Chapter Nine
In the three days since his marriage he had barely exchanged a handful of words with his wife. He made sure that he was busy with work while they ate dinner. And she sat in stony silence as she ate her own meal.
It reminded him very much of his previous marriage, and in that case, it was easy for him to slip into the rhythm of it.
“You’re going to have to take a honeymoon,” Emerald said, bursting into his office without preamble.
“Excuse me?”
“There are rumors. A lot of them. And I just feel that if you don’t pause and take some time off, they’re going to persist.”
“And what rumors are those?”
“There are rumors about everything. Of course, there is already talk that she’s pregnant.
And within that, there are people that are saying she was a surrogate for you and Circe, and the baby isn’t even hers.
That you’re trying to cover that up. There are people that are saying she’s your mistress.
And, of course, there are people who have it right.
That you got her pregnant, and had to marry her, and that’s why you’ve done it so quickly, but that you don’t know her or love her.
Evidenced by the fact that you didn’t even bother to have a reception. ”
“Neither she nor I are actors. It would have been a foolish thing to attempt.”
“Still. You maybe should have. Because now you’re left with a whole lot of speculation about the irregularity of everything.”
“Maybe I don’t care about the irregularity.”
“That’s a lie. You do. I think at the very least you need people to believe that you love her.
Or at least you can stand to be in the same room as each other.
And I know that Lady Tremaine might have signed a nondisclosure agreement that you sent over, but the staff doesn’t work on nondisclosure.
They spread rumors. That’s why we act with a certain amount of discretion.
But within this house, people are talking.
And eventually some of that is going to get out. ”
“No one ever said anything about Circe or myself.”
“Yours was a diplomatic union. Everyone knew it. This isn’t. You’ve married a commoner. I did the same, while pregnant. You and I are beginning to look like…well, like we can’t really control ourselves.”
“I fail to see how your failings should reflect on me.”
“Failings. I mean, really I am only human. And Andrei is…”
“Thank you. I don’t want to hear about your sex life with my best friend. I’m happy you’re happy.”
He wasn’t entirely sure he meant it. He wasn’t sure if anything made him happy at this point.
He was going to be a father in only three and a half short months, and all of this was insult to injury.
He had to figure out how to manage the rumor mill.
And his sister was right. It was better if people thought that it was a love match.
A diplomatic match that was cordial rather than passionate was at least expected.
But this…
Well, it was beginning to look irregular.
“All right. I’ll take her to a private island where nobody can take photographs of her.
But we are going to have to seed the rumor that we’d gone somewhere without saying where.
Because we can’t have photographs released, because she will be visibly pregnant in anything other than a billowing gown. ”
“Noted,” Emerald said. “I believe Andrei has just the bolthole.”
“He has more secret properties than the one that he spirited you off to in Romania?”
“Yes. He’s the son of a notorious crime lord.
He loves a secret hiding place. Though he resented it when I said it was like having secret clubhouses like a little boy.
” She smiled. “I paid for that.” Onyx grimaced.
“Anyway he doesn’t need them now. You can take her there, and the house is huge.
You won’t even have to see her, but everyone will believe that you’re having some kind of intimate escape. ”
“Perfect.”
“How nice that I’ve earned your praise.”
In a bad mood, because his sister had been right, he went to find Birdie.
She was not in her room. And it took him ages to track her down, by asking staff.
He found her in the kitchen, stirring a pot, and chatting to the head of the serving staff.
The woman who had yelled at him like he was a child and not a king. Elizabeth.
“What are you doing here?”
“Visiting,” she said, stepping in front of Elizabeth like she had to protect her from him.
“I need to speak to you.”
Elizabeth looked at him, one gray brow raised. “Good to see you too, Your Highness.”
“Is it?”
“Nice to still have my job anyway.”
“Don’t push it.”
He gestured for Birdie to follow him.
“We’re going away on a honeymoon,” he said.
She stopped. “We are?”
“Yes. We are. It is in our best interest to try and make this look as real as possible. By which I mean, we need to make it look like it is an emotional connection. If we can do that…if we can do that, then it may do something to quell the rumors that are beginning to bubble up.”
“Rumors?”
“Many of them true.”
“I see.”
“So we’re going off to a private island. My sister is arranging everything.”
“Oh.” She had a very strange look on her face. “I’ve never been out of Basilia.”
“You haven’t?”
She shook her head. “No. When would I have ever gone?”
“I… I don’t know.”
He realized that beyond a very basic biography he didn’t really know anything about his wife.
He knew that she was a maid. He knew that she wasn’t nobility.
He knew that her stepmother was…a disgusting woman.
But he didn’t know anything about her life beyond that.
She had never traveled. He spent his life on private jets, going to many of the world’s most beautiful places.
Often for work, yes, but he was able to enjoy the beauty of a place.
“I will have the staff pack your things for a warm climate.”
She frowned. “I’m still not used to having people do things for me. I’m not sure how I feel about it.”
“Does it matter how you feel about it?”
“Well. Yes. I would say that it does. I’m still trying to get my bearings. Still trying to get a handle on all of this.”
“So am I.”
It was a strange, honest thing to say, and he wasn’t certain how he felt about it once it exited his mouth.
“But you were born into this.”
“I was. But I did think that I would have a bit more time before I had to assume the throne.”
“Oh. Well. Of course.” She almost looked…sympathetic. Maybe she didn’t hate him quite so much as she wanted him to believe.
Or maybe she did. It didn’t really matter. It didn’t.
Within the hour, they were on his private jet, with her looking round-eyed and uncertain as the plane took off.
“What?”
“I’ve never been on a plane.”
“How is that possible?”
“Poverty?”
“Your father was a businessman. Before he died. You didn’t do any traveling?”
She shook her head. “No. He often traveled for business. But he didn’t have any time to take me anywhere. I usually stayed with a nanny. And then, he got married and I would stay with my stepmother. Or a nanny who would take care of my stepsisters and me.”
“And then?”
“Well, then he died. I’m not certain if you were able to pick it up from context clues or not, but my stepmother doesn’t see me as part of the family.
Also, before he died he lost…he lost very nearly everything.
All we really have is that house. It’s been hand-to-mouth as far as keeping everyone fed and clothed. ”
“Your stepmother and stepsisters look both well clothed and well fed.”
“They were receiving my salary from the palace.”
“What?”
“I was seventeen when I started working there. My stepsister’s the one who arranged the bank account, and got everything established for me.
I had the money deposited into her account because she was the one managing the household anyway.
And as she pointed out, they were the ones who needed it.
Then, my stepsisters did start earning money as influencers online.
Though it isn’t steady. But sometimes there’s quite a bit of money.
A bonus, or really good brand deal. They’ve been sent on holidays as long as they would film it. ”
“But of course you were never taken on those holidays.”
“No. Much like you,” she said, leveling her gaze at him, “when they look at me they see a commoner. There really is no way around that. It’s what consumes them. I don’t deserve any of this.”
He gritted his teeth. “I’m not a snob.”
“You are. But it’s all right. You can hardly help it. You’re a king, after all. I would think that being a snob is in your DNA. And truly, royalty is in your DNA, so I suppose if given an ideal world, you were always going to try and give your child fine blood coming from both parents.”
“No,” he said. “That’s not it. I married for diplomatic reasons. It had nothing to do with my wife’s bloodline. It was everything to do with the connection.”
“Which is blood by extension.”
“If you like,” he said.
“It’s not about what I like or don’t like. It’s true.”
“They were cruel to you,” he said.
“No more or less than you.”
“Am I being cruel?” He gestured around the private plane.
“No. But you’re only taking me on this trip to save face.”
“Did you need it to be personal?”
“Hardly. I’m just pointing out that it feels a little bit…a bit disingenuous for you to be unhappy with my stepmother about anything, when you haven’t treated me much different.”
“And what would you like from me? An apology? Would you like me to prostrate myself before you with abject humility?”
“No, of course not. I don’t think you’re capable of such a thing.”
Circe hadn’t pushed back with him like this. She had been cold, and she had been uninterested in engaging with him often, but it hadn’t been like this.
Birdie was, for no real reason he could discern, completely unafraid of the consequences of speaking out of turn.