Page 104 of Fit for a King

I gave him an unsteady smile. “Because you’re the king, and who would defy a king?”

“Now you’re getting it.” His answering grin reached his eyes, making them sparkle a lighter blue. This was my Nicholas, the man I’d fallen in love with, and now everyone was going to know.

I can do this, I thought as I took in a deep breath and gave Nicholas’s hand one last squeeze.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Nope.”

“Good.” He chuckled and rapped on the window. “Neither am I.”

Then the door opened and Nicholas stepped out of the car, but he never let go of my hand. Something I was grateful for, because my knees were shaking as I stood up.

As a rule, Montclair staff kept quiet, with just bows and curtsies for the king, but they had barely bent the knee when I stepped out too. Protocol went out the window as their wide eyes and soft gasps were all that I could see and hear.

Even unflappable Baxter, who had been waiting for the king at the foot of the stairs, hesitated for half a second before bowing deeply.

“Your Majesty. Welcome back,” he said, before inclining his head at me. “Bennett.”

“Mr. Bennett,” the king corrected him, and Baxter’s back stiffened. Whether it was from surprise or the fact that he’d never put even a foot out of line before, I wasn’t sure.

But he took the king’s words in and said, “Of course, sir, my apologies. Mr. Bennett, it’s nice to see you again.”

Nicholas smiled, and when I looked around at the expressions on the faces of my fellow staff—well, formerly fellow staff now, I supposed—I saw Charlie’s mouth fall open, his jaw on the ground. Violet, on the other hand, stood beside him, and when our eyes met, she gave a gleeful but silent clap and bounced on her toes.

I knew what everyone else was thinking: it went against every rule I’d ever learned, because footmen did not hold the king’s hand. They did not return to Montclair Palace in rumpled travel clothes with an old bag in the trunk and the king’s family ring on their finger.

As the driver took my bag out, I automatically moved to grab it, but Nicholas’s hand tightened around mine and he shook his head.

“That is not your place anymore,” he whispered, holding my gaze. “Reynolds, would you please take my fiancé’s bag up to my chambers?”

A shocked but excited gasp tore through the quiet, and it sounded a lot like Violet.

He’d really just put that all out there, letting everyone know who I was to him in no uncertain terms. Surprise filtered through me, but more than that, there was a warmth I couldn’t describe even if I wanted to. A sense of belonging, of pride, of love at that simple claiming from Nicholas.

My entire world had changed.

Reynolds took my bag from the driver, and as he walked up the stairs, I said, “Thank you.”

Reynolds stopped and turned, then bowed his head in my direction. “Sir.”

I blinked.

Sir? Did he mean me? I was sir?

I was in shock as Nicholas led us up the stairs. He leaned in by my ear and whispered, “Breathe.”

“I’m trying.”

He smiled and brought our joined hands up to rest them on his chest. “Well, if you faint, I’ll catch you.”

I hoped he made good on that promise, because I thought I might pass out just walking through the front doors of the palace—doors I’d never been allowed through before because I’d always taken the staff entrance.

But here I was, stepping through them with Nicholas’s hand in mine, at his side, like he’d vowed on the cliffs at my parents’ home. This was really happening, no matter that my brain couldn’t comprehend my new reality.

I was engaged to the King of Valoria.

We’d just walked through the main foyer of the palace, with its shiny marble floors and columns, when Gilbert came rushing out of the doors of the grand ballroom looking down at his ever-present tablet.