The Hero and the Hidden Royal - Renae Kaye Page 0,40

going to be bad apples,” Sam said. “I’m not up on all Royal history, but I know there are bad apples.”

“True,” Derek conceded. “I guess we can never stop that. I just think about the what-ifs of life. If all powers were illegal and had to be hidden, then I would’ve been born in some sort of secret underground society, because the moment I was born they would’ve known that one of my parents was Royal, or at least assumed to be Royal. I would’ve received no medical care or education.” He put his arm around Sam’s waist. “But there are so many what-ifs in history, too. The journal I’ve been studying mentions the South Abarran king had a sister. She’s not in any of the history books that I can find. None of the family trees. No birth or death records exist of her. The journal refers to her as the ‘poor soul child’ even though she appears to be a teen. I don’t know what this means.”

“What do you think it means? One thing I’ve learned about you, Derek, is that you’re very smart. You know things. I’m sure you have an opinion.”

Derek bit his lip, not wishing to appear foolish, but then he realized that Sam loved him. He didn’t need to impress Sam.

“If she weren’t a Royal, if she were just a person of non-power lineage, I would say that the way they referred to her was as if she was simple. Like she had a learning disability or something. The valet says something along the lines of, ‘and then the king had to deal with the mess his sister made, that poor soul child.’ As if she weren’t mentally competent.”

“But?” Sam said. “There has to be a but in there, because I know you.”

“Well,” Derek replied, trying to work out how to explain. “If you’re a royal, and I don’t mean an Abarran Royal with power, I mean any person who is of royal lineage, then your birth is carefully documented and recorded because the line of succession is vitally important. Every baby born is recorded. If, sometime later as they grew up, it turned out that they were disabled or intellectually challenged, then sometimes there is a death faked. The child is given a death certificate, but raised by someone trusted by the royal family or locked up in the attics or some morbid thing. But this girl has no record of her birth at all. As if her birth were hidden as well as her death. And the only thing I can think of is that she was born like me—something about her power was present at birth. Something so horrible that they wanted to hide her.”

“What about if she was illegitimate?” Sam asked. “Surely they would hide her birth then?”

“Sort of.” Derek looked at the perfectly blue sky and felt peace. A beautiful view, a beautiful man, and they were talking about the things that excited Derek. “Royal illegitimacy is handled differently. Some openly claimed their baseborn children. Some hid them and supported them, but their births were still recorded. If the mother of this child had an affair and the child was born but not of Royal descent, then that child would’ve probably been banished to an orphanage and the king would’ve never known his half-sister. I would assume the Queen would’ve been put aside in disgrace, but the family tree shows more children born after what I approximate this girl’s age to be. The Queen didn’t give birth to a child who was not her husband’s. No. This girl was hidden from the family papers.”

“A hidden Royal?” Sam asked.

“Sort of like me, right?” Derek said, turning in his arms and grinning up to Sam’s downturned face. “Someone who is around, but no one sees?”

Sam’s expression became serious. “I see you. I see you and I love you.” Dipping his head, he captured Derek’s lips with him, and they kissed passionately on the balcony until finally Sam pushed Derek away. “No. I promised myself that we were going to wait until tonight. We’ve driven all this way and so let’s go and explore for a bit before we….” He drew in a deep breath.

“Before we make love?” Derek asked quietly.

Sam swallowed loudly. “Yes. Now come on.”

Basking in Sam’s love, Derek amazingly stayed visible for longer than usual that day. They drove to the township and took in the marvels of the old buildings and some lovely parks. There was a church,