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Championing Kade (Book 3 of The Sovereign Series)

Chapter 1 

Kade Reifenberg was the youngest and most introverted of the royal brood. It was only partially for that reason that he was hesitant to have his Coming of Age ball. Invitations had gone out months ago, some preparations had been made, but Kade had a huge reason not to want the Ball to take place. The huge reason was in the form of a person—his person.

After King Kane had taken Alexandria to wife and his older brother, Kolton—ever the reluctant lover—took a female of his own, he would have thought his mother’s overexuberance in finding a mate for his youngest son would have been on the wane. Let her fret about Louisa’s mating in another year. He was perfectly happy with whom he wished to be with, though he was irritated that he had to hide in the shadows and sneak away to be with the one he felt fit him best.

And he didn’t even need to sneak off the island like Kolt used to in order to see her. He only needed to send a note to the kitchens or the servant’s quarters and she would come running.

Not that he made her do his bidding with a simple note that he needed or wanted to see her. It was just their way—the only way. Notes were often given to servants by proxy of another servant, and if his female was unavailable at the time, the messenger simply brought back a new note in his woman’s soft, hasty scribble, smelling strongly of her citrusy scent that he enjoyed so very much.

He wondered what he smelled like to her. Perhaps books or fresh ink. He read a lot, wrote a lot in his journal, and was sure he had spilled more ink on himself than anything else.

Well…maybe. After all, he was a healthy, hormonal wolf, strong of blood and royal of birth.

Though he was closest in age with Louisa, he was a loner at heart. He supposed that if he had to hazard a guess, he had the most in common with his sister-in-mating, the Queen Alexandria—or as Kolton liked to call her, little sis.

They were both bookworms, though Kade preferred the term bibliophile. He had a great respect for the written word, whether it was a book of children’s stories or the tales of J.R.R. Tolkien. Everything had its merit, even the steamy erotica Lexi had taken to reading a couple of years ago. He supposed she was using tips from them to keep her mate happy, though Kade didn’t like to think about that too much.

And to think, just a year ago or so when Kolton took Eliza to mate, he had been looking forward to the time when he would choose a future bride. As a matter of fact, it was around the time that Kolton was falling for his female when he met with the woman who would change his life.

Meredith.

Meredith Bruner was Eliza’s maid. A small, blonde female that stood at exactly 5 feet tall with light blue eyes and a petite build. She had grown up on the castle grounds, her father and mother both working for the Reifenbergs since she was a wee thing in a diaper and baby doll dresses in pale pastel colors. She—like all servant children—was kept away from the royal’s progeny and stayed in the nurseries as a baby before going to school in the small classrooms on the ground floor of the west wing of the palace. When she had turned 18 about a year ago, she was given the job as lady’s maid to Eliza, so he saw her more often than not since he lived in the boudoir next to Kolton and Eliza.

At first, he wasn’t sure what to make of her, and only knew that she was the most stunning creature he had ever seen. He had tried to stay away at first, but found himself lurking near his bedroom door whenever she came by to tend to her mistress’ needs. It was only a shame that Eliza was quite independent and often sent her away to do as she pleased.

But now that Eliza was six months pregnant, Meredith was around more often than not. It had been that way since she was only two months along and dealing with horrible morning sickness all hours of the day and night. Tempting her mistress with fruits or little dainties, she seemed to always be around, smelling like ripe lemons and rich oranges—and making Kade’s aching c**k harder than stone in his trousers whenever her scent wafted to his nose.

Meredith was a little hesitant at first to take up a relationship with Kade. If they were found out, it could be the end of her employ at the palace. She wouldn’t have minded so much if her parents didn’t already live there and…well, Kade as well now. She had tried not to get too attached to him, but he’d promised he would try to make it work, for better or for worse.

Kade, you see, was a romantic at heart. Many people who read as voraciously as he did were. How could one not be when all they had to do to slip into another world was to open a book and dive into the minds and worlds of another’s imagination? Well, maybe not textbooks, which Kade loved as well. But his true passion was for the classics. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. And now George R.R. Martin, whom he was dying for the next installment in the A Song of Fire and Ice series. Places that didn’t exist, or where more than met the eye were his thing as of late. It should have told him all he needed to know about his present situation—the Coming of Age Ball.

How could he tell his mother and father that he had already made his decision on whom he wished to mate with? And that she was a servant. His mother—livid. Father—most likely outraged. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and his wanted Meredith Bruner, his little Meri—just like that idiotic and meddlesome hobbit from The Lord of the Rings.

*~*~*~*~*

59 days before The Coming of Age Ball

“Kade, could you come in here please? I’d like to discuss the arrangements for the ball,” his mother’s voice called from the pink sitting room. Kade hated that room. It was like Easter had thrown up all over it. Or that horrible pink Energizer Bunny from the TV.

“Not now, Mother,” he called back. He was on his way to see Meredith, and he didn’t like to keep her waiting.

Or himself.

“Then when, Kade?” she asked. “You keep running away every time I try to sit you down to discuss the ball. It’s less than two months away, and catering needs to be taken care of, and the orchestra…”

“I don’t care about the catering,” Kade told her. “I don’t care if you ask Nicki Minaj to rap the whole damn time so people will dance. I don’t even care if there is no ball. I certainly don’t want one. Kolton didn’t have one, so why should I?”

“Kolton’s case was different, you know that,” she asserted chidingly. “And Kane found Lexi at his ball.”

“I don’t enjoy dancing. I’m more…sedentary than that,” he told her, conjuring up any excuse to delay or completely forego the ball his mother so desperately wanted him to have.

“It’s only one night,” Margot scolded. “What’s wrong with you? If I had asked you about the Coming of Age Ball a year ago, you would have been thrilled with the idea. What has changed?”

Kade’s lips twitched, irritated that he couldn’t give her the answer he so desperately wanted to. I already have who I want. Just give me the elixir and we’ll be on our way.

Kade didn’t care if he was mated to Meri or not. He wanted her, and no one else. He had told his female as much, though he didn’t think she held much hope in his words. A servant mated to royalty? The idea was absurd. This wasn’t Cinderella. A servant was a servant was a servant. They lived to serve, and like married like in the low-ranking wolves. Kade couldn’t be her happily-ever-after.

“People change, Mother,” Kade said, standing from the hard-as-rock upholstered chair that looked like someone had spilled Pepto Bismol all over it. “It’s not that I don’t want to choose, it’s—”

No. He couldn’t tell her. Not yet anyway.

“I have to go,” he told her, hurrying to the door. “I have an online college course I need to get to.”

“I thought those were the kind you could take at any time,” she rebuffed, her elegant brows knitting over grey eyes.

“It’s a lecture,” he told her. “Can’t miss it. Its material counts for fifty percent of the grade.”

Margot said something else, but Kade was already out the door and making his way to the east wing where he was to meet with Meredith.

*~*~*~*~*

“Sorry I’m late, darling,” Kade said, closing and locking the office door behind him. “My mother is a bother, talking about The Ball like it’s set in stone. I don’t want it. I will never want it unless you’re to be there.”

Meredith’s eyes saddened. Even if she could attend, she wouldn’t have had anything to wear to it. Balls were made for silks and satins, not the cotton and muslin she wore every day.

“You know that can’t happen, Kade,” Meredith’s sweet voice rang out softly. “And your mother and father would never allow for you to mark and mate with a servant. It…it’s unheard of!”

“I don’t care,” he told her, coming close to her diminutive figure and gripping her shoulders tightly in his large hands. “Haven’t you ever heard of that poem by Robert Frost? The Road Not Taken?”

She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, smiling slightly. “No. Tell it to me.”

‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.’

“Are you telling me I’m grassy and need the wear?” Meredith asked, smiling slightly.

“No. I’m saying that I want to walk down that less-than-usually-traveled road with you and I don’t give a damn about what other people think of me,” Kade said. “If my parents have a problem with whom I shall marry, I will abdicate as prince and live as a commoner. That’s how serious I am about you.”

Meredith gasped audibly, her mouth pursing before she wet her lips with her tongue.

“Kade, I couldn’t ask you to do that for me,” she told him. “This—royalty, a life of luxury—is all you’ve ever known. I…I think I could get by if I were ever tossed out on my ass, but you—what would you do?”

He paused, letting her words sink in before he spoke. “Why do you think I work so hard at my studies?” he asked. “In the event that I need to flee, I will have a degree—a way to get a job. To support you—support us as a family. I mean it, Meri. I don’t want to be picking and choosing from the finest as society sees it. I already chose when I met you.”

His mouth descended on hers, his lips taking her breath away in a panting gasp before she moaned into his mouth, his touch. She didn’t know how she would live without him, but if anyone ever found out about them, that is just what she would have to do.

Chapter 2 

44 Days Before The Coming of Age Ball

Coming back from Princess Eliza’s room with an empty meal tray, Meredith couldn’t help but smile. Eliza’s appetite was picky as of late, but the woman absolutely glowed from her pregnancy. And it wasn’t the type of glow that came with a shiny forehead after heaving up your breakfast into the toilet. Those days were months ago. It made Meredith think that all the sickness, the nausea, the look of green about her gills, was all worth it. Besides, not all females dealt with pregnancy the same. Queen Alexandria had only the vaguest signs of morning sickness with her three children. She had looked slightly pale whenever anyone cooked fish for dinner, but she had otherwise had a healthy appetite.

It both hurt and heartened Meredith as she thought of more royal babies coming into the vast, cloistered world of the palace. A baby’s birth was always a thing of joy to behold, but she couldn’t help but be saddened by the fact that it was something she would never have. Or at least have with Kade, the one person she could see fit to bear children for.

As she carried the things back down to the kitchens, one of the other servants, Alistair, came up to her to help with the heavy dishes she struggled to hold upright.

“Let me get that for you, Meredith,” he told her, smiling as he took the heavy items from her arms.

“Thanks,” she said, wiping her hands off on her apron and following him to the kitchens.

A few scullery maids were rushing about with preparations for dinner. Already. It was only 2 PM in the afternoon, and they were acting like they were preparing a feast for the ball. A ball that was supposed to take place in less than a month and a half. A ball Kade was convinced he could somehow get out of.

Margot, the former queen, made no efforts in delaying the ball after Kolton had reneged on his. As far as she was concerned, it was as good as done. And Meredith had heard her talking about it in the purple sitting room as the females of the house sat, drinking tea and watching the children play or snooze in their bassinets.

The former queen knew her youngest son was easier to manipulate than either Kane or Kolton. Kade had always been the easiest of her children, and Margot had been certain that it was just nerves that made him so reluctant to have the ball and take a mate. But if she was to find out what was really going on, Meredith would have a one-way ticket to the mainland and never see her parents again, unless they came to visit her.

Sighing, she walked through the noisy kitchens to the smell of roasting pork and spices. She followed Alistair to the back of the kitchen where he placed the tray and silverware onto a belt for the dishwasher to deal with. It was hot and muggy in the back with the large machines, and Meredith’s thin cotton top started to stick to her chest. She pulled it away from her and flapped it back and forth, trying to keep herself cool until she was out of the general vicinity.

“How’s your mother and father?” Alistair asked after setting down the dishes.

“Good, and yours?” she asked. Like Meredith, Alistair had grown up in the palace, and they had known each other since they were tiny babies.

“Bothering me to go out and find my mate,” he told her. Both at 19, he and Eliza knew that finding their mate wouldn’t be easy while living on a secluded island in the middle of a lake. Most of the palace took a year off to find their other halves once they hit 18, but Eliza and Alistair had stayed, though for differing reasons.

“Not mine,” Meredith said with a smile. “My father is convinced he won’t allow me to marry until I’m at least 30 years of age.”

Alistair laughed at that. “I wish my mother was a little more like him. She is convinced she is going to wither away to an old woman before she sees any grandkids.”

“Lord, you’re only 19, Alistair!”

“Yes, but you know many of our kind produce offspring when they’re still quite young,” he told her. “Look at my older brother, Frederick. He became a father by the time he was twenty.”

“And how many little fledglings does he have running around his house on the mainland now?” Meredith asked, chuckling. By last count, Frederick was father to three little girls, and practically begging for a boy of his own.

“He got his little boy just this past March,” Alistair said with a grin. “Cute little thing, too. Has his Uncle Alistair’s dashing features I would say.”

She rolled her eyes heavily at him.

“Hopefully, he won’t get his uncle’s cocky attitude,” she teased.

“As long as he gets his uncle’s gigantic co—" he began.

“Language!” Meredith cut him off with a stern look. “We may not be royalty, but we should always have some sense of propriety, even in the dingy kitchens.”

He sighed. “You’re right. I hate it when you are, you know.”

He settled into morose as his smiled faded and he got a far-off look in his eyes.

“Why don’t you just tell them, my friend?” Meredith asked softly. “They’re going to start to wonder why you aren’t eager to meet your mate.”

He looked at her, hazel eyes shining with emotion. “I can’t,” he said. “They would be so disappointed. They…they want children for me so badly it’s like they’re trying to live a second youth through me. Freddy was always the golden boy, always did what they said. Marked and mated right away after going off to find his female. I…I couldn’t tell them that that’s not going to happen for me.”

“They’ll find out sooner or later when you tell them your mate rejected you.” Her voice was even softer, gentler. She ached for him, she truly did.

“He…he never said the words,” Alistair murmured to her. “He just said he couldn’t do this. Like it was some sort of option that he could choose to be straight. He…Lawrence has a girlfriend named Sasha. They’ve been together for ages now. I only happened upon him when I was sent to the mainland when one of the scullery maids broke her ankle and was laid up. If…if that hadn’t happened—"

“You would have found him either way,” Meredith told him. “He’s only across the pond on the mainland. Whether it was then or years from now, you would have met him. The world’s smaller than we think, you know.”

“He doesn’t want me.” Alistair’s throat clicked as he swallowed thickly. “He wants a family. Maybe with Sasha.”

“He doesn’t know what he wants,” she told him stoutly. “If he didn’t formally reject you, there’s still hope.”

“Hope,” Alistair said, punctuating the word with a scoff. “What a lousy f*****g word. It’s a four-letter word, you know. Like f**k, and s**t, and—"

“Love?” Meredith interrupted. He looked at her for a moment before averting his eyes and shrugging.

“Yeah, that’s another lousy four-letter word,” he replied. “Fantastical ideals aside, love is nothing without trust. No trust, no love.”

Meredith nodded, understanding her friend. “You don’t think you can trust him not to hurt you,” she said. “You think that he is as conflicted as you are, though he is hiding behind someone, behind Sasha. But you know, you’re doing the same.”

“By hiding my true nature from my parents?” he questioned. “I like to think of it as keeping them from getting hurt. This would wreck them if they knew.”

“When they know, I’m sure they’ll still love you just the same,” Meredith ventured hopefully.

Again, Alistair scoffed. “Easy enough for you to say. You don’t have parents who are trying to force you into mating so they can fawn over googly-eyed little rug rats.”

Meredith thought that over as they moved away from the kitchens towards the empty dining room to set up for dinner.

“No, I don’t. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have my own secrets to hide.”

He looked up at her, an elegant salad fork clutched in his hand. “And what, my dear friend, could you possibly mean by that?” he asked.

Meredith sighed. It was about time she told someone about everything on her mind. Who better than her oldest and dearest of friends?

*~*~*~*~*

“Kade, you in here?” Lexi’s voice called out from the entrance of the large library where they both often met. They didn’t do it on purpose; they were simply voracious readers and enjoyed the solitude of the library over the hustle and bustle of everyday life as a royal.

“Over here, big sis,” he told her, peeking out from behind one of the many shelves of books. He was holding an old, first-edition copy of The Silmarillion, one of Tolkien’s works with an elvish appeal. He was in the middle of the chapter called Of Beren and Lúthien when she called out his name. Placing an old piece of scrapbook paper between the leaves, he walked out from behind the stacks to see Lexi with a pile of books and placing them on one of the old, antique tables near a comfortable, overstuffed chair.

Unlike the rest of the palace, the library was not as lavish, unless you counted the number of tomes in the cavernous space. While overseeing its transformation from an office, Kade had made sure that every chair was lush and comfortable, and that the place felt homey instead of clinically elegant, like the rest of the palace. Many of the tables and furnishings were cast-offs that his mother had replaced when she was queen, and he had help from a few of the servants to place everything in what he liked to think of as old world-chic. The chairs and tables were a mish-mosh of antique tables and stuffed plush chairs. Lexi had added her own style to it, a strong, dark-weave papasan chair that was tucked away near the corner by the large windows so she could read and daydream to her heart’s content. It was her favorite, and she had even taken to putting a couple of the same type chairs in her boudoir. She said it was comfortable for feeding her babies, but she would often fall asleep in them, as well read and write.

“What are you reading now? Star Wars fanfiction?” she asked teasingly.

“How’d you guess? Always did love Princess Leia in her gold bikini,” he asserted, laughing.

“Yes, I believe it’s a favorite of Kane’s as well,” she said, winking as she placed the read materials back into place in the romance section of the library. “I’m thinking mystery this week. Agatha Christie?”

“I prefer Georges Simenon, to be frank,” Kade told her. “The translation into English leaves something to be desired at times, but it’s damned good stuff. Plus, I read all of Christie’s works ages ago.”

“Simenon? Is that the one with Maigret?” Lexi asked, tilting her head to check the stacks for the books.

“Yes, that would be the one,” Kade said, smiling. “And for your romance of the week? What’ll it be this time? Danielle Steel? Nora Roberts? Madison Faye?”

She scrunched her nose at him. “Not likely. I prefer more eroticism with my romance. Like Lauren Blakely and Katee Robert.”

“E.L. James didn’t make the short list?” he asked, chuckling.

“No, I mean—her books were good, but it was just s*x and no heart. Oooh, Kelly Jamieson! I read The Rule of Three in one sitting the first time.” She plucked out another book by the author called Worth Waiting For, and leafed through the pages a bit before placing it on a small table.

“Rule of Three? Let me think—a kinky ménage à trois romance with two men and one female?” he guessed shrewdly.

“Of course!” she told him. “It all but spells it out in the title. It was a good book. Erotic and emotional. Those are the best kinds.”

“Just f*****g in a book has its merits, but when there is no emotional tether between the heroine and hero, it really seems lackluster.”

“Absolutely,” Lexi agreed. “I don’t find just plain erotica as entertaining as erotic romance. It’s all s*x and sweat, and goes no deeper most times. I need the emotional connection between the characters to really enjoy it.”

“I suppose erotica has its place in literature,” Kade said offhandedly. “But in real life, people want more than just a quick roll in the hay to get their motors running.”

“s*x is wonderful, but it’s so much better when there are deep feelings behind it, Kade,” she told him, raising a brow at her younger sibling.

“I…I know that, Lexi,” he said softly, his brows creasing in concentration.

“Ah, and how would my little unmated brother know about all that? Have you been a naughty boy?” she asked, teasing him.

Kade looked over at her from his twenty-odd paces away. They were alone, at least for now, and not many other people in the palace came into the room except for the servants when the shelves needed dusting.

Lexi is—well was—a commoner at some point. Almost like his Meredith. She, of all people in the castle, would understand it from a female’s perspective. And he trusted her for the most part. But could he trust her with his secret?

Well, he was about to find out.

Chapter 3  

“I’m glad my parents don’t want me to go out and find my mate,” Meredith said in a measured tone.

“Why not?” Alistair seemed bewildered. Everyone wanted to find their mate, their beloved other half.

“Because I don’t want to find him,” she said, looking away to the far-off glass windows that overlooked the vast gardens of the palace. It was also the same direction as the library, though she pushed the thought away of seeing if he was in there, maybe looking for a new book or rereading a tried and true one, as he oftentimes did.

“Everyone wants to find their mate,” Alistair told her. “Well, with the exception of Lawrence, that is. He’d be happy just being with Sasha.” A scowl rippled across her friend’s face. The emotion passed quickly, and Meredith bit the inside of her cheeks to stem her anger at her friend’s true other half.

“I don’t,” she told him, smiling gently. “I…I…” She looked away again, taking a deep breath before blowing it out slowly.

“You’ve fallen for someone else. Someone who’s not your mate,” Alistair guessed astutely. He hadn’t known her for all these years for nothing.

She simply nodded, still unable to look him in the eye. “I think I love him, but I know I can’t have him.”

“Is it someone above your station? Is that why?” he prodded, watching her eyes flicker with uncertainty before she looked him dead in the eye and nodded.

“He’s well above my station,” she said. “Miles above. “

“Does he feel the same way about you?”

Her head tilted, thinking. “He says he does, and that he wants to be with me—only me—but it…it’s a sticky situation.”

There was a pause as Alistair thought about it. He’d had his suspicions for a while now. He was one of the servants who had taken many of the letters Prince Kade had written and told him to give to Meredith. His best friend duties didn’t stop at love notes or urging Meri to spill the beans on her life, and he took them all quite seriously.

“It’s Kade, isn’t it?” he asked. “The notes, the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is watching…it’s him, and you’re afraid because his Coming of Age Ball is in less than two months away.”

Meredith’s eyes flickered briefly with surprise, but she tamped down the shock and nodded her head, affirming Alistair’s suspicions.

“What do I do?” she asked, concern making her face look pinched and worried. “He can’t choose me, and his mother is insistent that he go through with the Ball.”

It was a pickle, of that Alistair was sure. What a pair the two of them made. One mating that was as good as rejected, the other doomed from the beginning.

“Elope.” Alistair smiled as he teased her. The shock registered only briefly on her face, and his lit up in return. “He’s already offered that, hasn’t he? To take you away with him so you can be together?”

How her friend could read that from just her face, Meredith didn’t know, but Alistair had always been shrewd. Too observant for his own damned good.

“He mentioned something along those lines,” she agreed slowly. “But he’s a royal. He can’t just abdicate and run away with me. Besides, I would never be able to come back and see my family. Or see you.”

While that was a bit of a problem, Alistair thought—at least for Meredith—that love conquered all. Or at least came to a happy resolution between two that were meant to be together. Sure, it was not to be for him, but Meredith deserved her prince, even if he ended up a pauper.

“If he’s willing to go through such lengths, you are it for him, Mere,” he told her. “I’m f*****g jealous, to be honest. I wish…no, the guy’s a prick and doesn’t deserve me, but—if it were the other way around and I were in your position, I’d do anything to be with my man.”

Her gaze softened on him and she smiled sadly. “I think you’d still do pretty much anything to be with him,” she said. “You’ll complain and call him a closeted asshole, but in the end, you would say yes to him because he’s yours. He’s supposed to be yours. Sasha will never make Lawrence truly happy.”

Alistair went to interrupt, but Meredith’s hand halted him as she raised it.

“Look at what happened to Princess Eliza a year or so back,” she continued. “Her true mate was convinced he wanted a human for his bride, but in the end he went full-on wolf and tracked her down. He was made rogue when he went insane upon hearing she would wed Prince Kolton. Male wolves are particularly jealous and possessive. I say we go into town one of these days and show your mate just what he’s missing.”

“You do realize you are female?” Alistair reminded her with a lopsided grin. “If you come on all gangbusters hanging onto me, he’s bound to see it as a way to rile him up, to anger him.”

“And you, my friend, realize that there are such things as bisexuals,” she teased. “You two have hardly said two words to each other, so he wouldn’t know that you prefer only male company in your bed. Besides, jealousy doesn’t discriminate between the sexes. You could love up on just about anyone and he’d see red.”

Alistair obviously hadn’t thought of that, and the idea of giving as good as he got elicited a wicked smile on his face. His best friend was truly a blessing, and he thanked his lucky stars she was there for him through thick and thin.

“You just might have something there, you evil girl,” he told her, winking as his grin spread across his face. “I think we’ll have to make plans for a trip into town on our next day off together.”

*~*~*~*~*

“What would you have done if Kane had chosen Diana and not you?” Kade asked his older, sweet sister. To his amusement, she looked perplexed.

“I…I don’t really know,” she replied, her face taking on a quizzical look. “Since I wasn’t mated to Leo in the end, it will never be known. Hypothetically speaking, once Diana had taken the elixir with Kane, who’s to tell what would have happened with the mate bond she had with Leo? Would it have simply dissipated and Leo would be without his female? Or would it have latched onto someone else, someone that was possibly me or another female. Just like I don’t know if I had a true mate out there, I will never know what could have been if Kane had chosen another.”

She didn’t like to think about it. It stirred jealousy in her gut—a laughable thought just a few, short years ago. She had never wanted to mate to royalty. She would have been happy with her simple life on the mainland.

Maybe.

“Someone should do research on that, though how they would, is hard to fathom,” Kade said. “Perhaps Serena the witch would know. She’s coming in a week or so to pick the Moonflowers for the elixir.”

That shot a jolt of fear into his belly. He didn’t want her to come unless he was allowed to choose freely—whomever he wanted, be she servant or celebrity.

“Kade, you’re trying to distract me from the question at hand,” Lexi scolded gently. “You mentioned knowing about deep feelings and how much more fulfilling s*x is with someone you love.” Her light eyes flew wide and wild, realization settling in with a gasp. “Is that why you don’t want the ball to happen? Have you fallen for someone? Someone you care deeply for and wish to take as your mate?”

Ever the romantic was his older sister-in-mating. While Kade gobbled up fantasy nowadays after years of mysteries and thrillers, the current Queen had gone from fantasy to romance. Possibly in conjunction with the mating of his oldest brother, Kane. It wouldn’t be too farfetched of an idea.

“Yes,” he eventually admitted. “There…there is someone—someone I care deeply for—that I wish to become my mate. But she will not be attending the ball.”

“What? Why not?” Lexi asked, looking outraged. “Tell me her name. I will send her an invitation immediately!”

Smiling, Kade shook his head sadly. “It’s not because she wasn’t invited,” he told her. “It’s because she can’t attend. It is…above her station.”

“I shouldn’t have been able to come,” Lexi reminded him. “I only came as Diana’s emotional support, remember? I was a commoner, and an orphan to boot. I was looked down upon by some for my low ranking in the grand scheme of things.”

“If only it were that simple,” Kade sighed. “If it were up to me and you, rank and status wouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t. Good, loving people are abound in every caste, be they high and noble, or low and common. My…the woman I want will most likely be at the ball, but not as a guest.”

“How—" Another lightbulb practically lit up above Lexi’s dark head. “She’s a servant…a servant here in the palace.”

Kade didn’t need to confirm. The way his head bowed and he closed his eyes was all the affirmation Lexi needed to know she was correct. Kade was right—the former queen would never go for this. But luckily, she wouldn’t have to.

“I don’t see this as a problem,” she said, lifting her head regally. “I’m queen now and what I say goes. If you want someone and she wants you in return, I say take the chance. I did, and I don’t regret it one bit.”

Kade frowned, unknowing that the wheels were already turning in Lexi’s sharp, sometimes devious, little mind.

“How can I take her when she will be serving and not attending?” he asked. “If there’s a good way to go about this, I’m all ears for hearing what you have in mind.”

“Well, I don’t really know as of yet,” Lexi admitted. “But I will think of something, of that you can be assured.”

Kade shook his head at her, thinking it would be a miracle if she could pull anything off to place Meredith at the ball as a guest, and not as servant in the castle.

*~*~*~*~*

“Kade? Can you come in here?”

Another day had passed since speaking with Lexi, and his mother’s pleas to help with the Coming of Age Ball were becoming more desperate. To aid in that, Lexi had told him to let his mother plan the damned thing, and she would make sure that love conquered all in the end.

It was almost too amusing to see his older sister with that devious grin on her face. If she wasn’t with her children or mate, she could be found humming to herself and looking contemplative and sly. The tune she hummed was very familiar, but damn it if he could place the tune.

“Yes, Mother?” He feigned a pained tone, much to his mother’s displeasure.

“Are we going to have a problem today, Kade?” she asked, perfectly prepared for any excuse he might dish out as to why not to hold The Ball.

“Nope,” he told her, taking a seat across from her in the lavender room. “I’ve decided you can go ahead with the preparations for The Ball. I don’t care what you do and how you do it, and you won’t hear one word of dissent from me.”

Margot blinked at her son. It was a complete 180 from the day before, and to say that she was surprised would have been a gross understatement.

“W-well then, that’s fantastic,” she sputtered, eyes blinking rapidly as she tried to gain her footing in the conversation. She had been expecting anything, up to and including a full-out temper tantrum from her son, though it wouldn’t have been Kade’s style at all. “Are you sure you don’t want to give just a little input for your Ball? It is in honor of you choosing a mate, after all.”

He didn’t care if she festooned the ballroom in black and had sacrificial totems or skulls scattered about the place. He’d let the tomfoolery go on, but he wasn’t interested in the intricacies of such large events. At least, not until his wedding. Then he would be sure to give input, so long as his bride was amenable.

“I’m sure you’ll do a wonderful job as always,” he told her. “Getting a mate out of the night is all I ask.”

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