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“You did not have our blessing. I won’t allow you to remain in line for the throne as long as you’re married to that one.”
Torben has already considered that his parents would not change their feelings about me. About us. He is cool as a cucumber, and for a moment, I’m sad. Torben would make an excellent king.
But I wonder if he can do more by not being a king at all? Would he be better off as a man of the people?
“Then I abdicate. Etienne, congratulations. You’re the favored prince now.”
“The hell you say?” Etienne sits up on the sofa, the color gone from his face.
My arm is still hooked through his, and I squeeze his bicep. He looks down at me, and his expression is solid. Fearless. God, I love this man.
“You know what this means, don’t you?” the queen asks.
The king follows that with, “No more state visits. No more diplomatic meetings. You can kiss all of that goodbye. Everything you’ve worked for means nothing. It’s all down the drain. Think on that before you make a decision you can’t unmake.”
“It’s already made, Father,” Flora says.
“He can divorce,” says the king.
Torben, I feel, is about to blow his top at that suggestion.
“I have something to say,” I announce, swallowing when all eyes in the room slide to me. “Actually…” My words sound as timid as a mouse. I take a deep breath and start over. “Actually, everything that Torben has worked for does not mean nothing. Everything he’s done for you, studied for, and experienced, has made him into the man he is today. And there’s nothing that can take any of that away. You can’t unmake him.”
The queen slumps onto the sofa next to Etienne and begins to weep quietly. I think about my mother, who cried happy tears when I told her the news over the phone, and I ache to see her. I was worried Mama would be mad, but she wasn’t mad. She and Daddy eloped. So did Papaw and Memaw. Running off to get married is sort of in the Wild blood.
I desperately hope the queen comes around. I’m ready to accept her when she does.
The king? That will take more work after everything he’s said about me.
Etienne is still a jackass, but as the second oldest brother, he did sign the witness form after the ceremony, and did it sober. I may never fully trust a drunk, but we’ll see what happens after today. I’m willing to give him another chance.
“You can’t abdicate,” the king grumbles, sounding like a spoiled child who can’t have his way.
Torben, always the diplomat, lays it out. “This is for the best. I don’t need to be king. You can pay more attention to Etienne with me out of the picture. Give him a real job to do. He may rise beyond your expectations.”
“He’s a delinquent!”
“And whose fault is that? Spend some time getting to know him, and maybe he’ll surprise you,” Flora says.
The king says, “I’m better off amending the birth certificates and suddenly finding out that Sig is next in line.”
A breeze hits my face when Sig’s speedy exit from the room causes the door to slam behind him.
“I’m sorry to leave you like this, Father, Mother. But our car awaits to take us to our honeymoon,” Torben says, squeezing my hand, winking down at me as I blush.
The king’s back is turned, now clearly done with the two of us. His advisor informs us, “Under the palace rules set out by the king’s decree that you would be married by the end of May, you no longer have access to the vacation homes.”
Homes…plural. Got it. Oh well.
Torben smiles benignly at the advisor and says, “Not your circus. Not your monkeys.”
And with that, we exit, leaving all the privilege, history, and—gulp—money behind.
* * *
Torben and I spend our first night together as husband and wife at a small cottage on the island’s southern coast. The use of the place is a wedding gift from a local citizen, who heard through the grapevine about Torben’s decision to abdicate, with the invitation to use the cottage for as long as we need it.
The king had tried to keep it all under wraps, so the news spread like wildfire on social media, of course. You’d think the country would be mourning the notion of Torben losing out on being king one day, but it turns out this country loves any excuse to celebrate. And their Favored Prince finding love is as good a reason as any. And so, the outpouring of gifts had begun almost the moment we stepped out of the Arenhammer Plaza Hotel.
