every day with King Idas’s descent into lunacy.”
Alex bit her lip, chewing uncertainly on flesh she’d already made raw. “You don’t doubt my story?”
“When you look more like Nik’s sister than I do?” The princess shook her head. “My father’s affair with your mother was common knowledge. I think we’ve all lived with the possibility that something like this might result from his indiscretions. Although for it to happen now is a bit...startling.”
“I didn’t know. I only found out a few weeks ago.”
“Nik told me.” The princess regarded her silently. “I hope you are not disappointed. My father is an imperfect man. A great king, but an imperfect man. Manage your expectations. Do not expect him to be warm and fuzzy.”
“I thought my father was dead,” Alex said quietly. “I’m not sure what I’m expecting.”
The princess’s golden-tipped lashes fanned her cheeks. “I can’t imagine how you must feel. To find this out now.”
Alex exhaled an unsteady breath. “Confused. Bewildered. I’m angry my mother lied to me. I feel...betrayed. And yet I know she did it for the right reasons. She wanted to protect me. How can I be angry about that?”
“Easily.” Stella waved a hand around them. “She denied you this. Your birthright.”
“Is it?” A vision of her beautiful, serene village filled her head. “I love my life in Stygos.”
“You are a royal,” Stella countered. “A Constantinides. You could have had the world at your fingertips. Instead she took that away from you.”
Had she? Or had her mother given her the safe, loved existence she’d always known?
“Perhaps it’s about destiny,” Alex said. “Maybe mine was to live the life I have.”
“Perhaps.” A glimmer filled the princess’s eyes. “The life of a royal has its challenges. I will be the first to admit that.”
The reticence in her sister’s voice stirred her curiosity. “But the benefits outweigh the challenges?”
“I’m not sure that’s an analysis I can make.” Stella’s lips firmed. “Do I think it’s my destiny to be where I am? Yes. Would I have chosen it if given the choice? That is the million-dollar question.”
It certainly was. The cicadas buzzed their musical song as a silence stretched between them. Stella set a probing gaze on her. “I saw you dancing with Aristos.”
Heat rose to stain her cheeks. She had been hoping that part of the evening would go unnoticed. Her inappropriate behavior had been uncharacteristic for her, foolish, particularly damning in light of her mother’s scandalous reputation.
“It was a mistake,” she said quietly. “I was nervous. I’d had a couple of glasses of champagne...”
“Aristos has that effect on women.” The princess’s mouth twisted. “A word of warning. He takes what he wants until you are too blind to see the danger. Before you know it, you’re hooked. Then he turns you loose.”
She was clearly speaking from experience. Alex set her jaw resolutely. “It’s never happening again. After I talk to my father, I’m going home.”
The princess regarded her silently. “I just met my sister,” she said softly. “I find I quite like the idea of having one. It would be a shame to lose her so quickly.”
A throb consumed her chest. It grew with every breath, threatening to bubble over into an emotion too big to contain. Stella seemed to sense it, the thread that was close to breaking inside her. She stepped toward the door. “It’s late. We can talk in the morning. Better you get some sleep so you have a clear head as all of this unfolds.”
And then she was gone, her exotic perfume wafting through the air. Alex’s mouth trembled as she shut the door. She stood, leaning against it, every muscle, fiber, of her body shredded, spent.
As all of this unfolds. She was terribly afraid of the chain of events she had set into play tonight. A force she couldn’t retrieve. That in needing to know her father, by taking a risk that was so totally outside of her nature, she had not only stepped outside her safe little world in Stygos, but entered one that could consume her. A world her mother had done everything she could to protect her from.
