Royal Fools

I. Once There Was A King

1815

The room was unassuming and dark, and the woman lying naked on the bed was something to be desired. She had pleasured him the entire night, had been since they met six months ago. However, tonight was the end of it all. It was good while it lasted, Emory thought as he dressed, dreading nothing but the thought of coming home.

Unlike his lover's villa, where the walls were painted to match her lively character, and the furniture bold as she was, his home was nothing but empty halls filled with tragic history.

Hearing his movements in the dark room, Miss Tatiana Temple rolled her head to the side and asked in a croaky voice, "Why are you leaving so soon?"

He took his time buttoning his shirt, then his trousers. Grabbing his coat, he walked to her bed and sat beside her. "I'm not coming back."

She was still for a moment. Compared with his past lovers, he didn't have to prepare for tears or furious flying porcelains because Tatiana was different. And she proved it by finally letting out a sigh. "You warned me."

He smiled, bending low to kiss her cheek. "Goodbye, Miss Temple."

She smiled back. "I'll see you around then?"

"Mayhap," he said, rising to his feet. He watched her beautiful face in the center of the bed, her dark mane sprawled around her. She was a magnificent lover, perhaps the best. She was kind, even when she didn't have to.

But she loved her freedom too much. She could not be tied down, and she had made that known from the very start. There was no love between them. Not in the romantic sense, at least. There was respect and understanding of each other's needs.

"I hope you don't pick Ethel for your next lover," she said. "She'll grab every chance to shackle you."

He laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

"I'm serious, Emory. She's cunning."

"I will keep that in mind." He gave her another kiss. "Thank you for everything."

She sighed and sat in bed to watch him shrug into his coat. "You know," she said, giving him pause. "Sometimes I pity you."

"Whyever?"

"You have everything save for a woman's heart."

He laughed. "I should say the same for you, my dear friend."

She fell back onto the bed. "Lucky for us, we love it."

A gentle half-smile played on his lips as he stopped at the door. "Good night, Miss Tatiana Temple. And goodbye."

"Goodnight, Your Majesty," she sleepily replied, closing her eyes. "And goodbye."

***

It was a rule. Six months with a lover and nothing more. He could go on longer without one, but he could not go longer with one. Giving a woman the power to control him was not on the agenda, even for someone with a practical mind like Tatiana Temple.

There were several reasons, of course, one of them being his own mother. It was petty, and his own friends would say the same, but they did not know what it was like for his father. The man married the woman betrothed to him by his family with no idea that her family, the Vandenbergs, perfectly schemed his fate to the throne. They dethroned a king, forced his entire lineage out of Sutherland, and crowned the gullible Louis as the new king. Just so his wife could be queen.

But evil things could not reign forever. Three years ago, the truth prevailed and war almost broke out. Worse, in the middle of it all, the crown prince died. To maintain peace, his father was forced to step down, and suddenly, Emory, the second son, the spare heir, had to rule a kingdom.