A/N: Hi all. I have read so many amazing fanfics over the years and have been inspired to give it a go myself. I'm fairly new to it, and it's not perfect, but I'm enjoying myself. I hope you enjoy it too.
✅️ - Complete
🅾️ - Ongoing
🆔️ - In Development
🔜 - Coming Soon
The below are all based on characters from The Royal Romance by Pixelberry.
Queen of Hearts Title Page ✅️
This is my first fanfic. Some chapters are NSFW. More details in fic title page and chapter list. Based loosely on The Royal Romance by Pixelberry, although most is canon divergent.
Queen of Hearts Deleted Scenes ✅️
Plus One Title Page ✅️
Some chapters will be NSFW. More details in fic title page and chapter list. An idea that came to me after watching The Wedding Date.
Echoes of Yesterday Title Page 🆔️
Some chapters will be NSFW. More details in fic title page and chapter list.
Man of Honour Title Page ✅️
Some chapters will be NSFW. More details in fic title page and chapter list. An idea that came to me after watching Made of Honour.
In Another Life Title Page 🅾️
Some chapters will be NSFW. More details in fic title page and chapter list.
Rating: Mature themes (angst, swearing, alcohol use, car accident, bodily harm, character death, betrayal, all the drama)
Cast: TRR - King Nicholas, Drake Walker, Kate Darling (MC), other characters.
-_-_-👑-_-_-
King Nicholas sat at the desk in his bedroom. It had been an hour since he'd seen Kate get slapped by one of his security guards and then get shoved into one of his own royal SUVs. He had sent Drake after her. But he hadn't heard anything from either of them since. He had called Drake several times and gotten no response. A bottle of whiskey sat open on the desk and the glass in his hand had already been refilled many times.
It was his Coronation night, and it should have been a joyous and monumental occasion. So far it hadn't been much of a celebration at all. He was forced by his own family to choose Madeleine Amaranth of Fydelia as his Queen. It was Kate Darling who had won his heart, and her unfortunate violent kidnapping had him feeling totally crushed and betrayed.
The phone on the desk started ringing and he coughed into his fist to clear his throat before picking up the receiver. He licked his lips and then answered, "Hello?"
"Your Majesty, Bastien here. The SUV carrying Kate Darling didn't reach the airport. Conner and Jax were supposed to meet Mark and Derek at the airport to ensure her deportation was successful. The flight to New York already left."
To Nicholas the only name he was familiar with in that explanation was Kate. And it infuriated him that the words 'deportation' and 'Kate' should ever be linked together.
"I see." Was the only response he could put together.
"Drake hasn't returned with the Ambassador's car yet either."
"Please extend my sincerest apologies to the Moroccan Ambassador and his driver. I authorized Drake to engage in risky behavior and I shouldn't have given him so much liberty to do so. If the vehicle comes back damaged in any way I promise to replace it."
"I'll inform you immediately of any new developments as they come to my attention."
"Thank-you, Bastien."
Nicholas hung up the phone and swallowed the remains of his drink in one gulp. It hit his gut with a scorching fire and the resulting cough burned his nostrils. He welcomed the pain of it, because the deep worry over Kate's disappearance had shifted toward one of dread. Where was she? And where was Drake?
..
The large puddles of water on the highway became spraying fountains as the silver Audi slashed through them. Drake was dangerously pushing the limits of its tires to keep traction. The other drivers had slowed down for safety and Drake hastily wove his silver dart around them. Come on people it's just a little rain.
But of all the vehicles he had passed, none seemed to be the black SUV that he was looking for. With a frustrated sigh he was forced to slow down as the vehicles became more erratically placed in his way. Are the other drivers moving at all?
When he took the car in the first place he had left the window open. He enjoyed the reckless freedom of hearing the engine growl as it accelerated. But once the rain began he had to close the window to spare the leather interior. Unfortunately ever since the window had closed he'd been struggling to modulate the car's internal temperature to keep his windows clear. He rarely drove anything other than the fleet vehicles, and driving in the rain at night wasn't helping either. The unfamiliar atmospheric controls and placement of the vents had him turning the fan up higher to compensate for the humidity.
The staccato rhythm of a random car horn forced him to look up at the road. Were they warning him of something? It was then that he smelled the smoke. It was the unmistakable oily smell of a car fire. Sweet Jesus, No.
The flashing hazard lights of the parked cars ahead were the next clue. He crept past them and then looked to his right. In the darkness, the flames and smoke boiling out from under the hood of the crumpled SUV didn't seem real. But the model of it couldn't have been more real to Drake. He quickly swerved to park his vehicle on the shoulder. The tires had barely imbedded themselves in the gravel before he threw his door open to exit the car. He ducked back in to jab at the trunk release. Hopefully there was something in there he could use.
Other drivers were standing by their cars and shouting at him to wait for the emergency crews. Help was on its way.
But Drake couldn't afford to wait. There was someone he cared about in that burning vehicle. As he threw the trunk lid open he felt a measure of relief at the bag of golf clubs that he saw. There was also an emergency tool kit and a first-aid kit. He dumped out the golf clubs and chose a nine iron. He bashed up his knuckles rifling through the emergency kit and found the tiny jack handle/pry bar. These would have to do.
In the garish flash of the hazard lights and the blinding headlamps of the other cars, he saw the path of destruction that the tumbling SUV had torn in the grassy hillside. He cursed the slick soles of his dress shoes as he slid and skidded his way down through the fresh mud. Having miss-matched metal tools in each hand added to the clumsiness of his endeavor; but who ever said playing the hero was pretty. It was still raining and that made everything that much worse. He quickly became soaked to the skin.
As he approached the wreckage he threw down his tools and tried to open the back door of the car first. The rollover had crushed the door frame and the hinges were jammed. Fuck.
The smoke burned at his eyes and nostrils and he covered his nose with his elbow as he assessed the condition of the window glass next. The fleet vehicles had tinted, reinforced window glass, but he hoped it wasn't shatterproof. The windows in the front were not tinted as darkly and he saw the crumpled bloodied remains of the driver and his seat belted passenger. In the dark backseat he couldn't see if Kate was moving.
"Hold on Darling, I'm coming for ya." He shouted as he bent down to get the golf club. He swung the club like a baseball bat and it harmlessly bounced off the glass. No damage to the glass, but it bent the shaft of the club and loosened the head. He swung it against the fender to break it off. Changing his grip on the slippery club he stabbed at the glass like an ice pick. Finally the surface began to chip. He jabbed at the edge of the window by the frame and punched a hole. Working the shaft around in the hole he tried to make it bigger. Smoke leaked out through the hole, but he still wasn't any closer to seeing the inside of the car. Fuck!
He dropped the club and picked up the crowbar. The wet dirty metal slid around greasily in his hands and his skin burned from trying to get a grip. He jammed the crowbar into the crack of the doorframe where the latch would be. He kicked at it as hard as he could, cursing his stupid shoes as the pain shot up into his ankle. He needed boots, heavy boots.
He could hear sirens approaching.
Come ..on! .He kicked harder in desperation and the latch popped. Smoke billowed out from the crack and he could hear coughing. She's still alive. Grabbing the bar in both hands he wrenched at the door and worked enough gap to get his fingers around the top edge of the door frame. He pulled with all his might and yelled out. "Kate?! Kate! Can you hear me?"
He heard her cough again, "Drake?"
"Are you injured? Help is coming. But damn it if I'm not going to try to get you out of there myself." He growled in desperation through clenched teeth as his hands slipped and slid along the edge of the door. His fingers were bleeding, but his pumping adrenaline masked any pain.
He jammed the bar into the top of the doorframe and levered with as much force as his tiring arms could manage. He coughed against the hot smoke that filled his lungs.
A loud voice boomed at him from behind. "Sir! Step away from the vehicle!"
He squinted over his shoulder at the bright flashlights of the approaching firefighters, " 'Bout time you guys showed up. Help me get her out!"
Strong hands pulled him out of the way, and he watched another firefighter jam a large pry bar into the edge of the door and wrench it open wider.
"Wish I'd had one of those.."
He looked down at the tiny bar he held in his hand and then dropped it.
Someone dropped a warm blanket around his shoulders and he held it closed like a robe. They tried to lead him away, but he resisted.
"No, not yet. I need to see if she's ok."
He watched them spray some sort of foamy stuff on the engine compartment and the fire went out. The hot metal sizzled and hissed as the rain pattered down. Two men pulled the backdoor open and then one climbed inside to check on Kate. He could hear the quiet assurances from the firefighter and Kate's sobs of relief and gratitude. Then she was lifted out in his arms.
Drake's heart sank when he saw the state that she was in. Her skin and dress were blackened from smoke. Kate's beautiful face was bloodied and bruised, and her delicate hands and fingers were scraped raw and bleeding. She was missing a shoe, and her shins and ankles were scraped up badly as well. They laid her down carefully on a stretcher and covered her with a blanket. She turned her head and looked at Drake as they carried her past him, and her terrified expression made him want to throw up.
Drake was led back to his car and sat down on the passenger front seat. A paramedic treated the scrapes on his hands while another one offered him an oxygen mask from a portable tank. He accepted the mask and took the deepest breath his sore lungs would allow. He coughed and then brushed the mask aside, shaking his head. His voice was hoarse, "I'll be fine. I was a smoker for years, this is nothing. Go look after her."
A police officer came over to ask him questions.
"Your name, Sir?"
He coughed, "Drake Walker."
"Did you witness the accident?" The officer scribbled on his notepad.
Drake shook his head, "No."
"What prompted you to attempt such a rescue? To risk your own safety instead of calling for help?"
Drake coughed into his fist, "I was ordered to follow them. Her safety is my job."
The officer frowned, "But you didn't see how the accident happened."
Drake shook his head again, turning in his seat to watch Kate being put into the back of an ambulance.
"I was several kilometers behind. I'm her bodyguard, and was giving chase to catch up."
The officer narrowed his eyes and looked him up and down, suspiciously. "You were chasing them? Did they know they were being followed? If you're her bodyguard then why weren't you in the vehicle in the first place?"
Drake pointed at the crumpled SUV angrily, "Because the bastards separated us and then forced her into it. They took her against her will. And if you're implying that I chased them off the road and caused the accident... That's fucking insane."
The officer scribbled details down on his notepad, and then repeated his question, "Why didn't you call for help when you came upon the crash?"
Drake's angry outburst had scraped his throat raw. He coughed painfully and then leaned over to spit black soot on the ground. He wiped his mouth on the blanket. "I am the help. Now if you don't mind I need to follow her to the hospital."
He got out of the car and gave the blanket back to the paramedic, "Thanks for helping me warm up and dry out."
He pushed past the officer, "And Fuck You very much and get the hell out of my way."
He sprinted back around the front of the car to get back in the driver's seat. He reached over and retrieved his phone from the floor and saw all of the missed calls from Nicholas. Untangling his suit jacket, he put it back on and then jabbed at his phone screen to call him back.
He switched the call to speaker and then restarted the car, honking his horn to scatter the people standing in the way. Nicholas's voice was frantic as he picked up the call.
"Drake?! .. what's all the honking for...Drake?"
He pulled out onto the road to follow the ambulance that had already left.
"Sorry, I had to clear the people out of my way."
"Where are you? What's going on?" Nicholas asked.
Drake took a moment to cough, his throat was still raw as he choked out a response. "There's been an accident, and I'm on the way to the hospital."
"You sound terrible, don't tell me you crashed the Ambassador's car."
Drake looked at his raw knuckles as they gripped the steering wheel. "Don't worry about me. No, the SUV was in an accident. Kate's in rough shape."
There was a long pause on the other end and Drake wondered if Nicholas was ok.
"Are you still th-.."
"Did you run them off the road?" Nicholas interrupted.
"Jesus Christ, No! You're the second person in the last five minutes to ask me that. And it's really starting to piss me off."
Drake coughed again, the painful force of it causing him to swerve and then correct his steering. He smacked the steering wheel in frustration, his heart racing. He'd never catch up at this rate. A sense of panic twisted his gut at the thought of Kate slipping further and further away. He suddenly felt overwhelmingly nauseous.
He opened his window and gulped at the fresh air, his skin felt clammy as he wiped the sweat from his face.
"Drake? Are you sure you're ok?"
Forcing the bile back down his throat burned his chest like acid. His eyes watered. No, he was definitely not ok.
"I'm ok," he lied. Sucking in more of the cool night air.
Nicholas' voice wavered with concern, "Can you tell me more about the accident?"
"I don't know how it happened... Just that the driver is going to be leaving the scene in a body bag, and the other guy with him didn't look much better. Dear God, Nicholas..." Drake's voice broke, and he coughed to cover it up. He couldn't stop the tears as they trickled down his face. "I tried so hard to get her out of there, the car was on fire and there was so much smoke. I..I don't know how she survived."
"Drake, maybe you should pull over."
Drake sniffed and then coughed again, wiping his nose on his sleeve. He made a black smear on the grey material. "No, I can't stop. I don't know where they're taking her."
"Probably Capital General. Thank goodness she survived..was she conscious? How bad did she look?"
Drake scrubbed his hand through his wet hair, "From what I saw, her outside injuries seemed to be superficial. But being trapped in the car with all that smoke and heat must have done a number on her lungs. I was outside the car and it fucked me up pretty bad."
"I didn't really get the chance to talk to her before she was loaded in the ambulance, but yes she was conscious. And very alive."
"Thank-you Drake. If she pulls through you'll definitely be rewarded for your bravery. ..And if she doesn't, well..I.."
Drake shook his head, wiping the tears from his face this time. "I don't want to think about that scenario either."
There was a pause and then Nicholas continued, "Get yourself checked out at the hospital, and try to keep tabs on her the best you can. Don't leave her side if you can help it."
"I won't."
Drake heard Nicholas sigh on the other end of the phone call, he could tell their call was coming to an end. It was as if his sorrow had totally depleted him.
"I'll be in touch to discuss our next steps. Wait for me to contact you. Other than you, I don't know who else I can trust right now."
Drake could hear the nervousness in his voice, and he didn't like it.
Characters: Liam x Jilian (my OTP), with appearances from Drake, Hana, Riley, Gaylyn, and Liana Eleanor ( all belonging to PB, except for Gaylyn).
For your knowledge: This is my version of how I wanted Book 2 to occur, (this is canon...as much as possible).
Thank you all for waiting so patiently for this chapter to post. As I said a couple of weeks ago, this chapter is very long. So, I decided to split it into two parts. I assure you its a good read, but unfortunately it would have been a long one if I didn’t split it up.
What we already know: Riley has completed phase 1 of her plan. Jilian has left the palace to go stay at Valtoria.
Synopsis: This chapter as a whole is a recap of what occurred before the costume gala, during the costume gala, and the present; from the point of view Liam, Jilian, Hana,Drake,and Riley.
Warnings: No triggers or death, but some cursing and heartache.
I do not own the rights to either one of these songs.
Word count: around 2800
Ch. 4 part I
Gone
(The events in this chapter take place before, during, and after the costume gala)
Gone. The saddest word in any spoken language.
**Leo and Liv, after the Comery Isle meeting******
“Liv, I’m telling you, the way she positioned herself on Liam’s desk left nothing to the imagination…..I mean nothing. It’s almost like she’s-”
“She’s trying to get into his pants,” Olivia scoffed.
“Yeah.”
“Now the real question is why? Why would you try to seduce a King who’s madly in love with his Queen. Anyone with eyes can see the love that radiates between those two. Why would you try to interfere with that? What’s her endgame?”
**Liam and Jilian after the Comery Isle meeting*****
“So wait. You’re telling me that Neville was insinuating that YOU were flirting with Riley.” Jilian asked as she pointed her index finger at Liam.
“No Love, he was insinuating that I was interested in her.”
Jilian stood in the doorway of their bathroom, combing her hair. “Well, are you?”
“Am I what?”
Jilian looked at the ceiling and let out a breath. “Are you interested in her...Liam?”
“Love, no.” Liam’s tone had changed just enough to make Jilian question his relationship with Riley.
“So why would Neville think you were?”
“Love, I don’t know. Besides, it's Neville. He’s always looking for the upper hand, leverage, something to hold over someone’s head for retribution for not approving his much needed funds. Now, please drop this. I’m telling you it’s nothing, really. I love you and only you.”
Jilian continued to comb her hair as Liam started to get undress.
“I’m going to take a shower.”
**Leo and Liv****
“Liv, you can’t tell Jilian. This isn’t something she should hear from you. Let’s let my little brother handle it.” Leo said as he took Olivia’s phone out of her hand. “This isn’t your story to tell.”
“Leo. Jilian is my fri-.....Queen. And I’ve pledged to always protect and serve the Queen, just as I do the King. I can’t let some skank waltz in here and destroy what they have.”
Leo sat in silence as he listened to Olivia talk about being loyal to the crown, when it suddenly hit him. “OH...WOW!”
“What?”
“You don’t want Jilian to get hurt. You care about her!”
“For your information Leo Rys, I care about Liam and Jilian. They’ve been through more than their share of life’s obstacles, and yet they’ve made it through without a scratch. Stronger than ever.” Olivia said as she stared across the room, envisioning Liam and Jilian together with their princess.
“So, what’s wrong? Why are you trying to create another obstacle for them?”
“I’m afraid Leo.” Olivia said as she looked down at the floor. “I’m afraid that Jilian may feel like enough is enough. She has a baby to think of.” Liv’s voice dropped down to a whisper.
Leo knew that Liv always thought of herself as the protector. Ever since Eleanor was murdered, Liv felt as if she should protect Liam. She knew the hurt, the pain of losing a parent; and the hole it left in your heart. That was the common bond that her and Liam shared. They both knew the empty filling of not having the one person(s) they loved the most gone, forever.
So when Jilian named Olivia as Liana Eleanor’s God-mother; she made it her sworn duty to protect Liam’s family as if it was her own. Liam, Jilian, and Liana Eleanor became the family Olivia never had.
******The Costume Gala***********
As the large ornate doors opened, everyone’s attention was on the grand entrance of the King and Queen. “Your Majesties. King Liam, Queen Jilian, and Princess Liana Eleanor of Cordonia.” The ballroom erupted with thunderous applause and glee, as the guests cheered and clapped for their monarch and alley.
Here we go. Time to put on my game face, Riley thought. Look at her. She has no right standing there as the Queen of anything. Riley scoffed as she rolled her eyes at Jilian while she stood with her back to Riley. Hell, she shouldn’t even be here.
“Hello Your Majesties.”
“Hello Lady Riley,” Liam replied while Jilian just nodded.
“The Gala seems to have turned out well,” Liam continued.
“Yes, it did. You sound surprised.”
At that moment, Bradshaw and Isabella sashayed over practically pushing Riley out of the way. This brought a small smile to Jillian’s face.
As the night went on, Liam and Jilian made their rounds. Greeting their guests together and separately, until the orchestra began to play. Liam looked around the ballroom for Jilian and he noticed that she was engaged in a conversation with Princess Marguerite. Once he made his way over to his Queen, Liam placed his arm around Jilian’s waist, excusing her from her conversation with the Princess of Monaco.
The King and Queen danced while holding their princess in between them. Everyone was overjoyed to see the young royals dance as a family. This gave their friends and allies the picture of a strong monarch.
“They look so good together. So in love,” Marguerite sighed as she pressed the knuckles of her left hand against her lips. “One can only hope to be blessed enough to find a love like theirs.”
Riley let out a deep breath and rolled her eyes at Marguerite’s comment. “Yeah, I’d say they're pretty lucky,” she added as she took a long gulp of her champagne.
*****The morning after the fight*****
“Knock, Knock. Jilian…..Jilian. Gaylyn sent you some breakfast. You need to eat something. Jilian, please open the door.” Hana’s voice drops to a whisper. “I’m worried about you.”
Jilian could hear the worry and concern laced in Hana’s voice, but she just didn’t have the will to answer. She didn’t have the strength to move.
*****Drake and Hana phone conversation the same day******
Drake: “So, did Winchester tell you what happened last night?”
Hana: “Yes. I finally got her to tell me what happened after she handed Lily over to me.”
Drake: “OK. Can you tell me what happened?”
Hana: “Sure.”
Hana’s POV
After their dance, Liam and Jilian parted to finish speaking to their guests. Jilian noticed that Liam was at the mercy of King Erik. She giggled and pointed him out to me. That’s when Leo and Liv walked over. We were chatting with them when Leo asked Lily where her Daddy was. Jilian and I started to laugh as she said he was with Erik. We all rolled our eyes and continued to laugh. After a few moments, Leo turned to see if he could spot him, but he didn’t see him. He then asked Jilian if she knew where he was, because he wanted to speak with him about an important matter. Jilian started looking around the ballroom for him, but she couldn’t find him. Then she handed Lily over to me and said, “Watch Lily for me. It looks as if I’m going on a search and rescue mission for our King.” At the same time, a servant walked over and handed Olivia a note. Once she read it, you could sense that something was wrong, because she immediately began to look around the room as well; prompting Leo to ask her what’s wrong. Liv then handed Leo the note. Then they excused themselves and left Lily and myself alone.
Drake: “Yeah, I remember seeing Leo and Liv hightail it out of the ballroom. I thought they were….well...you know.”
Hana: *giggle* “No, Drake.” *giggle* “Where were you? I didn’t see you.”
Drake: “Now that I’m a part of the Kings Guard, I had to stand at my post; and keep a watchful eye on things.”
Hana: “Oh, yes. I forgot.”
Drake: “Hana. You were looking for me? Why?” There was a brief moment of silence on the phone after Drake asked his question. He knew the answer to it, but he wanted Hana to say it.
Hana was grateful this conversation was occurring by phone and not face to face. “Uhmmmm, yes. I thought we could have...danced or had a drink.”
And again, there was this awkward silence.
Drake cleared his throat, “So, what did JIlian say about what happened after she found Liam? Did she tell you where he was?”
Hana: “Yes. Once we got settled at Valtoria, I asked her.”
Jilian’s POV
“Jilian, what happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“What happened to Liam’s face?”
“I punched him.”
“You.What?!?”
“I punched Liam in the face.”
“Why?”
Jilian stopped and turned towards the balcony. Her mind was reeling. She was trying her hardest to unsee the image of Liam and Riley. As her eyes began to fill with unshed tears, she said “I punched Liam in the face because I saw him kissing Riley on the veranda of the ballroom.”
I was stunned at what Jilian had just told me. Liam and Riley, no way. Liam would never betray Jilian. He loves her!
Jilian continued to recall what happened after she left Lily with Hana.
I searched the entire ballroom looking for Liam, but I couldn’t find him. Then I turned just enough to see what I thought was the back of his jacket, out on the veranda. I figured he probably stepped out there to get some air, but when I made it closer I heard a female’s voice; Riley’s voice. When I stepped out on the veranda, I saw him kissing her. He had his hands on her arms, pushing her up against the wall. They must have heard me, because they both turned to look in my direction.
“Oh Jilian.” Hana said as she began to cry for her friend, who’s tears fell steadily down her face. “I’m so sorry.”
Jilian drew in a deep breath, but didn’t say anything else. She just stood there leaning against the railing.
****Drake and Hana continued phone conversation********
Drake: “Whoa! Ok, so that part makes sense.”
Hana: “What part?”
Drake: “What Liam said.”
Liam’s POV
“Erik had cornered me with one of his elaborate, animated stories about a lion, witch, and a wardrobe?!? When one of the servants came over and handed me a note saying “Meet me in 5 minutes out on the veranda.” I immediately thought it was Jilian. I looked around the ballroom for her, but I couldn’t find her. So, I excused myself from Erik and started to make my way out towards the veranda. When I made it out there, I should’ve turned and walked away.”
“Why?” Drake asked.
“Because, I could smell her perfume.”
“Who’s perfume,” Drake questioned.
“Riley’s. I should’ve turned around and went back into the Gala, but she stopped me. She asked me if everything was turning out according to plan; and then we started talking. I swear Drake, if I would have known she was going to kiss me, I would have left.”
Drake sat quietly, trying to piece everything together. “I know Li,” he said trying to comfort his best friend as he paced the floor of his quarters. “But Li, what I don’t understand is how? How did she just kiss you and you did nothing?”
“No, she didn’t just kiss me. We were talking and I would occasionally turn to look for Jilian. That’s when she made the distance between us closer by straightening up my medals and regalia. Before I knew it, she was kissing me. I grabbed her arms to try to push her off of me, but her grip only became tighter. We ended up against the wall. Next thing I knew, Jilian was here packing up hers and Lily’s stuff, and now they’re gone. Drake, she’s gone.”
***Drake and Hana phone conversation******
Hana: “Wow! So, Riley sent Liam the note.”
Drake: “ I would assume so.”
Hana: “So where’s the note? If Liam shows Jilian that note, then she’ll forgive him. Of course, he would need to explain all of the prior events.”
Drake: “Well…..that’s where we have a problem.”
*****Liam and Drake********
“Li, I told you everything is going to be OK. Winchester loves you. Hell, she’s always loved you. You just need to tell her what you told me and show her the note.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I need to show her the note.”
Liam got up to go and retrieve the note from his jacket pocket, when….”it’s not here.”
“What’s not there?”
“The note. I placed it in my right breast pocket. Underneath my medals.”
“OK, so maybe it fell out. You know when you and Winchester were on your way back here. Let’s retrace your steps.”
Liam gasped and flopped down on the couch, running both hands over his face. “Drake, if it fell out, then chances are the staff picked it up and has since disposed of it.”
Drake could tell Liam was about to lose it. He knew his friend was angry and hurt; and there wasn’t anything he could do.
****Drake and Hana*******
Hana drew in a breath and then released it. “So, we don’t have a note.”
“No, we don’t,” Drake replied.
At that moment, Hana knew that without that note, it was going to be next to impossible to get Jilian to forgive Liam.
****Valtoria, two days later*****
“Knock, Knock.” A voice said as the door to the royal quarters opened slowly. Gaylyn the Majordomo was standing in the doorway with a tray full of fresh fruit, cheese, and vegetables. “May I enter, your majesty.”
Jilian turned in the direction of Gaylyn’s voice, “Yes.”
Jilian always enjoyed Gaylyn’s presence. After Gladys betrayed her on her wedding night; Jilian found it hard to trust her again. So when Bastien referred Gaylyn, Jilian interviewed her, went through her background, and hired her.
Gaylyn turned out to be a great asset to Valtoria. She took her duties seriously, and was well liked by the staff and the Valtorian people. Hiring her, gave Jilian the nickname of “the common peoples Queen.” The people of Cordonia loved that Jilian always looked out for the commoners. Making sure that everyone had a fair chance at life in Cordonia. Although Gaylyn came highly recommended by Bastien, that’s not why Jilian hired her. She hired Gaylyn, because she reminded her of home. Gaylyn had the ability to make the darkest moment... better.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong? You haven’t eaten since you’ve arrived.” Gaylyn asked as she searched Jilian’s face for a response.
“Sorry, I don’t have much of an appetite. I’m just not hungry,” Jilian said.
“Are you not feeling well? Do you have a stomach bug?”
Am I sick, Jilian thought. I feel like my heart has been ripped from my chest, like the air has been sucked from this room. I close my eyes and all I see is them. Embraced, up against the wall. Tears began to fall from Jilian’s eyes. Seriously, how can one person produce so much water. I’ve been crying non stop for the past couple of days.
“Oh, honey, come here. What’s wrong?” Gaylyn placed the tray down on the end table next to the couch and sat down next to Jilian. “Why are you crying?”
Jilian drew in a deep breath and began to tell Gaylyn everything. From the day they promoted Riley up to her leaving the Palace...and why.
Gaylyn sat next to Jilian holding her while she cried her eyes out, stroking her head and rubbing her back.
Jilian always felt comfortable with Gaylyn, she was easy to talk to, and she reminded Jilian of her mother.
Gaylyn listened to Jilian, trying to console her the best way she could. She really cared about her; she saw Jilian as a daughter. A daughter she would’ve been proud to call her own.
“There...there. You stop all of this crying and pick up that phone and call the King.”
Jilian cocked her head to the side and said, “Do what?”
“You heard me. Call him,” Gaylyn said. “You two need to talk.”
At that moment Jilian’s phone began to ring a certain ringtone, that she knew all too well.
You’ve already won me over
In spite of me
And don’t be alarmed if I fall
Head over feet
Don’t be surprised if I love you
For all that you are
I couldn’t help it
It’s all your fault.
Jilian’s eyes began to sting. She knew who was calling her, hell he’s called her constantly since she left. As she reached up to wipe her tears away with the backs of her hands, she whispered “I...I can’t. Not now. I’m too hurt and disappointed.”
Gaylyn knew that that must’ve been the King calling his Queen. She knew he missed her. He called her a few times that morning trying to be discreet and check in on his wife and daughter.
“Good morning Gaylyn, this is King Liam.”
“Yes, Good morning your Majesty. How are you?”
“I’m well. I was wondering if Queen Jilian was near you. I called her phone, but she didn’t answer.”
Liam knew that Gaylyn would make sure Jilian took his phone call. He thought that calling her was better than calling Hana or Mara.
“No sir, she’s not down here. I’m walking through the common area right now, and I just left the throne room. I can check the library, if you like?”
“Oh no, no that’s ok. I’ll just call her later.”
And now, it was later. “I know sweetheart, but you need answers; and sitting here replaying those horrific events in your head isn’t helping.”
Jilian continued to listen to Gaylyn’s advice, and decided that she would call Liam, but it wouldn’t be today.
When Gaylyn finished telling Jilian about her marital woes of being married to a Kings Guardsman, Jilian was laughing and even eating some. Gaylyn felt that she had done her job when she saw that. Once she left the royal quarters, she searched her pockets for her phone.
Summary: Gabe’s having a difficult time at school, and Olivia gets some suspicious information
Word Count: ~3.3k
Warning: Mention of character death
*All characters belong to Pixelberry, except those that are unique to my story (I’ve also used some characters and fictional instances from Donna Tartt’s “The Goldfinch”)*
I hope I got everyone tagged! If I missed someone, or if anyone wants to be added/removed, let me know!
- Eleanor -
Gabe and I go back to school on Monday. It was uneventful, but all of my friends were especially nice to me and my teacher told me that I didn’t have to worry about any of the work I missed. In the middle of math, the school counselor took me out of class and told me I could come and talk to her if there was anything I needed. I told her I was alright and walked back to my seat, feeling the eyes of the entire class on me.
Around noon, it was time for lunch. Grandma had packed our meals the night before. I took my lunch bag and started walking with my class to the cafeteria where we would eat. We passed by the main office, where I saw Gabe, sitting along the wall of the room with his backpack on the seat next to him. I ran up to my teacher and pointed out my brother, asking if I could sit with him for lunch.
“That’s fine, Eleanor,” she allowed, “but make sure you come back to line up with us when the bell rings.”
I go into the main office, and the secretary smiles at me. I tell her that I was there to have lunch with my brother, and she nods.
I sit down in the seat next to Gabe. Both of our classes had lunch right now, but it didn’t look like he had eaten. “Aren’t you hungry?” I ask him.
He shakes his head.
I take out my sandwich and start eating, glancing at Gabe to see if he would reach for his own lunch. When I was done with my sandwich, I threw out my wrapper in the trash next to the secretary’s desk and opened up Gabe’s backpack to take out his lunchbox.
Mama and Daddy had bought us our lunchboxes when I started kindergarten. We found one with my name on it, and since we couldn’t find one with Gabe’s name on it, Daddy bought him the Avengers one and Mama later sewed his name on.
Remembering Mama and Daddy together, when they were both alive and well, made me sad again. I had so far gone the whole day without feeling any hints of tears. Now, standing in the office, with Gabe not talking to me and the reminder that Mama and Daddy were both technically gone, I wanted to cry again.
I forced myself not to. Instead I placed Gabe’s lunchbox on his lap. I had to show Gabe that everything was alright, and I couldn’t do that if I was crying.
I start eating the cookies that Grandma packed me. I take out an Oreo and wave one in front of Gabe’s face, hoping that he would take it, but he just shakes his head.
I put the rest of the cookies back into my bag, feeling weird about being the only person in the room eating — especially since I wasn’t even sure if we were allowed to eat in the main office — and then the secretary turns to me and asks, “Honey, what’s your grandmother’s phone number? I called her workplace and they wouldn’t put me through.”
I give her the number. Gabe continues to stare down at his lap.
“Hi! Mrs. Brooks?” the secretary cries. “This is Miss Newman, Mr. Henderson’s secretary from Gabriel’s school? Yes I’m just calling to ask if you could pick him up? Oh, no he’s been an absolute angel! It’s just that, he had a nervous breakdown during science and disrupted the class.... Yes, he’s here in the office with me. Oh, you would like to speak to him? Sure!” She motions at Gabe to come over to her and take the phone, but he still hasn’t looked up from his lap. “Gabriel!” Miss Newman violently whispers.
After a few more moments of her trying to get Gabe on the phone, she begins talking to Grandma again.
“Gabriel’s not in too good of a mood right now. Principal Henderson asked me to call you. Yes, he spoke with him. No, he won’t be suspended, but we’re asking you to keep him home for a few more days until you’re sure he’s doing better. He’ll be home without consequences, yes. Oh, you’ll pick up Eleanor as well? Great! I’ll have her collect her things.”
As soon as she hangs up, I nod at her and then walk out of the office, leaving my lunchbox with Gabe. I go to the cafeteria where my teacher is and tell her that I’m being picked up and need to go back into the class to get my things. Another teacher watches the class as I’m led back up to the classroom. I give my thanks to her for opening the door, and then dash back down towards the office.
When we get in Grandma’s car, Gabe’s head still hung low. I wanted to give him a hug, mostly because I wanted one, but I decided against it.
We don’t talk during the drive, and we don’t talk on the elevator ride up. Once we’re inside our penthouse, Gabe goes towards his room, but Grandma calls him back.
Gabe shrugs his bag off and falls back onto the couch, staring at his shoes.
Grandma sighs. “Gabriel, Eleanor. I have something important I need to talk to you about.”
“Is it about what happened at school?” Gabriel mumbles.
Grandma sighs, but doesn’t answer. “Gabe, baby, do you remember where you and I went on Saturday after dropping off Ella for a ballet class?”
He nods.
“Well, we went over there to get a test taken. To see if that man, Liam, was your father.”
“But...,” I say, frowning. Neither of them had told me where they had went. “Isn’t... Daddy Gabe’s father?”
Grandma ignores me. “The test came back positive, which means that Liam is your dad.”
“Both of our... dad?” Gabe and I look between each other and Grandma. My heart was racing. How could Liam be his father if we didn’t know who Liam was? And what about Daddy? Did suddenly not exist for Grandma?
“No, baby,” Grandma explains. “Your mother was with Liam before she was with Theodore, which means that Liam is your father, Gabe, and that Theodore is Ella’s father.”
“But... but...,” Gabe sits forward, panic and heavy tears in his eyes. “Does that mean... wait... Grandma do I have to go live with him?”
Grandma doesn’t answer, and Gabe starts crying.
“I don’t wanna do that Grandma, I don’t wanna leave. I don’t wanna leave you and Ella, I don’t wanna leave Mom,” he pleads.
My breathing quickens. I don’t want Gabe to leave us either. If he was going to leave, then I’d have no more siblings to play around with, or tease, or cry with, or laugh with, or talk about my day with, or ask for help, or anything. I couldn’t do those things with Grandma or Mama. I would be alone.
Grandma rushes over to sit in between us and holds Gabe in her arms. “No, baby,” she whispers. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
She does her best to soothe him. The power of his sobs increases and decreases. When Gabe’s tears subside and the only proof of him having cried were his whimpers, Grandma grabs both of our hands.
“Come on, let’s go visit Mama.” We nod. “Do you want to know what the doctor told me?” We shake our heads. “She said that showing Mama pictures can help bring her memory back. Do you want to try that?”
We jump up from our seats and race into Mama and Daddy’s room, where all the family albums were. There are three: one filled with pictures of specifically Gabe and I, another with pictures of Mama and Daddy (which is thinner than the other two), and the last one was filled with pictures of all of us together.
On Mama’s side of the closet we find an empty beach bag, so we put the albums in there. There were some framed pictures in their room and on the walls, and so we took those, too. There were pictures of me, Gabe, and Mama in Daddy’s office, which we also gently placed in the bag.
The bag was so heavy that Gabe and I had to carry it together. When we got to the hospital, Liam and his friends weren’t there. I wanted to tell Gabe that maybe it was important to try and look for him and talk to him, but him and Grandma were already ushering me into Mama’s hospital room.
“Hello, there,” she says to us, smiling.
“Hi, Mom,” Gabe greets, we put down the bag and stare at her for a couple moments.
“I hear that you guys have some pictures to show me?” Her tone isn’t motherly or cheerful like it used to be. Instead it’s... friendly... but not really. Like when a stranger in the subway asks for directions, or when the cashier asks if you found everything you needed. She sounded like she was obligated to be nice to us, and didn’t really want to. I wanted to understand her feelings, I really did. I tried to remind myself that Mama didn’t know she was a Mama.
I just wanted to leave everything be and disappear, to fade from existence the same way that Mama’s memories of us did.
But if I faded from existence, what would happen to Gabe? If Mama never gets her memories back, then what else would keep him here? He would have to leave Grandma and Mama and go with Liam. He would have to go alone. Just as if he left, I would be alone.
And I hated being alone or even thinking of it. Mama and Daddy were always close to us, so I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to isolate myself from everyone. Even the word “isolation” made me think of how the police had told Grandma that they found Mama under a pile of rubble. Was Mama able to see before people pulled her out? If they didn’t pull her out, and she stayed there, and we never found her, and her name was never in the news, would she have technically existed? Would she have existed for the doctors and nurses and our family friends who sent her flowers? Would she have existed anymore for Liam and his friends?
Technically, she wouldn’t have. But right here, right now, she existed, Gabe existed, and so did I. We just had to remind her.
I pull out the album filled with pictures of Gabe and I first, mentally marking us as the top priority. I walk over to one side of her bed and sit next to her. Gabe seems hesitant. He looks disconnected, just as he has the entire day. Now there’s a confusion mixed in with it, and I know it’s because of what Grandma told us about Liam. Gabe’s face represents all of the questions I have.
Usually when he gets like that, I leave him be so I don’t accidentally make it worse. But this time is different.
“Come on,” I call to him from Mama’s left side.
“You can sit here, Gabriel,” Mama pats the right side of her bed, where there’s a space big enough for him to sit.
My face falls a little when she calls him “Gabriel” instead of the sweet “Gabe”. The memories flash through my head, how Mama never referred to us as “Gabriel and Eleanor,” but always as “Gabe and Ella.” Her affectionate nicknames that caught on became a larger part of our identities than our actual names.
But, still, it’s a step in the right direction. She’s trying to pull us towards her, which is better than leaving us on the side by ourselves.
When Gabe sits down, I open the book up to his kindergarten graduation. She smiles and laughs at our stories, and for the first time during the longest, most helpless week of my life, I have hope that everything might just turn out okay.
- Olivia -
Almost a week after Liam and Drake left for New York, a folder with pictures of them walking around Times Square was smacked down onto Olivia’s desk by her assistant and sidekick, Jacob.
There were pictures of Liam, Drake, and Maxwell walking down a crowded street and into a store with stuffed animals. Olivia looks up at Jacob and asks, “Where did you get these pictures from?”
“Intercepted them in the capital this morning before they reached the palace.”
“Who in the palace would be trying to get pictures of the king?” Olivia wonders aloud. She suspected Madeleine, that good-for-nothing she-devil who never stopped delving into everyone else’s business with the intent of “making sure no one’s actions could embarrass Cordonia”.
Liam and Drake hadn’t gotten back to Olivia since they had left to go find Riley. Olivia wanted to give Liam a call, but decided it was best to leave him alone. She already knew that nothing she could say would make him feel better. All of them knew that Riley was the only thing that could lift his mood.
Olivia forced herself to understand that a long time ago. When Madeleine was no longer the Queen-to-be, Riley was nowhere to be found, and Liam was in need of a wife, Olivia did her best to hint towards them marrying. But Liam, in his state of heartbreak, didn’t notice Olivia, so she consoled herself that he would never be in love with her. It hurt, but pain wasn’t new to Olivia.
What she couldn’t accept was the fact that some commoner came in out of thin air and broke the only man Olivia had ever loved, and left just as she had arrived. Olivia made it her goal that not only would she do everything in her power as Duchess to make her king happy again, but she couldn’t wait to give Riley a piece of her mind as punishment for what she did to Liam.
Yet as the years went on, the likeliness of them finding Riley began to decrease, and Olivia was almost desperate to get her back. Riley’s punishment be damned, Liam was going to lose himself.
She knew that having to bring back Riley after she had just been in an accident would be a challenge, but at least Liam would be more relaxed. At least there would be hope for a more secure government.
But six days after she had sent them off to New York, she still hadn’t heard back from them. And seeing these images of them walking around the city without Riley was very concerning. Picking up her phone, she debates whether she should call Liam. Even though it was almost midnight in Lythikos, It would be around six in the evening in America. Would Liam, Drake, and Maxwell still be roaming or would they be with Riley?
She decided that calling Drake would be a bit better, considering that she could seriously use some entertainment.
The line rings until finally his rugged voice goes, “Hello?”
“Drake. Where are you and Liam?”
“My day was fine, thank you for asking. I hope you’re having a nice day, too, Olivia.”
She scoffs. “I don’t have time for pleasantries.” She pauses, listening closely to the song that was playing in Drake’s background. “Are you... watching a children’s show?”
“No!” he shouts. “We’re in a candy store. That’s just the... music they put on.”
“Shouldn’t you all be focusing on Riley instead of pleasing Maxwell’s sweet tooth?”
“For your information, we are technically focusing on Riley, and the candy isn’t for Maxwell. How’d you know he was with us, anyway?”
Olivia picks up a picture of Liam, Drake, and Maxwell inside a store with Maxwell holding up a stuffed animal at least two feet taller than him. “Just a hunch. If you’re not in there for Maxwell, then who are you getting candy for? Riley?”
Drake doesn’t respond. She can hear him sigh, and then he finally says, “We found out that Riley has two kids. The older one is Liam’s.”
Olivia’s jaw goes slack. A moment later she breathes out the words, “Liam didn’t know, did he?” Olivia knew that the last thing Liam would ever be was a negligent or cold father — especially after they discovered what his own father had done to him and Riley. If Liam knew that he had a son, there was no way that he would have allowed such a distance to come between them for so long. But along with pity for Liam, a fire in her chest was lightened as well. How dare Riley keep Liam’s son from him?
“Nope. He didn’t. They took a paternity test to make sure. It came back positive this morning. So that conversation between Gabriel and Liam is going to happen eventually, and we thought it’d be better to surprise him and his sister with gifts. To think of it, Eleanor should be in that conversation, too.” She can tell Drake pulls the phone away from his ear, because his voice sounds distant when he yells, “Maxwell! Get some extra gummy worms for Eleanor!”
There’s a faint, “Got it!” from the other side.
“Gabriel and Eleanor?” Olivia asks. “Are those the children’s names?”
“Yup.”
“Gabriel is suitable for the name of a prince. A strong name, part of Cordonia’s history as an honorable warrior.... But Eleanor? She isn’t Liam’s, is she?”
“No,” Drake answers. “Her dad’s name is Theodore Blaise. He died in the accident.”
“But Eleanor is also the name of Liam’s mother?”
Drake lowers his voice. “I know, I thought about that, too. That doesn’t seem like something Riley did without thinking. I wish we could ask her, though it’d be useless.”
“Useless?” Olivia frowns. “Why wouldn’t she be able to tell you? Does she not want to talk to you?”
Drake sighs again. “She lost her memory.”
“Oh,” Olivia states. She thinks to herself, A clean slate, huh? But she can’t bring herself to explain the sense of dread in her chest. Now what will happen between her and Liam? Will he give up on her? He wouldn’t, though. He’s not like that. He has a son with her. And a step-daughter. “Don’t get Eleanor gummy worms,” she speaks after a silence moment.
“What?” She can imagine the look of confusion on Drake’s face.
“I said don’t get her gummy worms, get her gummy bears. Worms are sad. Bears are happy. Haven’t you heard that childish gummy bear song?”
“I’m surprised you’ve heard it, Olivia. But I disagree. Worms are for when you’re happy. Bears are for when you’re sad. She just lost her father and is probably still upset, and we’re here to try and make them happy. Cheer them up before a serious conversation, y’know?”
“Is that why you guys were in the toy store?” Olivia picks up the picture that shows the three men walking out of said store with shopping bags in their arms.
“Olivia, are you spying on us?”
“No,” she states, “though I probably should be since you all aren’t bothering to tell me anything. Anyway, Jacob intercepted some photographs of you three going around stores in Times Square. The pictures were being sent to someone in the palace.”
“Damnit,” Drake spits. “Who else knows that we’re in New York? Whatever. I’ll let Bastien know. In the meantime I think you should go over to the palace and check everything out. See if anything suspicious is happening.”
“I’ll leave in the morning,” Olivia declares. “Oh, and Drake?”
“Yeah?”
She sighs. “Let me know if Riley’s condition improves. And tell Liam that I’ve been meaning to talk to him. It’s alright if he can’t, I know he’s got a lot on his plate, but... just....”
“Damn,” Drake comments. “Someone’s going soft. Was it the gummy bear song that did it?”
Story summary: Emilia Dawson meets Drake Walker at a festival in Hyde Park, London. There is an immediate connection, but their relationship is put to the test when Emilia agrees to travel to Cordonia to enter a competition to be chosen as the princes bride, a competition she has no interest in winning.
She soon discovers that the luxurious life of the palace is not all it seems. Beneath the gilded cage, treachery runs deeper than she ever could've imagined.
Disclaimer: Some chapters come with warnings (see below). All main characters except my OC are owned by Pixelberry. This story loosely follows the story of The Royal Romance books 1-2, but a lot is canon divergent. Lots of fluff and angst. 18+. This is my first attempt at fanfiction, so I hope you enjoy it! Feedback is always welcome.
Face Claims - Emilia Dawson - Blake Lively, Drake Walker - Daniel Di Tomasso, Liam Rhys - Trevor Donovan
Main Pairings: Drake Walker x F!OC (Emilia Dawson), Liam Rhys and Emilia Dawson
Rating - Explicit (18+).
Sexually explicit chapters marked as (E), Violent chapters marked as (V), Mature chapters marked as (M).
@choicesficwriterscreations
Chapter 1 - A Spark in Hyde Park
Chapter 2 - The Price of Loyalty
Chapter 3 - Crossed Wires, Tangled Hearts
Chapter 4 - A Prince, a Promise and a Proposal
Chapter 5 - A Leap of Fate
Chapter 6 - Gilded Cages and Hidden Gazes
Chapter 7 - Masquerade of Intentions
Chapter 8 - Beneath the Princes Shadow
Chapter 9 - Caught in the Current
Chapter 10 - The Derby's Dark Horse
Chapter 11 - Beyond the Palace Walls
Chapter 12 - Unleashed Desires (E)
Chapter 13 - Games of Possession
Chapter 14 - Kissed by the Moonlight and Rain
Chapter 15 - Stars in the Snow
Chapter 16 - A Taste of Winter's Fire (M)
Chapter 17 - Beneath the Velvet and Lies
Chapter 18 - A Private Reckoning (E)
Chapter 19 - A Princes Claim
Chapter 20 - Diving into the Deep End
Chapter 21 - Against the Tide (E)
Chapter 22 - A Gilded Cage
Chapter 23 - A Serpent in the Garden (V)
Chapter 24 - The Escape Route
Chapter 25 - A Dangerous Arrangement
Chapter 26 - A Fragile Reprieve
Chapter 27 - The Unravelling
Chapter 28 - The King's Decree
Chapter 29 - A New Dawn, A New Fight
Chapter 30 - Sanctuary and Strategy (E)
Chapter 31 - The Art of War (and Wine)
Chapter 32 - Crimson Comeback
Chapter 33 - Beyond the Bloom (E)
Chapter 34 - Beneath the Orchards
Chapter 35 - The Apple and The Lens (E)
Chapter 36 - Against a Roman Sky
Chapter 37 - Echoes on the Canal
Chapter 38 - Parisian Exposures (M)
Chapter 39 - Runway Revelation
Chapter 40 - Echoes of a Hidden Past (E)
Chapter 41 - The Threads Unravel
Chapter 42 - Raising the Stakes
Chapter 43 - Dancing with Desire (E)
Chapter 44 - The Royal Flush (E)
Chapter 45 - A Father's Heart
Chapter 46 - A Different Kind of Harmony (E)
Chapter 47 - The Royal Web (M)
Chapter 48 - A Familiar Melody (E)
Chapter 49 - The Reckoning (V)
Chapter 50 - A Mother's Regret (M)
Chapter 51 - Legacy of Lies (M)
Chapter 52 - The Shot Heard Around Cordonia (V)
Chapter 53 - The Longest Night (M)
Chapter 54 - The Return to Light
Chapter 55 - The Promise Under the Pines
Epilogue - Our Kind of Forever
@kingliam2019 this is now a complete series
Check out my Queen of Hearts Deleted Scenes. These are one shots which I wrote as scenes for the series but the story changed and I didn't end up using them.
Drake was released from the hospital at 5:30 the next morning. He checked in at the nurse's station to fill in the gaps in Kate's information and listed himself as her next of kin. He stressed that she was to have no visitors other than himself or King Nicholas, and asked that a hospital security guard keep watch over her until she had recovered enough to be released.
Drake took a deep breath of fresh air as he left the hospital building. The pain in his chest had subsided, and he had been prescribed a rescue inhaler just in case he had any lingering cough or shortness of breath. He was also given a bottle of water to sip on and some medicated throat lozenges to combat the dryness in his throat. The nurse advised him to rest his voice as much as possible. But he couldn't see that happening, because he was anxious to talk to Nicholas about what was going on.
As he walked over to the silver sedan that he'd "borrowed" the night before, he noticed the yellow slip of paper tucked under the windshield wiper. A parking ticket.
Pulling it out from where it was tucked against the glass, he shook his head as he saw Officer Turner's signature on it, and then crumpled it up and stuffed it into his pocket. When he’d arrived at the emergency department the night before, the parking lot had been full and he abandoned the car at the curb.
His clothes reeked of smoke and he was desperate for a shower. But first he had to check in with Nicholas and find out what his next moves were as Kate's bodyguard. He couldn't just hang around at the hospital and wait for her to be released, because he’d just be in the way. He couldn't keep the Ambassador’s car much longer either, because even with Nicholas giving him spoken permission to do whatever he wanted in his pursuit of Kate, that wouldn't hold up very long if the Ambassador decided to press charges.
He got into the Audi and started it up for his drive back to the Palace. Linking his phone to the car's bluetooth gave him the benefit of talking hands free and he dialed the new phone number that Nicholas had used. He wasn't surprised that the King was awake at such an early hour.
"Hello?" Nicholas said, sounding tired.
Drake checked over his shoulder and then did a U-turn in the hospital driveway. "Good morning, Your Majesty," Drake replied, his own voice a little rough.
Nicholas sighed with relief, "It's good to hear your voice, such as it is. Are you on your way home?"
Drake turned left, speeding up to match the flow of the traffic. "Yes,"
He coughed, and then continued. "I'm a little dry, after being on oxygen for a while. Swallowing all that greasy smoke didn't help me either. I'm going to be fine, by the way. But, yeah. I'm on my way home."
"And Kate's status?"
"When I left she was still sedated, but the doctor said that the amount of mucus in her lungs is responding to the medication. She's being monitored closely for infection and is on antibiotics. She's not totally out of the woods yet, but she's strong and otherwise healthy and should make a full recovery." Drake said, feeling optimistic.
"Good, good... I'm so glad she's going to be okay." Nicholas replied, and Drake could hear the smile in his voice. "Once you get home and cleaned up, we need to meet and discuss what our next steps are. Would 10am be good for you?"
Drake checked the time on the car's console, 5:45.. "That works for me. We can meet in my room. Send me a text when you're on your way, just in case I doze off or something. The drugs they gave me were great and all, but the environment wasn't exactly quiet enough to give me much sleep."
"Do you want me to bring you some breakfast?" Nicholas asked.
"I'm not sure what I can comfortably swallow right now. So I can see my breakfast being water and cough drops. I'll figure out lunch later. Thanks for offering though." Drake struggled to reply, reaching for his bottle of water to take a sip. His voice was getting weaker by the moment.
"I'll let you go for now. Preserve what voice you have left for our talk later. Park the Ambassador's car in the fleet garage when you get here, please."
"Understood," Drake whispered, and then hung up.
....
Nicholas sat on the edge of his bed looking down at the phone in his hand. So far the only people who knew he had it were Drake and the friend who had given it to him. He’d been warned by that friend to keep the phone's list of contacts to a minimum. There was no point of having a secret phone for sharing secret information if everyone knew you were using it. He needed some advice to help him make sense of the mess he was in. Drake was barely in the loop as it was, and he wasn't sure how much he could trust Bastien.
He needed help from someone outside the Palace who he could trust, someone who knew the inner workings of Crown politics as well as he did. He knew who to call, but given how last night's Coronation had ended, he wasn't sure how receptive she’d be to talking to him.
With a deep feeling of apprehension he punched in her phone number from memory, and hoped that the unfamiliar number he was using wasn't going to be ignored. The dial tone repeated in his ear and he waited for the inevitable voicemail interruption. But he should have known better. Olivia Nevrakis didn't use anything as conventional as voicemail. She either answered her phone or ignored you.
Her angry voice was full of impatience when she finally answered, “Hello?..Who the fuck is this? You better not be some spineless paparazzi scum or I’ll…”
Nicholas interrupted, hoping the amused smirk on his face didn't come across in his words, “Relax, Red. It's just me.”
There was a brief pause and Nicholas imagined her looking at the unfamiliar number on her screen with an angry frown, “Nick? You have some nerve calling me this early in the morning.”
He scrubbed at the bristly stubble on his cheek, trying a more polite approach. “Sorry. Good morning, Duchess.”
Olivia huffed, her voice dripping with sarcasm, “No, don't you suddenly Duchess me, Your Majesty. What's with the weird phone number? You called me Red.… You haven't used that nickname for years.” There was a pause and then her voice softened with concern. “Wait. Did something happen to you? Whose phone are you using?”
Nicholas heaved a deep sigh, “The phone you gave me. Remember months ago you secretly slipped it into my pocket at your estate, after you so publicly kissed me on the dancefloor? You said that if I was ever in a position to need your help, to activate it…well that day has come.”
There was a long pause on the end of the phone line, and Nicholas imagined Olivia being deep in thought. He wasn't sure what he was going to get from her next, a barrage of sarcastic gloating and ‘I told you so’ or genuine friendly concern. In the end he got a mixture of both.
“Oh. Now that you've got yourself accidentally hitched to the icy Countess of Fydelia, you suddenly turn to the Duchess of Lythikos for help. I warned you about that insidious family a long time ago. It amazes me that you've survived living with that snake Regina for all these years. No doubt Madeleine is beside herself with triumph too."
"Honestly, Nick. After last night I don't blame you for feeling heartbroken and miserable. Thanks to that silly tabloid story, your American sweetheart has been blacklisted and likely shipped back to New York as well. I’m surprised you're coherently sober this morning.”
Nicholas allowed himself a grim smile. Olivia could never be accused of sugar coating the truth. “I suppose I deserved some of that snark, but actually Kate is still here. Her SUV crashed on the way to the airport and she's in the hospital..”
“Jesus, Nick…”
“But luckily Drake was following them and helped get her out of the vehicle.” Nicholas continued.
“Of course he did..” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Liv..,” he warned.
“Sorry..sorry. At least that ridiculous drunken oaf wasn't the one driving the SUV. Although it had crossed my mind when you mentioned the crash.”
“Seriously, Liv! That's uncalled for. Even from you. I know you and Drake don't get along, but that's a low blow.” Nicholas replied incredulously.
Olivia sighed, “Forgive me, it's stupid early in the morning and I haven't had my coffee yet. After leaving the Coronation early last night, I spent the rest of my night working my way down to the bottom of a bottle of wine. So.... Kate's in the hospital and Drake's been playing hero like the loyal dog that he is. What do you need me for?”
“Over the past few months, there have been threatening letters sent to my office. Some of them contained photos….”
“That's nothing new,” Olivia interrupted. “As a famous person with great authority, with every two pieces of fan mail that sing your praises you're bound to get some hate mail too.”
“Yes..yes, I know. But what if the SUV crash wasn't an accident? Some of the threatening letters had Kate's pictures in them too. What if Kate was a target? Would someone hurt her to get back at me?”
“I know the social season was competitive amongst us Royal Suitors, but I hope you don't think I would deliberately target her. Or one of the other women? Would Madeleine stoop that low? The tabloid story was damaging enough for Kate. Whether it's true or not.”
“I have no doubts about your loyalty to me, Olivia. Or Drake's either. Bastien I'm on the fence over, though. I already know that Madeleine and Regina were working together to keep Madeleine as a frontrunner in the competition for Queen. They're related after all. But going back to that insidious Amaranth family reputation you mentioned, I need to know just how deep the corruption goes.”
“I’ve been keeping files on Fydelia and Krona for years. Do you want me to do some more digging for you?” Olivia replied excitedly.
“Please. But as discreetly as possible. Are you back home in Lythikos already?”
“No, I’m still in the capital. After leaving the Palace last night I checked into a hotel to drown my sorrows with a bottle of your wine. I plan on returning home today.” she said.
“I hope you stole a bottle of the good stuff.” He chuckled.
“Naturally.” She replied. “It was from your Coronation gala.”
“What hotel are you staying in? I want to talk in person before you go back. I can show you the threatening letters and photos I received too.”
“The Victoire on Fenton Street. Call me when you get here and I'll meet you in the lobby.”
“Excellent. Thanks, Liv. I've missed our talks. See you in a few hours.”
“Mmmhmm,” she replied, and then hung up.
Olivia and Drake were so much alike it was comical sometimes. Although they would both vehemently deny it. Nicholas wondered how they were going to behave when they found out they were going to be working together.
….
Nicholas sat at the head of the breakfast table feeling totally alone, although the room was full of members of his royal court. All familiar faces, but not a true friend or ally amongst them. Madeleine sat to his left and Regina on his right. Kiara Theron and her brother Ezekiel, Penelope Ebrim and her mother Emmeline filled out the other chairs. The room was full of conversation surrounding last night's Coronation and the upcoming Royal Engagement Tour.
Nobody was talking to him, and he was fine with that. The people he really wanted to chat with over tea and toast were absent. Kate, Drake, Hana, Maxwell, Olivia and Bertrand. The few people he felt were on his side. As far as he knew, Bertrand and Maxwell were still in custody of the Royal Guard. Drake was likely still sleeping after his harrowing night out. Poor Kate was fighting for her life in hospital. Hana had left Cordonia three days ago to go home to China after receiving word of her mother's cancer diagnosis. And Olivia. At least he’d spoken to her today.
He knew that Bastien was stationed outside the breakfast room, and that gave him a little bit of comfort. Setting his empty teacup down on the saucer he reached into the pocket of his jacket for his phone. His personal one. He was aware of Madeleine's eyes briefly cutting towards him, but he ignored her and then looked back down at his screen to unlock it. He picked up Bastien from his onscreen contacts and tapped out a quick message.
We need to talk, alone. Give me a reason to leave breakfast early.
A few seconds later his phone vibrated with a response.
That's all the reason you need, Sire. Library, two minutes?
Nicholas answered back, Thank-you.
He tucked his phone away in his pocket and then straightened his jacket and sat back in his seat. Madeleine reached out to place her hand on his arm.
“Something wrong, Dear?” she asked quietly. The fake smile on her lips was a direct contrast to the stern look in her eyes.
He casually brushed his hand down his sleeve and then she quickly pulled hers away. “Nothing to be concerned about, just checking in with Bastien. If you’ll excuse me..”
Placing his hands on the table he stood up and pushed his chair back. All eyes turned to look his way as the conversation stopped. He addressed everyone, “Thank-you all for sharing breakfast with me this morning. But I have a meeting to get to.”
He nodded to Regina as he passed her chair and felt everyone's eyes on his back as he approached the door. He paused as a servant opened the door for him, and then glanced toward the security guard from the corner of the room who stepped forward to escort him. Nicholas waved him off with a shake of his head and then stepped out into the hall. When the door closed behind him he breathed a sigh of relief. Bastien wasn't at his post by the door, but James was.
“Sir.” He spoke up, standing up straight from where he’d been leaning against the wall. “Do you require an escort?”
Nicholas shook his head, giving him a smile, “At ease, James. I'm meeting Bas in the library. I'm pretty sure I can get there on my own.”
“Understood.” James nodded.
Nicholas heard James speak quietly into his radio as he turned right to enter the hallway. “He's on his way.”
Unbuttoning his suit jacket and stuffing his hands into his pockets, Nicholas made his way down the familiar corridor, the soft carpet muting his steps as he went. He looked up at the wall of regal portraits, as usual, as he went through the gallery. He stopped at the painting of his father and his mother. They both looked so youthful and vibrant, as if they could just step out of the past. Constantine, so stoic and stern, wore an imperious commanding expression. Eleanor, fair haired like himself, was smiling and angelic in comparison. His heart ached for her, and he longed to hear her kind voice again. It astonished him to think that nearly twenty years had passed since she'd died. He could really use her advice right now. He wondered what she'd say to the adult Nicholas she never knew.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. Bastien had been kept waiting long enough. He would have to settle for the counsel of his head of security for now. Nicholas had been King of Cordonia for less than a day, but had years of courtly training ingrained into his character by this point. Although he hadn't talked with his father in over a week, his voice rang clearly in his memory. It reminded him of who he was and how the fate of his country was now his responsibility. Now that Constantine was in no position to give orders, he needed to establish with Bastien where the hierarchy of power lay moving forward. And it no longer began and ended with Regina.
Resuming his walk to the Library, he quickened his pace, feeling a rush of adrenaline spurring him forward.
…
Bastien Lykel stood in the library, looking out through the open doorway and into the dimly lit ballroom across the hall. He glanced at his watch. I should have given the King a longer interval of time. It's already been four minutes since I've left my post. He was reaching into his pocket for his phone again when he heard the echo of footsteps coming down the hall. He straightened his posture and stood at attention as he saw Nicholas breeze in through the doorway. He watched the King turn and pull each of the double doors closed. There was a resounding echo as the heavy wood of each door connected, sealing them into the cavernous space.
Nicholas sighed, slightly out of breath, as he leaned back against the door with relief.
“Good morning, Bastien.”
“You wanted to speak to me, Sire?” Bastien replied.
Nicholas smirked, rubbing at his jaw. “Please, Bastien. You've known me my whole life. I'm not your father, and I'm definitely not my father either. 'Sire' isn't my style. Going forward, ‘Sir’ when we're alone. Or I suppose ‘Your Majesty’ while we're in the presence of the court is fine.”
Bastien nodded, “As you wish, Sir.”
“Bear with me, please. I'm new at this." Nicholas began to pace nervously as he tried to organize his thoughts.
"Something on your mind, Sir?"
Nicholas stopped, and then leaned back against the end of a bookshelf. "Yes. I've noticed that since we returned from Applewood, there are new faces among the security staff. Why? Who hired them?"
"Countess Madeleine has brought guards with her from Fydelia. Plus, Queen Regina has dipped into the staffing pool and shuffled some of the guards between Applewood and the Palace."
Nicholas crossed his arms with a frown, "Did she explain why she did this all of a sudden?"
"As Head of Household a shuffling of staff is something she's done periodically for years."
“Oh, I see. I'm assuming the two guards who abducted Kate last night must have been two of Madeleine's then.”
Bastien blinked with surprise, then frowned. “Abducted? No, they were supposed to escort her to the airport.”
“I saw them lead her across the courtyard. They didn't escort her, but rather forcefully pulled her along by the arm. When she resisted getting into the vehicle, she was struck and then roughly shoved into the backseat. They treated her like a damned criminal. She didn't deserve that. The photos taken of her and Tariq at Applewood were clearly a setup meant to smear her reputation.”
Bastien looked down at the floor. “She wasn't supposed to be harmed,” he said quietly.
“Harmed? The bastards nearly killed her!” Nicholas shouted. His voice echoed in the stillness of the large room and Bastien flinched.
The captain of the guard looked up into Nicholas’s angry face. “A police officer informed me that there had been an accident involving one of our SUVs and that the victims had been taken to hospital. He wanted to know if I could identify the occupants. He didn't tell me about Kate’s condition, but he said that Drake had been attempting a rescue when the emergency vehicles arrived on scene.”
“He told me about it.”
“The police officer?” Bastien asked.
“No, Drake did.” Nicholas replied.
“I should talk to him too. Is he here, or at the hospital with Ms. Darling?”
“He's been treated and released. But no, I don't want you talking to him about the accident. I sent him after her, not you. He’s not one of your guards, so he's not under your command.” Nicholas insisted.
“But he stole the Ambassador’s car. That's breaking the law. He needs to be punished for that.”
“There was no time for him to politely ask to borrow a vehicle. He didn't have keys to one of our fleet vehicles either. I gave him permission to use whatever means necessary to go after that SUV. I saw what those guards did to her and feared for her life. Knowing now that the vehicle they were driving crashed with her in it, doesn't that put them more at fault than Drake?”
Bastien shrugged, “I don't know. You said that you had given him permission to use whatever means necessary. How do we know he didn't run them off the road?”
Nicholas gaped at him, “We both know Drake would never do such a thing. Especially with Kate inside. I expected him to intercept and neutralize the guards at the airport and then usher her to safety.”
“Well the guards were certainly neutralized. I contacted the hospital and they informed me that they'd died. I was politely informed that the female occupant was to have no unauthorized visitors, and they weren't disclosing her condition to anyone besides her next of kin.” Bastien said. “Was that your idea?”
“More or less. I told Drake to keep watch over her while he was at the hospital. The rest he arranged on his own. Who else knows that Kate didn't get on that plane to New York?”
“Well the guards that were waiting for her at the airport know, of course. But they were sent there by me. They reported back to me that the SUV they were expecting hadn't arrived, and that the flight had left.”
“I certainly didn't order her deportation. So who did? And don't say it was my father. He's too ill to pass along any orders.” Nicholas demanded.
“Fletcher contacted me and said that incriminating photos had been leaked to a tabloid. The details of those photos would reflect badly on you, and could have influenced your decision last night. He informed Queen Regina, and then the order was passed along to me. I was told that if the photos happened to go public, that I was to arrange Kate Darling’s removal from the country.”
Nicholas sighed, looking down at the floor. He could still remember the offensive words that Regina had said to him about Kate. And the triumphant look on her face as she’d said them. He couldn't fault Bastien for following her orders. “Well, did you report back to Queen Regina that Kate didn't get on that plane?”
“No, I didn't.” Bastien answered with a grin.
Nicholas shook his head in disbelief, “Really?”
“As far as she's concerned, Kate Darling has been sent home.”
“Good, and I don't want her to know any different. The fewer people that know about Kate’s whereabouts the better. Tell nobody, especially not Countess Madeleine. When Kate's well enough to leave the hospital, I'm entrusting her to Drake’s care. He doesn't know it yet, though.”
Bastien chuckled, “Do you think that's wise? I know he's your best friend and all, and I've known him since he was a child, but for what purpose do you want him to keep Kate?”
“I love her, Bastien. And if it weren't for those photos and the story made up to go with them, I was going to propose to her. I already know that she would have said yes. I'll begrudgingly go along with Madeleine on this Engagement Tour, and show the world the King I can be. I need to give the false impression that I've rejected Kate, and I hope the media coverage of the tour outshines what the tabloid said about her.”
Bastien looked skeptical. “So you're going to do the tour, and then do what when it ends…marry the Countess anyway? Or Invoke your right to change your mind and marry Kate instead? Why bother to go through with the tour at all?"”
“Between the time needed to make arrangements and then complete the tour itself, we’re talking several weeks. That should give us plenty of time to find out who took the photos and restore Kate's reputation.”
Bastien nodded. "And hopefully keep her actual whereabouts a secret until then."
"Yes, and if Madeleine is with me the whole time I can keep her suitably distracted. If I can charm her into believing she's getting exactly what she wants, it will be all the more satisfying when I take it all away," Nicholas said.
