Page 23 of Royal Bastard

10

Evie

“What do you mean, you’re a prince?” I stared at Henry, my mind in a thousand places at once. When I looked into his eyes, all I could see was my Henry, the man who loved me, who made me feel whole. I didn’t see a prince. I didn’t see a man born to wealth I couldn’t imagine. “I thought the king only had the one son, Michael or whatever his name is?”

“I have a brother, but he’s younger than me. My mother was the woman he abandoned. He married Sophie before I was even born. Michael was born two years later.” His voice was monotone, as if something inside of him had broken.

“So, you are a bastard?” The word didn’t sound right to me. It was a harsh word, an ugly word that in no way described Henry.

“A bastard prince, yes.” His hands dove into his hair and plowed blond grooves into it.

He was stressed, I could see it in the tightness around his eyes. I thought he looked to be in shock. Only yesterday he was my boyfriend and he’d defended me from Travis, and this evening he was a prince and wanted to take me to the palace.

“I am supposed to be there in an hour. Will you go with me, Evie? I don’t want to do this without you.”

I couldn’t resist his plea and took his hand.

“I would go to the end of the universe with you. I think I can handle the trip to a palace.” That was pure bravado, but Henry deserved all I had to give.

“Thank you, Evie.” He kissed my fingers, twined with his still, and stood up. “There’s a dress on the bed if you want to change into it. You don’t have to, of course, but I thought you might want something different to meet with the king.”

My eyes went wide as he spoke, and I realized he was totally serious. This was not a joke.

“Okay.” I went in to find a black velvet dress, elegant but understated, modest, yet somehow sexy with its A-frame outline. Silver buttons ran along the coat-style dress, and silver embroidered butterflies danced down the left hip the hem at my right knee. A beautiful dress, made for royalty. Fuck.

I slipped into it with my mind a sudden blank, and I hoped it would kick in to remember the etiquette we were all taught at school. I followed Henry to the car, through the parking lot, and into the palace where a guard met us. Or a butler, I didn’t know what he was; he was just dressed in a black uniform that could have been a guard’s or a butler’s.

My mind gaped at all of the riches displayed throughout the castle, but my face was blank. These were the riches of a king, the riches Henry had said he didn’t want when he first told me his father had called. I’d been surprised to hear him say that. I’d been floored when he’d said who his father was. Yet, here we were, in a palace. A real fucking palace.

This wasn’t my lifestyle, I knew that much. I doubted I could even afford to live in the servant’s quarters—even they looked posh in their crisp red and gold uniforms. A maid cast a glance in our direction as we passed her by, and I noted her skirt and top looked more expensive than my best suit. What was I doing here? I didn’t belong here.

I looked over to see Henry had his jaw clenched and knew he was just as nervous and felt just as out of place as I did. I took his hand as we followed the guard. On the surface he was calm and collected but I could tell by the tenseness of his jaw and the way he breathed through his nose that he was tense. He even walked stiffly, and I knew this appointment affected him in a way that nothing else ever had.

I wanted to pull him to a stop, to beg him to leave this place with me. I wanted to run away and I could sense he felt the same way. Unfortunately, the guard stopped in front a door and opened it before I could speak.

“His majesty, King Edwin of Eboracum, will see you now.” The guard clicked his heels, saluted the king, and left us to enter the vast library within. Books lined every shelf, nook, and cranny in the room. The palace dated back to medieval times and I wondered if any of the books did as well. There were thousands of books, but I did not see the king.

“I’m up here, Henry. Bring the woman with you.” A voice very similar to Henry’s, but older, called out from above.

I looked up to see a man in a pair of jeans and a black sweater standing on the floor above us. It was an open floor that only covered half of the room. The man was an older clone of Henry and I had to wonder how I hadn’t seen the resemblance before.

We climbed the set of stairs to the floor above and stopped when we stood before the king. He didn’t look much like a king, I thought. He looked like Henry’s father, but not very kingly. For starters, he didn’t wear a crown and he didn’t have a scepter. Just a tattered book in his hands.

“Ah, it’s nice to meet you finally, son.” The king looked Henry over with a critical eye and finally stopped with a pleased grin. “You look like me.”

“I had noticed that, yes.” Henry’s reply was stilted, and I knew he wanted to go home. This was not easy for him, but he hadn’t been able to refuse the command of the king.

“And this is your lady friend? Evie, I take it?” He turned to me and I was given the same perusal. “Pleased to meet you.”

The whole thing was far too surreal, and I had to wonder if I was asleep. I started to curtsy anyway, but the king stopped me.

“There’s no need for that. Let’s sit down.” He indicated an old oak table with four battered chairs around it.

“I know you must hate me, Henry, but I did what I thought was best. Things were not the same when I was with your mother. Society was changing but we were stuck in old conventions. Your mother was the child of a prostitute and her father wasn’t known. It may have been a mistake for me to leave her in the same situation as her mother had been left in, but I thought it was the only decision I could make at the time.”

For an opening line, I thought it was a stunner.

“I could understand how it would be hard to turn down a kingdom,” Henry said stiffly after we sat down with him to my left with the king across from us. “I’m sure you did what you thought was best at the time.”