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CHAPTER TWELVE
THEFUNERALPROCESSIONtook over most of the island. The citizens of Theosia came out in force to mark the passing of their King, whose reign had been long and stable.
They were less sure about their new King.
But a week after his father was laid to rest, Zeus married Nina at last. They stood together in the island’s cathedral and spoke all the old words to each other. And new ones that were only theirs. That was the day he made her his Queen, though the coronation would come later.
Not without telling a few stories along the way. The papers were filled with all kinds of theories about the fall of wicked Prince Zeus—and how, perhaps, the most unlikely bride was the only one who could civilize the savage beast.
“This is utter nonsense,” Nina complained, sitting with him at the table in his morning room, the light he loved so much making her blond hair gleam like gold. Her brown eyes danced. “You were never asavagebeast.”
Zeus took that as a challenge. And by the time he was done, she was limp and smiling in the vast bed in the rooms they now shared—his rooms. Neither one of them wanted to move into the King’s traditional chambers.
They both wanted that light.
As much of it as possible.
“Your friends have all made a point of telling me that they’re disappointed you didn’t officiate your own wedding,” Nina said at the grand reception after their wedding.
Zeus looked over the press of well-wishers who’d crowded into the palace and saw Jag, Rafael, and Vincenzo standing together. They all lifted their glasses in a mocking toast. He inclined his head in return and reminded himself that he was a king now. He could summon his best friends and call it a treaty summit. He made a mental note to do just that.
“Pay them no mind,” he told his wife. “They are shocking reprobates, every one of them.”
She made a face at him. “No wonder you all get along.”
He and Nina danced and danced. And every day, she was lovelier to him. But perhaps never lovelier than she was then, wearing her stunning white dress, round with his child, and beaming with happiness.
Later that night, they stood on their balcony, looking out over the island that had always been his and was now hers, too. There were fireworks going off in all the villages, celebrating the kingdom’s new start.
And what it represented.
Hope.
“You’re mine first,” he told her, standing behind her as he had so many times—so he could put his arms around her and hold both her and their future close. “But from this day, you’re also Theosia’s. You belong to us all now, Nina.”
He wasn’t surprised to find tears on her cheeks again, even as she smiled with all her might.
“I will do you all proud,” she promised.
But Zeus was already proud.
Their son was born late, prompting idle speculation in all the usual places that the new Prince intended to take after his father. And maybe he would one day. But first, there in the palace with the medical staff standing by, he was a miracle.
Maybe an everyday miracle, but a miracle all the same.
Zeus held the tiny bundle with wonder and awe and looked down at the perfect little boy who he knew would take after his mother. If he had anything to say about it.
And they loved each other as best they could, year after year. Wholly. Fiercely. They didn’t always see eye to eye, but they fought hard to get back there. Every time.
The commoner Queen of Theosia gave the kingdom not only an heir but three spares. And they loved her for it.She made her royal children work with their hands as much as possible and treated any hint of laziness as a violent illness that required immediate attention. She insisted on kindness. She applauded thoughtfulness. She also loved them all to distraction, made them all feel adored, and was, without contest, the heart and soul of the family. And so, too, in time, the kingdom.Her passion was orphanages and lost children of any kind, and she became a patron of too many struggling organizations to count—at home and abroad.
Princess Isabeau of Haught Montagne, when reached for comment about her once-fiancé and the orphan girl she’d taken into her court so benevolently, never had a thing to say except that she wished them every happiness.
Not in public, anyway.
For his part, Zeus tried to learn from the first part of his life. He tried to love more. He worked hard at being good at all three of his important roles. Husband. Father. King. He hid himself less and less and found it more amusing than anything else how surprised people were to discover that in private, he’d been an excellent prince all along.
He took his stewardship of Theosia seriously but ruled with compassion.
