Chapter Three
Two months ago
I tossed the tabloid into the nearest trash bin. “This is already a f*****g disaster,” I muttered, rubbing my face.
Laurent didn’t react to my swearing, except to say, “Anything else I can do for you, Your Highness?”
“No, nothing. You’ve done everything you could.”
Laurent bowed and left me to stew in my office. Once Niamh had agreed to our engagement, after a lot of arguing, swearing, and threats of castrating me, the news of our engagement became the most important topic in the palace. My parents had taken the news with a surprising level of equanimity. I’d expected them to rail against it or to demand that I find someone more suitable.
But neither of them had said those things. My mother, ever the polished royal, had merely said, “Then we have a lot of
