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It wasn’t possible. Her parents would not have agreed to such a thing because they would never force her to marry a man she didn’t love. It simply had to be a mistake on Arthur’s part. She narrowed her eyes and gazed at the blond man standing in front of her. He looked a little peaked, his cheeks red and his eyes glassy.
“Arthur.” She put her hands on her hips. “Have you been drinking schnapps again?”
The loud snort of laughter came from her left, her brother making no attempt to hide his amusement. When she glancedright, she noticed the corners of John’s mouth twitching, but he was much better at containing his reaction to her question.
All the occupants of the room knew why she was asking. Over a decade ago, when she and Arthur had both still been teenagers, his family had been visiting hers one summer. Arthur had been introduced to schnapps by her father and had indulged a little too much in his new favorite tipple. Both families had discovered him swimming in the large fountain smack bang in the middle of the gardens, and since the evening had been quite warm, he’d removed all his clothing before doing so.
Her parents had been incredibly amused by Arthur’s drunken exploits, but his, not so much. She’d told John about the evening after the first time he’d met Arthur, because the prince had been a pompous prig to her bodyguard.
Arthur’s gaze became steely as he stared at Nyssa. “No, I have not been drinking schnapps!” he hissed. “And I’m not making this up, Nyssa. You know me better than that.”
Her face softened. She did know that. Arthur may have been a lot of things, but a liar he was not. “I know you’re not.” She kept her tone warm, trying to soothe him, because she was beginning to suspect something was very wrong. “I’ll speak with my parents about it.”
Following her hunch, she reached out and took his hand in hers. “What’s really going on here, Arthur? You know you can tell us if something’s bothering you.”
His face suddenly distorted as though he was in pain, and suddenly the mood in the room changed rapidly. Any trace of laughter disappeared from Erik’s expression, and even John looked concerned. Arthur squeezed her hand, and her heart began to ache. Something was terribly wrong, and her irritation at his earlier behavior was instantly forgotten in the face of his distress. “Oh, darling. Tell us what’s wrong. Perhaps we can help.”
Erik placed a hand on the other prince’s arm. “Nyssa’s right, Arthur. If we can help, we will.”
Arthur’s shoulders sagged, as though he were literally carrying the weight of the world on them and it’d suddenly become too heavy for him to manage, and his chin dropped so he was staring at the floor. “You can’t help. There’s nothing anyone can do.”
“Do about what?” Nyssa squeezed his hand in support.
They gave him a few moments to compose himself, and he opened his mouth as if to speak but then closed it again, shaking his head.
“Would you like me to step out of the room, Your Highness, so you may speak freely?” John’s question to Arthur made her heart swell. That he was offering to leave and referring to Arthur by his title was a show of respect, and she loved him all the more for it.
Arthur sized John up for a few moments, his gaze blank. Then he let out a long, almost painful sigh. “No, it’s okay, John. I appreciate your offer but since I’m quite sure Nyssa will only confide in you later, you may as well stay.” Taking a deep breath, he pivoted slightly toward the two Dubois siblings. “We’re broke.”
Of all the things Nyssa thought he might say, that was not one of them. She exchanged puzzled glances with her brother. “You’re…broke? Whatever do you mean?”
“Our money. It’s gone.”
She blinked. All of the European royal families came from old money. They owned property and possessions worth millions, and the reigning monarchs received public subsidies. “I don’t understand, Arthur. How can your money be gone?”
He tugged on the bottom of his shirt, clearly uncomfortable. “It’s a long story.”
“We’ll make time to hear it.”
Without being asked, John went over and picked up four chairs off one of the stacks surrounding them. Erik helped him flip them over, and the four of them sat closely together in a square. Nyssa took the seat opposite Arthur and gave him a smile. “Would you like a glass of schnapps, darling?”
Arthur let out a dry laugh. “Why not? Just don’t let me near any fountains.” His quip broke the tension and made them all smile.
John stood again. “Schnapps it is. I’ll be right back.” It only took a couple of minutes for him to return carrying a small silver tray with four glasses on it. Two contained schnapps, which he gave to Arthur and Erik. The glass of white wine he handed to Nyssa, and the tonic and lime he kept for himself. Technically, John was on the job even though he was attending tonight’s ball as her date, so she wasn’t surprised he’d decided to abstain from drinking alcohol.
She sipped her wine, pulling the hem of her ankle-length gown up a little so she was more comfortable. The four of them looked more like friends sitting around for an informal chat, rather than three royals and a bodyguard.
Arthur brought the glass John had handed him up to his lips and threw the alcohol down in one go, which made him cough and screw his face up. Erik looked like he wanted to say something, but Nyssa shook her head slightly and he closed his mouth again.
Once Arthur had downed his liquid courage, he began to explain. “Several years ago, Father began to make some investments. I warned him against doing so; it wasn’t as though we needed the money, after all. But he met this man at an event who promised to double his investment, and after speaking with others decided to invest a lot of our money in a new start-up company, which was apparently making great strides in technology.”
Nyssa’s heart began to sink. She could already tell this was a story that didn’t have a happy ending.
“This sounds vaguely familiar,” Erik volunteered.
“Yes, it might. I believe my father spoke with yours about it, although Uncle Olivier was smart enough to decline the invitation to invest.”
“Ah, that’s why. Yes, I remember Papa mentioning it a few years back.”
