A Royal Departure Read online

  A Royal Departure

  The Princes of Prynesse

  Daphne James Huff

  Copyright © 2018 by Daphne James Huff

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design: https://romacdesigns.com/

  to Helen, my first reader, even though you like Alix better

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  Thank you for reading!

  Acknowledgements/Writer’s Note:

  About Daphne James Huff

  Also by Daphne James Huff

  Chapter 1

  Her Majesty Queen Annabelle isn’t one to sit around the house. Between her countless charities and other royal duties, she’s been spotted at over twenty different events this month alone. When she’s not hard at work smiling for the cameras, she enjoys walks in the royal gardens, which must be quite a change from the small yard she had growing up in Grinsberg Province.

  With two children to look after under the age of 3 already, one could imagine that she spends hours running around after them inside the palace. Though, our inside source tells us she rarely makes time for them, preferring to leave their care to nannies and others more suited to caretaking roles.

  - Prynessian Women’s Daily

  Annabelle was tired. She’d been tired for the past three years, but today she felt it more than ever. She had slept badly the night before, tossing and turning without Leo in the bed next to her. He had been so busy the past few months; he usually slept in his office. He hadn’t even eaten dinner with them the past week. It was like they were roommates, never seeing each other for more than a few minutes at a time when they passed each other in the hall. When they did see each other, it seemed like they were always fighting.

  She had been hoping that this week at least they’d be able to see him more. She had cleared her schedule and given the nanny a few days off. But when she asked Leo’s private secretary if he’d be joining them for lunch, he simply shook his head. Now, as much as she had been looking forward to this time as a “real” mom, she was ready for a break.

  So now here they were outside, and it felt like every bone in her body was exhausted from the morning alone with the two of them. Felix would only spend a few minutes playing with one toy before demanding the next. Sophia was pulling up on every single piece of furniture (which wouldn’t be a problem if most things weren’t 16th-century antiques). Annabelle had struggled to keep them both entertained without breaking anything.

  The sun glared down on her upturned face as she breathed in the scent of flowers in the garden.

  “Would you like some help, Your Majesty?” a page asked as she paused at the top of the stairs towards the gardens. She’d put Sophia in her pram and held Felix by the hand.

  She simply nodded, not wanting him to see how difficult this was for her. Never let them see you break had been the advice of the former queen.

  She’d debated putting Sophia in the baby carrier and now wished she had. The pram was a bit impractical on the gravel. But Sophia was nearly a year old and getting heavier. Felix had demanded to be carried down the stairs as well when he’d seen his sister in Annabelle’s arms. Somehow, she’d gotten everyone downstairs and outside in one piece.

  Felix ran ahead, smelling the flowers and pointing out different bugs. She walked slowly, tugging the pram out of the gravel every few feet. After a few minutes, she finally gave up and took Sophia out and let her crawl around on the ground. Annabelle looked around anxiously. They were alone. The gardens on the south side of the palace grounds were far from the front entrance and the prying eyes of the press.

  She thought about her last visit to her sister’s house, in her home province, nearly four years ago. Her niece had been about Sophia’s age and had been as happy as a clam to scoot around on the ground.

  But Clara wasn’t a princess, and Johanna wasn’t the queen. Annabelle was safe from the press for the moment, but what were the pages and guards thinking about seeing Her Royal Highness getting her perfect, white tights dirty?

  With a sigh, Annabelle picked up her daughter and strapped her back into the impractical pram. Calling for Felix, she turned to head back inside. This wasn’t the life she’d ever imagined for herself or her children.

  Chapter 2

  King Leo’s 3rd year begins with quickly emptying royal coffers for expensive infrastructure projects the country desperately needs but can’t afford. What would his father have to say about this?

  - Financial Times Prynesse

  Leo was tired. He’d been on the go since 5 a.m. when his trainer, Lars, had practically pushed him out of bed. Normally, he liked the breakneck pace, reveled in the powerful decisions under his control, and enjoyed all the different challenges he faced in a day. But not today. Today, he wished he could just be Leo.

  Last night, he’d gone to bed so late he’d fallen asleep in his office. He hadn’t meant to. He waited for Annabelle to put the kids to bed, thinking they might actually be able to spend some time together, but it had turned into a fight. What was the point of a nanny if she wasn’t there half the time?

  “I want to raise them the way I was. The way their cousins are raised,” Annabelle had said for the hundredth time.

  He’d said something angry and stormed off to his office. What she wanted was impossible. Felix would be king one day. Sophia was a Princess of Prynesse. Their childhood would be nothing like the one Annabelle had growing up in one of the poorest areas of the country.

  Leo looked at the map on the wall in his office, finding Grinsberg Province at the very northernmost part of it. Her family didn’t live there anymore, of course, but that hadn’t stopped it from being the most welcoming province during the official tour after their wedding. Had that only been three years ago? It felt like three hundred. His years at the Prynessian National Bank seemed like a lifetime ago.

  He regretted the decision now to work in the private sector after university before taking on his royal duties. It had been a tantalizing taste of an almost normal life. He’d let himself hope it could become his real life. Then, there had been those few glorious months when he had pictured his life differently. A quiet life with Annabelle, working in a bank, maybe in Paris or London, far from the Prynessian court. He would just be another businessman with his family.

  But he was a Prince of Prynesse – now the King. His life, and his family’s life, would never be normal.

  If Annabelle could just understand that, she’d be so much happier. He wanted her to be happy. He could tell she wasn’t. He was supposed to be the most powerful man in the country, and yet he couldn’t manage to make the one person he cared most about happy.

  He sighed and crossed the room to the window. He could see them out in the garden. Felix was running ahead of his mother, pointing something out to her.

  Leo felt a pang in his stomach and made the split second decision to head ou
t to surprise her. He’d apologize for last night. He’d spend some time with them. As he turned to go, a wide smile spreading across his face, the assistant to the Foreign Secretary ran in.

  “Your Majesty,” he said with a quick bow. “Your father has received a call...”

  He launched into a detailed account of what the former king wanted his son to do. Leo sat down at his desk with a sigh and hid his clenched fists beneath the table.

  Maybe he’d be able to see his family tomorrow.

  Chapter 3

  A far cry from Grinsberg’s famous cherry strudel... Peek inside for Queen Annabelle’s favorite recipes: Duck filet, roasted asparagus, and chocolate mousse for dessert. A royal delight!

  - Good Morning Grinsberg

  After the gardens, Annabelle wanted to do something fun and decided to make cookies. It was something her mother had always done with her and Johanna when they were little. However, she had not anticipated just how large the royal kitchens were.

  The chefs bowed their heads and excused themselves as soon as she walked in with Sophia balanced on her hip, but she called one back. Felix wandered ahead, seeking out the head chef who rewarded him with a cookie. Annabelle frowned. Her son was obviously more comfortable than she was in the kitchens.

  How many times had she actually been down here over the past three years? Probably fewer than she could count on one hand. The sous-chef she’d called over looked at her expectantly.

  “Could you please take out some things to make cookies?” Her smile felt tight, and she hoped it came across as tired rather than rude.

  “You’d like some cookies made?”

  She bit her lip and shifted Sophia to the other hip.

  “No, I’d like to make them with the children.”

  He glanced at the head chef who nodded. The young man (who was probably only a year or two younger than her, Annabelle realized) set about taking out bowls and materials. Felix trailed behind him as he did so, asking questions nonstop.

  “Shush, Felix. Let him work,” she said, her stomach churning at the boldness of her small son.

  The sous-chef smiled.

  “He likes it down here. He helps me all the time with Nanny Beatrice, don’t you, Your Highness?”

  Felix nodded.

  Annabelle inhaled sharply. It had taken her months to get used to her own title. Hearing the staff call her son that was still very strange.

  Once the sous-chef finished laying everything out, he and the head chef bowed their way out of the kitchen. Annabelle took a deep breath. She could do this. It was just cookies with her kids, like any other normal family.

  She looked around the gleaming, gourmet kitchen large enough to make dinner for 500 and shook her head. Hers was the furthest thing from a normal family on the planet.

  Chapter 4

  Leo had gone from tired to pissed off in roughly three point five seconds. He clenched and unclenched his hands underneath his desk as he listened to the foreign secretary describe the plan his father had laid out for him. Not just laid out, but planned hour by hour in fifteen minute increments, as if Leo was incapable of making the decisions for himself.

  Three years he’d been on the throne, and his father still refused to step aside properly. The near abdication had shaken things up more than Leo liked to admit. He still felt a twinge of guilt at how eager he’d been to give up this life. The Prynessian people and his siblings had forgiven him, but his father certainly wasn’t ready to do the same quite yet.

  “Thank you for the information,” Leo said with a polite but dismissive smile. “Could you please send in Georg when you leave?”

  Leo’s private secretary entered to find his king pacing the floor, his expression stormy.

  “Who the hell does he think he is?” Leo demanded, knowing it was rude to take out his frustration on someone else. Georg cleared his throat and frowned. He was a large man about ten years older than Leo who had spent most of his career in the military before joining the royal household. They didn’t always agree on everything, but Leo knew he was loyal.

  “The Konigslaast’s role has always been primarily focused on foreign diplomacy.”

  “Since when does diplomacy mean planning my schedule for me?”

  “I believe he was trying to be helpful in arranging matters through more unofficial channels.”

  Leo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Yelling at Georg wasn’t going to make this go away.

  “He still doesn’t think I’m ready yet, does he?”

  Georg remained silent but his frown deepened.

  The tradition of the king stepping down after thirty years had been started by Leo’s great-great-grandfather, in a response to the 19th-century fear of dictators and worries of dementia. The old king (Konigslaast in Prynessian) was still a highly respected member of the nobility and could, at the request of his son, the new king, fulfill duties as required for the Crown while the new king took his time transitioning into his role. This transition period had only lasted a year for Leo’s predecessors.

  Leo had been king for three. It was time his father started acting like it.

  “Well, we’re not doing it the way he wants to. I’ll go, but I’m bringing Annabelle.”

  Georg raised an eyebrow. Leo took his seat behind his desk, feeling more confident now that he had a plan.

  Chapter 5

  A royal waste: not only did Queen Annabelle earn her now useless degree at one of Prynesse’s free universities, her entire lifestyle of charity balls is now supported by the taxpayers. When will this outdated and biased system end?

  - The New Republican

  After cleaning up the kitchen the best she could after the cookie experiment (more had ended up in Felix’s hair than in the oven), and finally getting both of her children to nap, Annabelle was just about at the end of her tether. She called on the back-up nanny, Julia, for the afternoon and escaped to her office for a few hours.

  Annabelle hadn’t planned on working, but thought she might try to get ahead in her correspondence. She didn’t like leaving too much of it to the press office. They were already overwhelmed from keeping up with the demands of her charities. She had taken on more than had been advisable, but it was impossible for her to say no. She came from nothing, and she knew the backlash would be swift the second she said no.

  She found her private secretary, Sebastian, in her office placing something on her desk. She smiled at him in greeting. He frowned in response.

  “Your Majesty, you look tired. Are you sure giving Nanny Beatrice so much time off was really necessary?”

  “She’s tired, too.” They’d had this conversation several times before. “I’m their mother, not her. I want to be a good one.”

  “You are. But you’re no good to anyone if you’re exhausted.”

  Sebastian had been one of the better things about life at the palace over the past few years. A round, greying, middle-aged man with no children of his own, he was kind and fatherly without being patronizing. She’d been through two other private secretaries, both young women close to her in age, and neither had worked out. They had been looking to be her friend and confidant. She already had that in her sister. What she needed was someone to help her manage everything. Which Sebastian managed to do while also showing just the right amount of concern for her.

  “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but why are you here?” She decided to just ignore his comments and move on. “I don’t have anything scheduled today.”

  “Well, a few reasons really. Firstly, and most importantly, there have been some new developments with Aclana. Secondly, his Majesty is calling a press conference this evening and would like you in attendance.”

  Her heart leapt. He wanted her there?

  “What are the new developments?” This was the other reason she loved Sebastian. He knew how much she wanted to put to use her degree in political science. The life of a diplomat she’d dreamt of as a child seemed so far away from the endless smiling and shakin
g hands expected at the events she attended now. She knew she was making a difference and her role did require a great deal of diplomacy. But there was no sense pretending it was what she’d pictured for herself.

  “Aclana’s government has decided to hold a referendum for independence in three weeks’ time.”

  Annabelle raised an eyebrow. This wasn’t totally unexpected; the papers had been hinting at it for months. It still seemed very sudden.

  “Has something changed to make them push for it now?” Her eyebrows drew together.

  He shook his head.

  “There was no warning or indication. His Royal Highness Prince Carl received a phone call late last night.”

  While the Konigslaast was usually very involved in foreign affairs, a call that important should have gone straight to the King. Annabelle pursed her lips but said nothing. Leo’s strained relationship with his father was an open secret among palace staff, but that didn’t mean she had to confirm the rumors. Sebastian could read her expressions better than she liked, however, so she quickly shifted topics.

  “Why am I needed at the press conference?”

  He cleared his throat.

  “His Majesty would also like me to add a trip to Aclana to your calendar. I believe the press conference is to announce the trip.”

  Annabelle’s eyebrows shot up again.