Everything I know, I learned from him. I watched him give his life to this family and country. It is his pride and joy that we are who we are. So, how could I tell him it was he who caused our problems? All that hard work, shattering in his own hands? It would crush him.”
This was one of the things I found insufferable about being a monarch; with each generation, the pressure grew. No one wished to be the king that lost the kingdom. No one wanted to be the last royal family. It was too heavy a burden, and I had always done my best to avoid any and everything that could burden my life any more than it already was. For nearly twenty-seven years, I had been free to do whatever and go wherever I pleased...within reason.And I knew such a thing was only possible because my father and brother held the world on their shoulders for us. But now that my father was ill, Arty couldn’t possibly do anything more.
I could hear my grandfather’s voice in the back of mind, saying with his deep vibrato, What did I tell you? The further you try to run from your duty, the narrower the path becomes.
I could finally hear my heart beating. It was loud and painful, begging me to do the right thing, the selfless thing.
I really did not want to listen, though.
“I will seriously consider it.” I sighed, hanging my head. “Whoever is it that they wish me to marry.”
“Whomever? Even Lady Maeve Cudmore?”
“Oh, dear God!” I cringed, my skin crawling.
“I’m merely joking,” he had the audacity to say, a small smile on his face. Though the rest of him still looked weighed down.
“This is not the time for jokes. I am at the edge of my sanity right now. I cannot take it,” I grumbled, rubbing my temples. “Who is it? Actually, on second thought, don’t tell me. Just get me drunk and hold me up at the altar should there be no other way.”
“First, I do not know if that would be legally binding, so let us not do that. Secondly, what would it take for you to move past the point of consideration?”
I knew he wanted me just to say yes. Part of me knew, for the sake of my family and the crown, I had to, but the words just would not leave my lips. “I do not know. Surely, I could meet the woman a few times. It would be good for us not to be complete strangers. What do you know about her?”
“I barely know anything in truth, other than her fortune and name, that is.”
My eyebrow raised at that. “You know nothing of her? How? What family is she from? Maybe I’ve already heard of her?”
“I doubt it. She’s not Ersovian.”
“German, then?”
He shook his head. “Wrong direction. Go west.”
“French?” That wouldn’t be the worst.
“Keep going west.”
I paused. “How far west am I going?”
“North America.”
For the love of Christ! “An American? Bloody brilliant. It’s always been my desire to be a complete and utter cliché. Everyone knows the only reason a noble marries an American heiress is if they are in need of money. I might as well tattoo the words gold digger on my forehead.”
“If the prince of England can marry an American, so can you, Gale,” he stated.
“This isn’t England, and she wasn’t an heiress.”
“And the difference is?”
“American culture and American wealth culture are completely different.”
“Now you are being a snob,” he replied, but he did not say I was wrong.
“Fine. Is she a Hilton or something? Do you know her name?”
“Odette Wyntor, co-heir of Etheus.”
“Etheus?” I knew that company. “But isn’t the family that founded Etheus—”
“Black,” he finished for me and nodded. “Yes, they are. Is that a problem for you all of a sudden?”
“No.” I ignored the last part of his comment. “However, with the current political climate as it is, and people as they are, why the bloody hell would they agree? What do they get out of a title that means nothing?”
“It is hardly nothing to be married to a prince. We may not hold much actual power, but we carry a lot of influence, not only here but throughout Europe, too.”
I wanted to ask him if he thought influence and gossip were the same things. If he did, he was correct. Everyone loved to gossip about royals, and the British always took the brunt of it throughout the world. But within Europe, we