13. Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve
October rushed by in a crisp whirlwind of falling leaves, warm mugs of Gl?gg during the day, and heated kisses at night.
I rarely found myself cold or lonely. What I did find was a glowing appreciation of being in love.
Rani was my everything. Even when he was fidgeting about the press catching us holding hands—which they did a week into the festival—or making that tough video call to his parents, or working tirelessly with an exhausted princess, he was the sun and moon in my universe.
The time raced by with the smell of freshly brewed coffee on windy streets, the sound of our native songs being performed at the bandstand in the center of town, or the soft bleat of sheep at the fairgrounds.
Autumn was surely my favorite time of year now, for it had brought Rani back to me.
Over thirty days, he began to trust, to open up, to see that we could be an us.
A good us. An us that would stand tall against whatever may be tossed our way, and a lot of vitriol had been flung at us.
The bishop had not been thrilled to see yet another royal son turn queer.
His sentiment, not mine. But he was willing to overlook my homosexual ways if I behaved in a regal manner.
Which I did. Not so much for the church or even for my father, but for Rani.
He’d wanted time to move into our kindling at a torpid pace.
I’d given him that and more. Time was something I had plenty of, and no one was more deserving of it than he.
We clicked now. Like we hadn’t before. Each day when out and about, I was patient, reserved, and polite.
I drank little, sang loudly, and snuggled up close to his side whenever possible.
Not in a randy look at me way, but in a refined manner.
Once I looped my arm over his shoulder, nary a word was spoken.
The world didn’t fall off its axis, the king didn’t lock us up for villainy, and the bishop didn’t say anything about lewd acts at the lingonberry goods stall.
The most obscene thing anyone saw from us was the way Rani devoured lingonkaka squares at a baked good stall.
I’d never been jealous of a lingonberry before.
The festival was nearing its end. My birthday—and my father’s—was tomorrow. I would be thirty-five and Papa seventy.
Coming awake on the day before my birthday, I patted blindly under the covers until I felt a tight little buttock.
Warm as French toast that taut cheek was.
A naughty idea popped into my head. I could wiggle under the covers to nibble that fleshy orb until my tongue delved into a cleft that led to a not-as-tight-as-it-was-two-months-ago hole where I would find a treasure of the most delicious—
A loud bang on my bedroom door shattered my fantasy like a hammer to glass.
Sitting up as Rani mumbled to me to stop being so loud, I muttered under my breath as I stepped into some fleece joggers.
The new staff who had recently been hired really needed to be taught how to rouse a prince and his lover.
Hammering on the door was not at all acceptable.
Yanking the door open, I sucked in a breath in preparation to berate whatever servant dared to be so uncouth when my sight landed on Anders.
“Good morning!” Anders crowed, pulling a snort snarl from the man in my bed. He peeked around my stunned form with a most wicked grin. “Oh, is that Rani I hear being a bear to his former employer?”
“Bloody fucking hell,” Rani said behind me, followed by a thud and several properly British cusses. Soon he’d be singing “Hail Britannia” in the shower.
I threw myself at my little brother. We hugged for the longest time. When I finally pulled back, Anders gave my face a firm pat.
“You look amazing. Did Rani put this glow in your cheeks?” Anders asked just as Rani appeared at my side, looking incredibly rumpled and edible. Damn my brother for interrupting what was going to be a fine feast.
“Your Highness, I am so sorry that you found me in this state,” Rani said with a low bow, one shoulder of one of my robes slipping off his shoulder. “I don’t usually sleep so late, but your brother and I were up late discussing protocol procedures for the birthday supper tomorrow night.”
“Protocol procedures,” Anders teased. “Is that what the kids are calling it now? And when did I become a highness again? I renounced all of that shit.”
“Yes, of course, Sir, I was just…it was a…I wasn’t prepared for your arrival. Did Vetra and I miss an email with a travel itinerary?”
“Nope. Mitch and I wanted to surprise everyone.”
“Well, it worked. You look amazing. Where is Mitch? Did you bring Gilda? I spoke to you not three days ago, and you said nothing about coming over.” I draped an arm around my brother to tug him inside, but he balked.
“That’s because it was a surprise. Mitch and Gilda are with Mama and Papa.
The poor girl might never break free from our mother.
She’s already planning a spa day and a shopping trip, and we’ve not even unpacked.
” Anders gave me a brotherly tap on the arm.
“Why don’t you two get cleaned up? We’ll meet you for breakfast. Rani, good to see you again. ”
“You too, Sir. I mean, My Grace. Sorry, Anders.”
“See you soon,” I said, smiling like a loon as my brother trotted off to rescue Mitch and Gilda from Mama. Spinning from the door after nudging it closed, I saw Rani sitting on the edge of the bed, his face in his hands, his shoulders bowed. “Hey, sweet, you okay?”
“I cannot believe he saw me like this. In his brother’s bed. What an awful impression that must have made.” He spoke into his palms. I padded over to sit beside him. My arm slid around his shoulders so that I could gently tug him to my side. He came, but it was begrudgingly.
“First of all, he knows that we’re dating. The whole world kind of knows it, or if they’ve missed the subtle clues, they’ll sure as hell know when I follow you to the UK and start kissing on you in front of Kensington Palace.”
His head came up, dark eyes round as hubcaps, shame still tinting his cheeks. Utterly adorable.
“Hold on a moment. When was all of this decided?” He turned to face me, his leg crooked up sideways on the bed. My arm fell to my side. My cold side.
“Well, it’s not actually a firm decision, but it is up for serious contemplation,” I replied as I fell back onto the bed, my hand snagging his shoulder to tumble him down atop me.
He could have put up a fight, but instead, he slung a leg over me, grabbed my wrists, and pinned me to the bed.
My cock was quite delighted. “I’m certainly not going to stay in Oslo while you’re banging around London with all those hot men in Trilby’s and fashionable umbrellas. ”
“What century do you think London is in right now? No one wears a Trilby to work.” His gaze was intense.
“But they do carry umbrellas. And spats. They wear spats.”
“You’re a complete arse. Let’s just leave this part of what you said behind and focus on you moving to the UK.” His eyes narrowed. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I adore you and want to spend the rest of my days at your side,” I earnestly replied, rising up just enough to place my lips to his.
He drew back after a second to stare right into the core of my existence.
“Are you mad? You’re mad. Wait, I know why.
I dreamed a dream and didn’t discuss the dream with you, thereby making the dream a solo dream and not a couple dream. ”
“I’m not mad. I’m confused by that reply slightly, but not mad, just…
” He lowered himself to brush his lips over mine.
“You wishing to move to London to be closer to me is hard to grasp. I’m just…
you’ve shown me so much openness and love.
You’ve gently proved yourself to be trying hard to become a new man.
I do love you, Harold. Deeply. I never stopped.
Even when I should have, I couldn’t let go.
Flipping that unrequited love to hate was easy.
Hate is simple, instinctive, but love takes courage, conscious effort, and vulnerability. ”
“I was scared to be vulnerable too, Rani. Terrified, to be honest. Being the palace wild child was much easier; it kept my heart safe.”
“Same. But now you’re gifting it to me on a platter.”
“With some fava beans,” I whispered and got an affectionate eye roll. “I’ll always requite you, sweet.”
“I see that. Slowly, I am seeing that.” He kissed me hard, possessively, and with such enthusiasm that we found ourselves having a glorious shag—as my sister-in-law would call it—that left us winded, giddy, and fashionably late for breakfast.
***
“I wish you would change your mind,” I wheedled as I dressed for the family birthday dinner at home.
The festival had been a rousing success.
We’d all worked overtime on it, and our participation was much appreciated by the people of our little island nation.
We’d left them to it, preferring to watch the fireworks that would pop off in an hour from the balcony outside the throne room.
Our exhausted security details much appreciated it.
Houghton was overdue for a vacation after this past month of being on call every day for sometimes fourteen hours.
“I’m not going to barge in on the family dinner. I’m a member of the staff,” Rani replied while tying my tie into a precise Windsor knot. “I rather miss this aspect of being in Anders’ employ.”
“You miss dressing princes?”
“Mm, yes. I prefer undressing them but dressing them is nice.” He peeked up through thick black lashes and snickered softly at my scowl.
“I never undressed your brother. Well, other than that one time he got horrendously drunk at a party. But that night all I did was remove his shoes and tuck him into his bed.”
“Hmmm.” I snuck a kiss. “I suppose I should thank you for taking care of our littlest prince.”