Page 16 of Falling for the Queen Mother

Alaina still sat in the prim and proper way a former queen would be expected to. Her back didn't touch the chair behind her. One ankle was tucked behind the other with her legs angled to the side.

In contrast, Queen Elise - who had yet to speak - sat all the way back in her chair with her legs stretched out in front of her then crossed at the ankle. As a long-time actress, the current queen knew how to be the sophisticated public figure she was when she needed to be, but it clearly hadn't seeped into her everyday demeanor just yet. It wasn't the default like it seemed to be for Alaina.

Without waiting for anything else to be said or decided, Alaina stood and turned his direction. "Nathaniel, perhaps you would join me in my office for a longer discussion about the matter?"

He didn't hesitate to stand next to her. "Of course, ma'am." The incongruity of calling his wife ma'am wasn't lost on Nathaniel.

Alaina gave him a slightly odd look then walked toward a side door. He bowed his head toward the current king and queen then followed in her footsteps. The door led to a small hallway. She turned and walked down it until they reached another small door.

Rather than moving behind her desk, she took a seat in one of the wingback chairs on the other side of it. Nathaniel took a seat in the other one.

Once again, she sat closer to the edge of the chair than the back of it. "I am sorry you were surprised by the news. I'd only heard about it a few minutes before your arrival. I would have found you if given the opportunity. I should have remembered sooner, but I didn’t until I was fully awake. I knew of them, but if know one else had known we’d fallen asleep…”

“I understand. I would have been surprised no matter when I found out," he told her honestly. "Whether you were there or not. Whether the news came from your son, the king, or from a media report."

"The good news, if you can call it that, is that your identity is unknown at the moment." She clasped her hands together in her lap. "I don't think that will last long though. Your face isn't clearly visible, but it's publicly known that you're staying at the palace and that you were at the resort the other day. The publicly available layouts of the palace show that those rooms are generally used by visitors. It won't take long for someone to put two and two together and come up with the fact that we are, most decidedly, legally married."

He considered his next words carefully. The last thing he wanted to do was offend this woman, despite her carefully constructed barriers. "I do hope you take this comment in the vein it's intended," he started. "But are we certain there is no way to undo this quickly? Or that the laws in question have been repealed sometime in the last several hundred years, but it wasn't notated properly? Anything?"

"I do understand where you are coming from and won't take it in any other way than the one you meant it, but no. There's nothing to be done at this point. Frederick would have told us if there was any potential way or even if they were still researching it. They've already decided that this is a completely legal situation, regardless of our thoughts about it."

"And ignorance of a law isn't an excuse to evade it." He knew that. She knew that. The king and queen knew that.

And yet, he still hoped there was a way to make that a viable option.

Even though he knew there wasn't.

"So what do we do?" He asked the question, knowing she would have a better idea than he would, even if she had no real idea at all.

"We're married for at least the next six months, possibly the next year, before we can do anything about it. There's no obligations otherwise. I would ask that you refrain from any public relationships until after the marriage is legally dissolved, but beyond that, there is nothing for us to do." She didn't look straight at him as she spoke. Close, but not quite.

"I have no intention of dating anyone," he promised her. "I never did. If it wasn't for this, I would likely have remained single for the rest of my life. I had the one great love. I never expected another."

Alaina gave a single nod. "Then we're in agreement. We go on with our lives as though nothing happened, and we'll sign the appropriate paperwork when the time comes." She stood. "Now, we have missing artwork to find."

With that she turned and headed for the main door to the office, opening it and waiting for him to exit first.

Feeling as though he had no other option, Nathaniel exited and started for the archives.

Time to get back to work.

Being a married woman felt nothing like Alaina remembered.

There had been no courtship. No proposal. No wedding with flowers and pomp and circumstance and first looks and happy tears and first kisses and heartfelt vows.

No rings. No dress. No veil. No tiara.

Would she wear a tiara again?

She had been wearing one to appropriate events like state dinners and such, but to marry another man? She had no title of her own, only those she'd received by virtue of being married to the crown prince who became king.

Once Frederick held those titles, she no longer had them. Elise did now, but no one had for several years.

Even the Queen Mother title was considered a "style" and not a title. It was only used existed in modern practice because Queen Elizabeth II's mum had used it extensively. It had existed for centuries but was rarely used in practice until the death of King George VI who was both married to Queen Elizabeth, the queen consort, and the father of Queen Elizabeth II, the queen regnant.

Was she still styled "Queen Mother" despite no longer being legally single? Would she drop to the bottom of the Orders of Precedence since she married someone who, for legal purposes, was considered a "commoner" rather than a member of any royal family or aristocracy?

In many ways, it didn't matter to her. The only time it would matter, would be when the time came to enter or be recognized at official events. At the moment, she - and her escort if she had one - entered immediately before or after Frederick and Elise, depending on the situation. If her marriage to a "commoner" reduced her to an "also-ran" in terms of hierarchy, how would that make her feel? Would it matter?