Page 2 of Tempted By the Princess

“You two are going to make beautiful babies.”

I choked on my own spit as my parents and Hans beamed at me.

“Excuse me?”

“We’re going to announce your engagement tonight, Genevieve,” my mother said, as if that was something perfectly normal to say.

“My engagement?” I asked incredulously. “To whom?”

“To Hans,” my mother said, as if it was perfectly obvious.

“You didn’t know?” Hans asked, looking surprised.

“I did not. Mom, Dad, I need to talk to you. Alone. Now. Will you excuse us, Hans?”

Hans started to walk away, but my mother’s hand shot out, grabbing his wrist and stopping his escape.

“Whatever you have to say to us you can say in front of Hans,” my mother said firmly. “After all, he’s going to be family soon.”

I inhaled deeply, drawing on the last of my patience. “I’m not going to marry Hans, Mom. Why would you put either of us in this position?”

I spared a glance at my intended fiancé. He looked like he was hoping for a natural disaster to get him away from this uncomfortable conversation.

“I’m done waiting, Genevieve. We’ve given you time to find someone yourself, but you’re not even dating anyone. You need to get married before it’s too late for you to have children.”

“Evangeline isn’t married,” I reminded her. “And she’s three years older than me.”

“Your sister is busy learning how to be queen. She’ll be married soon enough, but in the meantime, it’s time for you to get settled and come home to Saint Marenne.”

“I’m not marrying Hans or any other man,” I said, my voice rising to a level of shrill that I hated even as I said it.

“No offense,” I offered to the visibly uncomfortable man watching our family drama. “I’m actually a lesbian. Which my mother knows very well.”

She’d figured it out pretty quickly when she walked in on me and my high school girlfriend in the sixty-nine position one evening.

“It’s just a phase,” my mother said to Hans.

I bugged my eyes out at my father, who remained silent despite his visible discomfort with the conversation.

“It’s not a phase,” I told her. “We’ve discussed this many times.”

“You’re marrying Hans,” Mom said in her ‘don’t argue with me voice’.

“No I’m not!”

We stared at each other for a long, charged moment. Then my father spoke up.

“It’s time for you to get married and take your rightful place in the monarchy,” he said. “You’ve had time to sow your wild oats. Now you will move back to Saint Marenne.”

I stared at my father in shock. I couldn’t believe he was going along with my mother’s harebrained scheme.

“I’ll make you happy,” Hans promised. “We’ll grow to love each other over time, I’m sure of it.”

Bless him, he seemed earnest. Kind. And boring as fuck.

“Excuse me,” I said softly. “I need to go to the ladies room.”

Without waiting for a response, I turned on my heel and left the ballroom. I didn’t need to use the bathroom, but I needed to get out of there before I caused a scene. At the end of the hall I saw an open door, probably leading to the alley. Deciding that I could use some fresh air, I rushed outside.