The Prince’s Heart

33. Chapter 33

Chapter thirty-three

T ag and I leave for Cedelia bright and early the next morning. I can’t speak for him, but I’m tired yet exhilarated, ready to face what comes as long as he’s by my side.

There’s no real reason to hurry other than my vague guilt at making Emma take my place, so we decide to go slowly and take an extra day or two on the road, letting the horses have a break after the pace I set on the way here. The weather is perfect, nearly as sunny as my mood, the summer sun warm but not oppressive.

The ride back is pleasant, and I bask in the glow of being with the man I love again. Sometimes, I catch myself looking at him and just smiling; whenever he notices, he gives me a big grin in return, so clearly he doesn’t mind very much. It’s so pleasant that by the time we reach Cedelia, I almost don’t want to go back to the palace, where I’ll have to deal with all the stress and exhaustion that comes with being king.

But then I glance at Tag, and that feeling lessens. I can handle it as long as he’s with me .

Once we’ve made our way through the city and reached the palace, I’m glad to see that everything looks normal. Or, at least, nobody’s running around like there’s a major crisis. Not that I expected Emma to do anything besides an excellent job, but you never know.

“Do you want to get something to eat?” I ask Tag as we dismount. “I don’t know about you, but right now I’d love to eat something other than an apple and hard cheese.”

“That does sound nice,” Tag agrees. “But perhaps we could bathe and change our clothes first? I think I’ve ten days’ worth of dust on me.”

I laugh and pull him close to me despite his dusty clothes. “That sounds like an excellent idea.” I give him a deep kiss, not caring whether anyone sees. “Let’s go to my rooms, then? I’ll have the servants send for some hot water.”

He nods, and we set off in that direction, both of us grinning widely. Truth be told, I’m looking forward to a nice long bath as well. It may have been a pleasant ride, but sitting in a saddle every day for the last two weeks has taken its toll on my body.

Yet it seems we’ll have to wait, because when we enter my rooms, there’s someone waiting for us. It takes me a few moments to register that someone is sitting in my antechamber, and once I do, I almost don’t believe my eyes. “Mother?” I suppose I should have realized she’d be back by now, but with all that’s happened recently, I had almost forgotten she’d been gone. “You’re finally back?”

She turns to look at me, a big smile breaking out on her face. “I am, Darien.” She stands up and walks over to give me a hug. “I missed you,” she says. “Now come sit with us. I understand we have quite a bit to talk about.”

Us ? I was so shocked to see Mother that I didn’t even notice that Kenessa and Emma are here too. They both look happy to see me and Tag, but Kenessa looks … different , somehow, in a way I can’t quite put my finger on.

“How did you know we got back?” I ask as we take our seats. “Please don’t tell me that you’ve all been sitting in my room waiting for me to return for the last few days.”

Kenessa and Emma share an amused look, and Mother chuckles. “Of course we haven’t,” Mother says. “I’ll admit I was a bit confused when I got back and found you weren’t here, but Emma told me where you went. I asked the stables to let me know the moment you returned. Fortunately, when I got the message a few minutes ago, the three of us were eating lunch together, so we just came over here to wait for you.” She sniffs the air and frowns at me and Tag. “Although, perhaps I should have waited a bit. You smell like a horse. Both of you.”

“Trust me, I’m well aware. We were going to bathe, but I suppose that will have to wait.”

“Fair enough. In that case, let’s get right down to it.” She settles back in her seat a bit. “I’m sure you’re wondering where I was for the last month or so. I’ll get to that shortly, but first, you should know that Emma and Kenessa told me what happened with Arbois.” Her nostrils flare a bit, and her cheeks get redder. “Believe me, I wouldn’t have left had I known just how much of a monster he was. I knew he was ambitious, but I never thought he would have the sheer audacity, the ruthlessness , to do what he did. If he wasn’t already out of the picture…”

She pauses and takes a deep breath, visibly calming herself. “But I suppose it worked out for the best in the end. I can’t say that justice was done, but at least he won’t be able to hurt anyone else in his quest for power. Besides this way we can say we were honest when we told his sister that his death was a tragic accident.” She frowns. “Well. Perhaps not the part about it being tragic, but you get the idea.”

I glance at Emma, who shakes her head minutely. She hasn’t told Mother the truth, then. Maybe we’ll tell her what really happened to Arbois someday, but now is not the time. “I was thinking along the same lines,” I say, deliberately keeping my voice even. “Now will you please tell us about your top-secret mission?”

“Patience is a virtue, my son,” she murmurs. I pretend not to hear her, and she continues at a normal volume. “When we received the message from my brother terminating the alliance with Zeteyon, I told you that it didn’t seem like something Zeikas would do. The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced that someone must have interfered in some way—whether it was Rolsteg, Arbois, or someone else. I know we tried to keep our initial message to Zeikas a secret, but in truth, we didn’t try very hard. It would have been relatively easy for someone to find out that we sent a message to Zeikas and bribe the messenger to give it to him. Which, I presume, is what Arbois did.”

I frown as I consider her words. “I suppose that makes sense. But if Arbois prevented the message from getting to Zeikas, then why did we get a response? Or was Zeikas’s response actually a fake?”

She gives me an enigmatic smile. “You’re on the right track, but not quite there yet. You see, Arbois didn’t stop our message from getting to my brother—well, not exactly.” I can tell that she’s enjoying this. “All he had to do was copy it onto a new piece of paper, with some minor—but highly important—changes, and transfer the seal. Then he could send off his doctored message, with everyone none the wiser. Zeikas would have no reason to think it was anything but genuine.”

“And you deduced this all before you left? Where did you go, then?”

Her smile grows wider. “I went to Osella to visit your uncle in person, of course. I thought that if he heard the truth from someone he trusts, he might reconsider his decision.”

Things are starting to fall into place. “That sounds like a good idea,” I allow. “But why all the secrecy? You could have just told everyone you were going to visit your homeland for a little while, and nobody would have batted an eye.”

“Perhaps. But at the time, I didn’t know who was behind all of this. If whoever it was found out that I was going to Zeteyon, they might have put two and two together and tried to stop me.” Her smile fades when I don’t respond immediately. “I’m sorry, Darien. I did what I thought had to do. I didn’t mean to cause any of you to worry.”

I think about it for a moment, then I accept her apology with a nod. I guess she’s right. In any event, it’s too late to change things now . “What happened when you got to Osella?”

She pinches her lips together and makes a sound that’s somewhere between a sniff and a huff. “When I first arrived, he didn’t even want to see me,” she says, sounding slightly affronted. “Apparently, the letter Arbois wrote requested that Zeteyon pay a hefty tribute to Soeria in exchange for renewing the alliance. Needless to say, Zeikas was quite offended. It took me days to convince him that the letter he received was a forgery, and that I wasn’t there to collect money from him. I swear, my brother can be even more stubborn than you are sometimes.”

I choose to ignore that last part. “Now that I think about it, I did read a letter the Jirenian ambassador to Zeteyon sent to Arbois, saying something about how Zeikas was suddenly much more amenable to their proposal—whatever it was—than he was before. I suppose that would have been around the time Zeikas got the doctored message.”

“That sounds about right. Zeikas mentioned that the Jirenians had been pushing him to enter an alliance with them for the past few months. Although, I’m willing to bet that Arbois never intended to follow through, and that he simply wanted to know when the forged letter reached Zeikas and gauge his reaction to it…” She trails off, lost in thought.

“Did you manage to convince Zeikas the letter was a fake?” I prompt.

She nods. “To my brother’s credit, once he finally got it through his thick skull that I was telling the truth, he was quite apologetic, and it didn’t take him very long to agree to renew the alliance like we originally wanted.”

I feel a huge smile breaking out on my face. “That’s wonderful! The alliance is officially back on, then?”

“That’s right. And evidently his puerile spat with the Khorians has been resolved, so we don’t have to worry that we’ll be on our own should trouble arise.”

“That’s certainly good news.” It’s a relief to know that Soeria has an ally again, especially now that Jirena Sadai doesn’t seem to be an option. “Maybe now the council won’t give me as much trouble about courting Tag.”

Mother laughs, with just a hint of bitterness in it. “Oh, I sincerely doubt that will be the case. Still, I suppose it’s worth a shot. I take it the two of you mean to continue your courtship, then?”

I look at Tag, feeling love swell in my breast as I do. “Yes, we do.”

She nods once. “Good. Being back in Zeteyon reminded me just how absurd the notion that someone’s value comes solely from their rank is. From what I’ve seen, Tag is a good man, and you two clearly make each other happy. I’ll gladly give you my support against the council, should it be necessary.”

A warm feeling like distilled sunlight spreads through me; from the look on Tag’s face, he’s feeling something similar. “Thank you, Your Majesty,” Tag says, a hitch in his voice. “I really do appreciate it.”

Mother waves a hand. “There’s no need to thank me. Catherine has stuck by me through thick and thin, and now it appears you’re going to do the same for Darien.” She frowns. “Speaking of which, I think we’re familiar enough that you don’t need to call me ‘Your Majesty’ any longer. Although I’m not sure what you should call me. ‘Merandia’ seems a bit too familiar, and ‘Mother’ is a bit strange.” She thinks about it for a moment, then shrugs. “We’ll figure something out, I’m sure.”

Tag nods, still smiling widely. “I’m sure we will.” Then he turns back to me and gives me a quick kiss. “Well, Darien, it seems like everything has come together nicely, hasn’t it?”

I kiss him back. “It certainly has.” I look into his eyes for a moment longer, then turn back to the three women sitting across me. “Although, at some point I’m going to have to figure out what to do about an heir. Not that I’m disparaging you, Emma. But something tells me that if I make the council give way on me and Tag being together, they’ll just fight that much harder to make sure I adopt someone they consider suitable.”

To my surprise, a spark lights in Kenessa’s eyes. “I may have a solution for that,” she says hesitantly.

From the questioning looks on everyone else’s faces, it’s clear I’m not the only one who’s unsure what she means. “What is it?” I ask.

“Let’s say you do adopt an heir,” she says. “Whoever it is should be closely related to you, right?”

I nod, still not quite sure where she’s going with this.

“I didn’t want to tell anyone until I was absolutely certain, but one of the healers examined me a few days ago, and now I’m quite sure.” She gently pats her stomach as she speaks.

In a flash I realize what she’s saying. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?” I hear a quiet gasp from either Mother or Emma. “You want me to adopt the child as my heir?”

Kenessa nods once. “That’s what I was thinking, yes. It seems like an elegant solution. I don’t think there’s any doubt that the council would view your brother’s child as a suitable heir. Meanwhile, I’d be able to raise them here at the palace, and you could have a say in their education. From the perspective of succession, it would be as though you had a child of your own.” She lets out a quiet breath, looking cautious. “All of this is assuming you’re okay with it, of course.”

“ Okay with it?” My wide smile comes back. “Are you kidding? It’s a great idea! The council will get off my back, and I won’t have to search around for someone they’d find suitable. And Samis…” A not-entirely-unexpected rush of grief makes tears come to my eyes. “I know it’s what he would want.”

Kenessa’s eyes are glistening too; in fact, I don’t think there’s a single dry eye in the room right now. “He would,” she says, with obvious relief. “Thank you. I thought you might be willing to go along with it, but I wasn’t completely sure.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” I reply, laughing. “Really, I’m the one who should be thanking you. All of you.” I take Tag’s hand in mine and squeeze it. “But it seems like we’ve gotten almost everything settled, so if you don’t mind leaving, I’d like to speak to Tag privately.”

Tag looks at me, his eyebrows raised, but I remain silent. The three women take their leave; before they’ve gotten more than a few steps away from us, Mother is already congratulating Kenessa, then asking what sounds like a million questions about her unborn grandchild, with Emma speaking up now and then too. I watch them go with a smile and a sense of pure contentment. I’m sure I’ll hear all about my niece or nephew—my heir —soon enough, but right now there’s something even more important that I have to do.

Once the door is closed behind them, I turn back to Tag, who looks at me with a wide grin.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” he asks. “I thought you said we settled everything.”

“I said almost everything. There’s still one thing left to do, and it might be the most important one of all.”

Either he hasn’t gotten my hints yet, or he’s hiding it. “What is it, Darien?”

“I need to ask you something.” I look into his eyes and hold his gaze as I get down on one knee before him, my heart pounding like mad. “Tag, I love you more than anything in the world, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life.” I pause for a moment before I ask him the question that I’ve been wanting to ask him for so long. “Tag Leara, will you marry me?”

To my relief, he reacts immediately, lifting us both up into a standing position and pulling me in for a deep kiss. “I love you too, Darien,” he says, a bit breathlessly. “Of course I’ll marry you.”

When he finishes speaking, there’s a huge, happy smile on his face, and I realize that there’s a matching one on mine as well. “I’m so very glad to hear that, my love.” My smile fades just the tiniest bit. “We won’t be able to announce it just yet, you understand. I am supposed to be grieving for my fiancé right now, after all.”

He chuckles softly. “So now you’re the one who wants to keep our courtship quiet? Well, I suppose turnabout is fair play.” He kisses me again, and I feel an overwhelming sense of happiness as I realize that I get to kiss him every day for the rest of my life. “Now we’ve gotten everything settled, right?”

I gently tap him on the nose; it feels like I’ll never be able to stop smiling. “Not quite. We still have to plan the wedding. I’m sure Ivy and Riella will have tons of fashion advice to give us. Once they get over their initial excitement, that is.”

He groans. “Don’t remind me. Any chance we can run off and get married without all the ceremony?”

“Not a chance, my love. That’s what you get for agreeing to marry a king.”

He kisses me one last time. “You’re worth it.” It’s clear that he means it. “I love you, Darien.”

“I love you too, Tag, and I always will.” I’ve never felt so certain about anything in my entire life. “With all my heart.”