The King’s Prisoner

Chapter 9

~Sir Victor~

So, he’s going to marry that little prisoner. How stupid can he be? She murdered his father for goodness sake. I watched as they talked in his office. He seemed to be really smitten by her. Love sickening fool. The hidden camera has been there since his father was king and he doesn’t even know it. So many secrets are buried within the walls of that room. Secrets that his father held from his family and this country. Secrets that will destroy Adrian. He just revealed that the wedding will take place in two months. Two months was perfect. No one will see it coming and then I’ll finally get my revenge on her.

“Victor, are we ready to start planning?” Prince David asked.

“Yes, my prince, we are.” I took the white piece of paper and made an outline of how we are going to take over Adenville and how I will get my revenge on Lady Victoria. I passed the completed outline to Prince David for his approval.

“So, the drugs are located inside of the office?” He asked.

“Yes, and once we have them, we can sell them to the public and then have the Emperor come and raid the entire kingdom. The former king was addicted to prescription opioids and within those walls is twenty million dollars worth,” I explained. I was eager to finally take them down. I was loyal to his father, not to him and after he attacked in the dungeon and had me thrown out, that was the final straw.

“And then Adrian would get his crown stripped. That’s when I will step in and become king. But if the queen?” He asked as he glanced at me.

“It’s your choice, my prince. I know that if you give her to me, I can have some fun with her. She’s a murderer after all. After I’m done, you can do whatever you want with her.” No woman has ever denied me. It really bruised my ego when she fought back. Although I also found it alluring, she caused me to be kicked out of the royal court. Prince David nodded his head. “We can talk about her later. For now, let’s focus on the scandal we are going to cause. We have to be careful to make sure we don’t get caught.”

With a sanguine expression, I walked over to the door to reveal the next part of my plan. “Don’t worry, I have a little help.” I opened the door and in came Jasper Young, prince of Adenville and Adrian’s brother.

“Prince David of Fenwick,” he said with an enigmatic smile.

“Well, I’ll be damn.” Prince David slowly stood, surprised that the little brother of the king is a part of this plan. Not knowing that this was also parts of Jasper’s plan.

*****

~Tori~

The next few weeks went by as we came closer to the wedding date. Adrian has been keeping his distance, which was fine with me. The only time we were together was when we were discussing wedding details. I intended to find out the secrets that the former King had, but today that was put on hold since I had to meet with Adrian’s mother. I was a nervous wreck. I knew that Adrian loved his mother. Sir Henry, walked me towards the garden where she sat. The sun was shining bright as feathery white clouds danced across the deep blue sky. The small breeze of wind lightly brushed my face. When we made it to the Queen, I bowed.

“My queen.”

“Lady Victoria,” she responded. This was going to be awkward. She probably believes that I killed her husband.

“Please have a seat, dear.” Her expression was unreadable. I didn’t know what to think, but I tried to keep a poker face. I sat in the chair and there was a long uncomfortable silence. Just the sound of the birds occasionally chirping and small whistles of the wind.

“So, I’ve been hearing a lot about you,” she started as she looked me in the eye. “You’re a very interesting woman. I’ve heard that you killed my dear, Geoffrey.”

My heart beat picked up a speed. “I-“

She raised her hand up, cutting me off like I was one of her peasants in the presence of a queen. Well…in a way, this was exactly what it was.

“I said I heard. You don’t have to defend yourself. You’re going to be the next queen of this kingdom. Adenville needs a queen that’s confident, that will fight for her people and serve her kingdom the way a queen should. You should never have to explain yourself, but make sure you are heard.”

I shook my head. “Of course, my queen.”

“It’s okay to call me Catherine, my dear.”

“Yes, Catherine,” I said. She seemed nice, but I don’t want to let my guard down easily. She sat with poise, with her ankles crossed. Her slim shoulders were straight and her chin was up high. She was confident, completely opposite of what a widow would look like so soon after her husband’s death.

“After you marry my son, you will have a coronation ceremony. You will have to make multiple appearances as the press will be all over this. I know you haven’t been treated the best, but you are no longer a prisoner. Do you understand?”

“I understand. Everything is happening so fast. Adrian hasn’t even met my family yet. He’s been working and I’ve only seen him when we are discussing wedding details.”

“Oh sweetie don’t worry. He can meet your family today. I’ll talk with Adrian.” My eyes lit up with excitement. Not because of the wedding. It was the fact that I get to see them even if it’s for a few minutes. I have to call and resign from my job as I prepare to take on my new role. Maybe in the long run, I’ll look back and smile at this. But I’m also a little sad that I have to give a part of my life that I worked so hard for. One that I really loved.

“Thank you, Catherine. This will mean a lot to me.”

“Oh darling, family is important. If everything were to crumble, you will still have the support of your family to help you overcome it.”

For the first time, she smiled. Her voice was pleasant and I was able to relax a little around her. I thought she was going to hate me or worse, have me executed. I didn’t want to pry about her husband’s murder, so I changed the subject.

“This is a beautiful castle. I’ve never been in anything like this.” I took a sip of the tea, hoping that she wasn’t putting on a facade and was actually trying to poison me.

“You better get used to it because it will be yours soon.”

I nodded my head and finished the rest of the tea with the queen. After we finished, I was being escorted back to my room. I was getting dressed to go into the city to see my family. I nervously paced back and forth as Emily and Sophia watched, unsure of what to do.

“Everything is going to be fine,” Emily said.

“I haven’t seen them in a month and I told them I was engaged and I’m in Spain. They don’t know that I’m marrying a king.” I plopped on the bed.

“Well, maybe they will be excited,” Sophia pointed out. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Maybe, but what about Adrian? They will ask him questions. Questions I’m not sure he’s ready for. I guess I just have to face the music.” In a way, I may be overthinking the situation but I’ve been overwhelmed since I was dragged here. I shouldn’t care what my parents think of Adrian. A knock on the door made us jump.

“Come in,” I said and Adrian appeared.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.” No. I jumped up from the bed and hurried out of the door. We walked toward the front and he laced our fingers together. There was it again, the electrical feeling surging through my body. He had to feel it, too. That was the scary part about this arrangement. I couldn’t stand him, yet I’m highly attracted to him. The guards opened the huge door and a black car was waiting for us. We got in and it took us over an hour to get into the city. During the ride, Adrian rubbed my hand. I didn’t know if he was nervous or if this was his way of telling me to behave. Maybe, he sensed my nervousness and this was his way of calming me down.

“My king, we’re five minutes away,” the driver announced.

“Thank you.” He turned to me, piercing me with those gorgeous eyes.

“My lady, my soon to be bride, in order for us to be officially engaged, you need to have a ring.” He pulled out a light blue velvet box. When he opened it, it was a beautiful six prong 14 carat diamond ring. One big diamond sat on the center as there were five smaller diamonds on each side of the ring. He slid it on my finger and it was a perfect fit. How the hell did he know my ring size? When did he get this? Why would he do this?

“It’s b-beautiful,” I mumbled as I admired the ring.

“A beautiful woman deserves a ring just as beautiful as she is.” Whoa…Okay, who is this and where’s the real Adrian Young?

The car stopped and I knew it was time to play my role. The driver got out and opened our door. Adrian surprisingly helped me out of the car. His hand landed on the small of my back causing me to tense at first. We walked up to the door and I knocked. A few moments later, Gianna answered the door.

“Oh my god, Tori! You’re back?” She screamed.

“Hey Gia,” I said as we embraced in a hug. “Yes I’m back. Where is mom and dad?”

“They’re in the kitchen.” We let go of each other and introduced her to Adrian.

“This is my fiance, Adrian,” I said. I tried to sound excited.

“Nice to meet you, Adrian.”

“Nice to meet you too, Gianna,” he said.

“My little sister here has been hiding you. Can’t say I blame her.” I rolled my eyes as we stepped inside and headed towards the kitchen. Mom was cooking and my dad was watching the football game in the entertainment room.

“Mom? Dad?” They both looked up and they mouths dropped.

“Tori!” My dad yelled.

“Hi daddy,” he quickly rushed and came to hug me. “How was your vacation, sweetheart?”

“It was good, dad, but I missed you all.” That was the honest truth. My dad broke our hug and I went to hug my mother. “Hi mom.”

“My baby. Look at how beautiful you are,” she said as she stepped back to get a good look at me. I glanced up at Adrian and saw him smiling. “You look like a queen, dear.”

I coughed and she patted my back. “Let’s get you some water.” She turned her attention to Adrian and the widest smile formed on her lips.

“Oh this must be your fiancé,” my mom exclaimed.

“Yes. Guys this is Adrian Young, my fiancé.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both. Victoria has been talking about you all non stop. I am honored to finally meet the parents who created this intriguing, beautiful woman.” Oh he was real smooth with his words today. He already had my mom melting.

“It’s nice to meet you, son. Are you hungry? Marlene is almost done cooking.”

“Actually, sir, I’m starving.”

“No formalities here, just call me James.” My dad seemed really excited to finally have another guy over so they can talk football. Adrian nodded his head.

“Do you like football, Adrian?”

“I watch it from time to time.” Interesting…if he only knew my dad and how big of a football fan he was. All I can say is poor Adrian.

“Do you want to watch it and let the girls catch up?” He tensed for a minute as if he didn’t want me to separate from him. I squeezed his hand reassuring him that I will not try to do anything funny. Slowly, he followed my dad and Gia and my mom pulled me into the kitchen. I already knew what was going to happen from this point.