A Royal Departure Read online

  “And this is how he chooses to inform me?” She tried to keep her voice calm. Sebastian knew practically everything about her, so there was no reason to hide her pain. But she liked to pretend she still had a little privacy and control in her life.

  “He has been in meetings most of the day. He stopped by this afternoon hoping to see you and the children to tell you in person. He left all the details for you.”

  He indicated the stack of folders he had placed on her desk.

  Leo couldn’t find five minutes to come tell me? She bit her lip and tried not to pout. They were going on a trip. As a family. This was a good thing. Why did it matter how she found out about it?

  “Thank you for letting me know. I’ll check with Nanny Julia to see if she can stay through the evening.” She breathed a secret sigh of relief. The day had worn her out more than she’d realized. She felt the familiar tug of guilt at wanting to work over seeing her children. Did the nannies really enjoy it that much? That’s why she liked to give them so much time off. She didn’t really believe they actually liked spending that much time with small children.

  “I can do that, Your Majesty.” His forehead was creased with worry.

  “No, I can do it. I’ll be back shortly to go through the documents, and I’ll call you back in if I have any questions.”

  He bowed his head and left the room, leaving her alone with the choice in front of her. She could call Julia to let her know she’d need to stay longer, or she could go in person. She felt a new tug, in the opposite direction to her desire to work, at wanting to see her children.

  She headed down the hall to the living quarters and passed by countless portraits of Leo’s ancestors on the way. A small shiver went up her spine. She wondered when their effect on her would wear off. Everything was so old here. Modernized, yes, but still old and full of history she had no part of. Below each painting, she saw the names of other important Prynessian families, but of course, her own wouldn’t be there. It was a constant reminder of how she didn’t belong here.

  When she got to the playroom, she paused at the door. She opened it slowly, peeking in, careful not to let them see her.

  A mixture of relief and jealousy washed over her as she looked at the idyllic scene in front of her. They were fine without her. They were happily playing with Julia as she made a stuffed bear dance and sing for them. Her heart dropped into her churning stomach when she realized they probably didn’t even miss her. She pushed open the door and cleared her throat.

  Felix came running up to her, a smile stretching his pudgy cheeks. Her heart lifted right back up at the sight. He looked so much like Leo. Just a hint of red in his light hair gave any indication he belonged to her as well. She kneeled and took him in her arms, delighting in the way his arms wrapped tightly around her neck.

  “I hope they weren’t being too noisy and disturbed you,” said Julia, her eyes wide. She was new to the palace; a recommendation from their regular nanny, Beatrice. She had only done replacements on the afternoons Beatrice was out. Annabelle hadn’t wanted her to take on a full day yet. Not until she was sure the children were comfortable with her.

  Sophia seemed to be there already. She was sitting in Julia’s lap, gurgling contentedly, trying to get the girl’s long hair in her mouth. Only a few tufts of dark hair sat on top of Sophia’s own head. She also looked more like Leo. But she was too much of a baby to really be able to tell.

  Annabelle planted a kiss on top of Sophia’s head before asking Julia how long she could stay. Of course, she would stay as long as needed, but Annabelle felt it only polite to ask. She disliked the ordering about that seemed to come so easily to Leo and his siblings. She didn’t think they noticed they were doing it; it was second nature to them. They were always polite, and phrased it like a request, but it was always a demand.

  Like her appearance at the press conference. Annabelle sighed and turned to head back to her office, casting a final glance at her children playing happily before stepping out into the hallway.

  Chapter 6

  Settling back behind her desk in her office, she started looking over the documents on Aclana. She knew most of it already from her studies, but despite being less than 5 years ago, it seemed like everything had slipped away. Two kids in under three years would do that to a person’s brain. And the parts of it not consumed with thinking about breastfeeding and vitamins and nap times were taken up by the names of the countless countesses she needed to remember to thank at each event.

  Sebastian and his team helped with a lot of the preparation for her appearances, but she still wanted to know as much as possible on her own. Every time she asked her staff discreetly for someone’s name, it felt like a failure. This was her job now. She should know all of this.

  She turned to the stack of papers on her desk. She needed to know all of this, too.

  The information on Aclana was extensive. While the situation with the island territory had been tense for years, the newest prime minister of Aclana had been voted in on a platform of independence. So he was pushing for this vote whether or not the rest of the government agreed it was the right moment. He had to deliver what he had promised to the voters, or he’d be out of office in two years and not given another chance.

  Annabelle noticed Leo’s own handwriting on some of the pages. Her heart soared, thinking that he had actually prepared this himself; though she knew one of his secretaries or even an assistant secretary had put it all together. He had highlighted certain key figures they would be meeting and given details on events they would be attending.

  It would be a whirlwind tour, lasting only 5 days, and Annabelle would be required at most of the meetings. She wasn’t sure they would get to spend any time together with the children except at the royal residence after their long days of meetings. Though there was a visit to the children’s museum and, of course, the all-important airport photo shoot of all four of them getting off the plane.

  She grimaced at the thought. She disliked parading them about. While Leo had grown up under the spotlight, he seemed keen on keeping them out of the public eye. Or at least, that what he’d said when she was pregnant with Felix. That was before his coronation, when he was just the Crown Prince. There hadn’t been quite as much attention as there was now. She could never have imagined the amount of interest there would be in her and the children.

  She wondered if there would be less interest if things had started with a little less drama. The wedding had been quick and small, not what the country had expected from their Crown Prince. The press had made sure to make that known. Their displeasure with her had started from practically the moment they’d been made aware of her existence. She hid her own displeasure the best she could. Never let them see you break became the silent mantra she chanted whenever she was faced with their flashing lights and shouts.

  With Felix’s birth coming so soon after the wedding, she had been relieved that the long recuperation meant not being seen in public for several months. She’d been able to adapt more privately to new motherhood and her new status as Her Royal Highness. Two new titles in less than a year had been a big adjustment.

  Then, barely a year later the shift to Her Majesty, there had been another adjustment; the sudden death of Leo’s mother just before Sophia’s birth. Taking care of two small children had been a nice distraction from everything seeming to happen all at once.

  In fact, it had been such a good distraction that she hadn’t really noticed how distant and stressed Leo was getting. It seemed like it happened overnight, but it must have been over the course of months. Before the coronation, he had work to do every day but managed to get home in time to all eat together and help put Felix to bed. It had been wonderful, really, now that she thought about it. Almost like it was just any other job and he was any other man.

  Annabelle sighed and brought her focus back yet again to the papers in front of her. Unfortunately, Leo wasn’t just any man, and he didn’t have just any job. He was the King.
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  And as King, Leo was the reigning monarch of all Prynessian territories, including Aclana. Each individual territory had its own laws surrounding how much power the King wielded. Most had full parliaments, generally democratically elected, though some were appointed by more complex systems. Aclana’s was one of the most complex with the voting leading to splits and percentages in whose party was in power, and the number of seats varying based on the total population. For such a small country, they certainly had picked a difficult way to do things.

  The King still had the ability to veto any law that parliament set forth. Leo’s father had been particularly heavy-handed in the way he used this power to keep certain, more European standards the norm and ignoring the way that the culture on Aclana influenced a lot of their local laws. Things like age of consent, drinking age, driver’s licenses, and how long children stayed in school were all in line with Prynessian law. But on larger issues like same-sex marriage, abortion, and school curriculum, King Carl had ignored the demands of Aclana’s people and vetoed all laws that did not align with his particular view of things. In Prynesse, to go against the King’s wishes was treason. Aclana had been teetering on the edge for nearly a century and now, with the shift in power in both Prynesse and Aclana happening at the same time, the tensions between the two countries was at its worst in decades.

  This was not exactly what had been written in the report in front of her, but Annabelle was not so completely out of touch with the political landscape to think that her father-in-law’s actions while king hadn’t set things up to make it that much harder for Leo to manage successfully.

  She’d barely gotten through half of the stack of papers when her stylist, Samantha, knocked on the door with some options for her to wear to the press conference. Red would show strength, but blue would be more patriotic. Diplomacy via fashion was apparently all Annabelle was capable of these days. Not that she was any good at it if the papers were to be believed. No matter what Samantha picked for her, she seemed to disappoint. Never let them see you break, she reminded herself.

  Chapter 7

  Was the Queen’s outfit tonight a royal success or a royal mess? The votes are in on page 8.

  - Prynessian Evening Standard

  Leo inhaled sharply at the vision of Annabelle standing in front of him.

  “You look lovely,” he said, taking in her pale blue dress and matching cardigan. Boring, but lovely. If he’d had known that bringing her into his world would mean a lifetime of dreary dresses and shapeless coats, then he would have pushed harder to leave it all to Duncan.

  Annabelle’s eyes lit up at the compliment, but her mouth was turned down in a frown.

  “It’s what Samantha suggested.” She smoothed down the wrinkle-free skirt. “I feel like an old lady.”

  Leo’s mouth twitched into his first smile of the day.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t get to see you this afternoon to tell you about all this.” He reached out to take her hand but held back. She had them twisted around the strap of a small purse.

  “It’s fine.”

  He bit his lip and closed his eyes. He may not know everything there was to know about women, but there had never been a time that Annabelle saying ‘it’s fine’ actually meant that anything was fine.

  “Did you have a chance to read through all the information I left you?”

  She nodded.

  “Any questions I could answer for you?” He leaned back against a table and crossed his arms over his chest to keep himself from reaching out to her again. They were in a small chamber off of the hall where they held press conferences, and he was acutely aware of how close they were standing. He could smell the light, flowery fragrance of her shampoo. Despite all the changes over the past few years, she still used the same one.

  She frowned slightly as she considered his question. The crinkle of her eyebrows when she frowned was without a doubt one of the cutest things about her, but he tried not to focus on that right now. There were dozens of reporters in the other room waiting to pounce on the smallest mistake. He couldn’t let himself get distracted by thinking about how cute his wife was.

  “I don’t understand why the vote is happening now.”

  He sighed.

  “Neither do I. But it was going to happen eventually. All we can do now is try to reinforce all the benefits of remaining a territory of Prynesse.”

  Her lips turned up a bit at the word “we.” His heart sank. The “we” had mainly meant him, along with his advisors, and, of course, his father.

  “Your role in all of this is to be the beautiful and charming queen and mother that you are,” he said, coming to put his hands gently on her shoulders. He felt her stiffen under his touch. Why was it so hard to be so open with her now? He used to tell her everything. They were getting more and more closed off the more time they spent together.

  Except they didn’t actually spend any time together. That was the problem. When he’d insisted that Annabelle and the children accompany him to Aclana, no one had been in favor. Especially not his father. But Leo saw them so little, and this would be an entire week away together. Hopefully, the change of scenery would be fun for everyone. He had so many fond memories of visits to the island with his parents and siblings. For him, it was a special place. He hoped it would stay a part of Prynesse.

  Not knowing how to say all of this to Annabelle, Leo simply smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging way.

  “You’ll be fine,” he said, taking her hand. He breathed a sigh of relief at the tight squeeze she gave him.

  She kept the tight grip as they made their way from the side chamber to the main hall where the press was lined up waiting for them. The flash of cameras and the yell of reporters echoed off the walls. Leo and Annabelle smiled in unison, but she dropped his hand the second they stepped up to the podium. His stomach sank and he took a deep breath. Had it been a bad idea to have her here? It was more distracting than he’d anticipated.

  As he read the statement that his staff had prepared, he kept glancing at Annabelle from the corner of his eye. She was standing perfectly straight next to him, her arms folded in exactly the manner she had been taught. Not that she’d gotten much in the way of training since every other princess and queen before her had been a noblewoman since birth. Squeezed in between the preparations for the wedding, Felix’s arrival, and the coronation, her main source of advice had been his mother.

  Leo steered his thoughts away from his mother, focusing on the paper in front of him instead. Maintaining a calm, pleasant facade tonight was going to be hard enough as it was.

  Annabelle, however, looked miserable. This wasn’t going to help boost the impression that they were the happy, young royal couple the Aclanians needed to see if Prynesse was going to have any chance of convincing them to stay. They’d never warm up to her if she wasn’t more relaxed.

  His statement outlined what the press already knew: Aclana was holding a referendum for independence.

  “When I became king three years ago, I took an oath to serve all territories as did my father before me. I am disheartened that they feel their needs are not being met.” His eyebrows drew together briefly at the sight of Annabelle’s tight grip on her purse. He quickly shot a smile at the crowd of reporters to keep his face open. “I will therefore be visiting next week to answer their questions and concerns directly. My family will accompany me, and I look forward to introducing them to all the wonderful memories I have of Aclana.”

  He turned his smile towards Annabelle who remained stony-faced, looking ahead instead not at him. He drew a quick breath through his nostrils and turned away before launching into the schedule of events, hoping the press hadn’t noticed how closed off she was being.

  “Any questions?” he asked as he finished his prepared speech. He shot another glance as his wife and bit the inside of his cheek.

  His annoyance with Annabelle was quickly overcome by anger, however, when the questions started coming in hot and fast; al
l about her but not actually directed at her. They always did this; pretending like she wasn’t there. Like she wasn’t their queen.

  “Your Majesty, what will the Queen be wearing?”

  “Is she taking the nanny along?”

  “Does Her Majesty speak Aclanian well enough?”

  Leo took several deep breaths through his nose, his smile never leaving his face as he let the questions roll over him. He wanted to reach out to her, to shield her from this. It had been relentless the past few years. There was a comment and question for every single thing that she did.

  And yet she just stood there, her cold blue eyes taking it all in. She should at least show they bothered her a little bit. If there was one thing his lifetime of living with the press had taught him, it was that they went hardest on those that put up the toughest front. The greater the challenge, the more they loved it.

  Leo cleared his throat.

  “I was not aware that the Queen’s fashion choices were so important to the voters of Aclana. Are there no questions about the political situation?”

  They tittered a bit at his teasing.

  He answered a few questions on the current state of negotiations between Aclana and the Prynessian government. Unlike other European countries, Prynesse’s king still held a fair amount of power, and most major decisions remained with Leo. He always consulted with his advisors and knew he always would. His father hadn’t been quite as willing to consider the opinions of others during his reign, and Leo intended to be much more open-minded. Speaking of his father…

  “Why did Aclana’s Cabinet call your father first with the news?”

  Leo turned his head and narrowed his eyes. He quickly transitioned into a smile, thinking as fast as he could for a reply.

  “I assure you the Crown received word through the appropriate channels.” He flashed a sly grin and winked. “Besides, I don’t listen in on my father’s calls, Henri. I thought that was your job.”