A True King (The Poisoned Pawn Series Book 4)

  A True King

  A Poisoned Pawn Book

  S.E. Rose

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2021 S. E. Rose

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  www.seroseauthor.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This story contains descriptions of adult relationships and derogatory language. If such things offend you, this book is not for you. The book is intended for mature readers.

  Contents

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  Prelude

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by S.E. Rose

  Sneak Peek at Island (Deceitful Destiny Series, Book 1)

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  To all my fellow ladies. You are all true queens! Now, straighten that crown and go conquer the world!

  Prelude

  From the Desk of

  HRH Prince Christian Leonardo Alberto

  House of Alexander

  Dearest Mia,

  I’m lost without you. It’s been one week, two days, seven hours, and thirty-five minutes since I last held you in my arms. I know you are hurt by what happened, but I need you to know that my trust in you never wavered throughout everything that happened. I never for an instant even considered that you would be anything but completely faithful to me and my family.

  Please, please, I beg of you, answer my texts, my calls. I’m at my wits’ end with worry. I have picked up the phone a dozen times, intent on calling your family, inquiring about your whereabouts, and coming to find you. (Whether it be on a white horse, in a white car, or on a white plane.)

  I need you in my life, pigeon. I don’t know what to do. I want to give you the space you need, but I also feel you slipping away from me. I know I’ve made you wait, made you put us aside while we saved Logan, our monarchy, and so much more. It was unfair of me to do this to you. I hope I haven’t made you doubt me. Please don’t doubt me, my sweet. I love you! That’s right, I fucking love you!! I want to shout that from the mountaintops. I want to yell it out as I address our parliament. I want every fucking rag printing it on the front page. I want the whole world to know that you are the center of my universe.

  Fuck, Mia. I’m broken without you. I didn’t realize just how deep you had embedded yourself in my soul until you were gone. I’m half a man without you by my side. I should have fought my father. I should have refused to have you leave. I fucked up, and by the time I pulled my head out of my ass, you were gone.

  Now as I sit here, all our staff is back in place. Everyone has been interviewed and cleared of any wrongdoing in taking the crown and attempting to dismantle the monarchy. Everyone is here, except you. But I know you didn’t do anything wrong. I know you haven’t been involved. I’ve spent too many nights watching you sleep, watching you work to make my life better. You don’t get a second to yourself.

  So again, I implore you. Please, Mia, come back to me!

  I’ve thought about sending this via messenger to your parents’ home. My mind is spinning in a million directions right now. I’m sick with worry. This is not like you. Even when I’ve been a complete ass, and I know, my love, I can be an ass, you have never once turned away from me, not like this.

  I’m at a loss. I don’t know what else to do but bare my soul to you in hopes that you will see past my faults and love me even with all my imperfections. That’s right, I know I’m not perfect. The outside world sees a perfect prince. The perfect heir to the throne, but you know the truth. You, however, are perfect, the most perfect thing that I have had the privilege of seeing and touching in this world.

  Part of me wishes we never met, that I never dragged you into this insanity and danger. I’d sleep better knowing that someone like you is out in the world, safe and secure. But I can’t change the past, only the future, and I hope that it’s a future that sees us together.

  Fuck, as I write this, I’m losing my internal battle. I can’t sit here and wonder any longer. I need answers. I need to know what you are thinking. I want to hear it from you. I want to hear whatever your answer is from your lips. I hope even if you say “no,” even if you never want to see me again, that I can at least see you one more time. I need to breathe you in, touch you, just once more. You’re like a drug that I will never get enough of, ever. I need you to know that I will do whatever you say, but I’m booking a flight right now. I’m bringing you this letter. If you choose to send me away, you will have to do it to my face, my love. But don’t be fooled, I will fight for you, for us. So, be prepared for me because when you read this, I WILL be standing in front of you, not as a prince but as a man in love.

  With all my heart,

  Christian

  Prologue

  Stay strong. That’s what everyone keeps telling me. But I don’t want to be strong. I want my mother.

  It’s well past midnight. I should be in bed. But instead, I’m riding through the woods on my mother’s horse, Pixie. Father brought us here tonight. After all the pomp and circumstance of my mother’s funeral, he said we needed some time away. I rolled my eyes at that. We’re only thirty minutes from the castle. The Summer Palace is hardly “away” from anything, but at least here, we can have more freedoms.

  And I can get away from my siblings. Auggie and Anna just don’t get it. Anna’s too young to understand anything and Auggie uses his humor to mask any real feelings. Yet, they are the closest things I have to any real friends.

  It’s hard to find friends when you are an heir to a throne. I have friends, but not ones I can confide in. How am I supposed to lead this country someday if I have no one besides my family that I can trust one hundred percent?

  I nudge Pixie’s side and she goes galloping across a field. I slow her down as I approach the cliff that’s on the other side. I’m startled to find that I’m not alone.

  My father is here on his horse, Rex.

  “You should be in bed,” my fa
ther says solemnly. He doesn’t turn to me but instead looks out over the city in the distance.

  “I couldn’t sleep.”

  “You shouldn’t come out here by yourself. It’s not safe,” he scolds, finally glancing in my direction.

  “I’m fine,” I mutter.

  “It’s peaceful at night,” he states as he turns back to survey the city. From up here, it looks like little twinkling lights nestled amongst trees.

  “It is.”

  He’s quiet for a long while. Both of us sit and watch. I’m surprised he’s not yelling at me. The fact that he’s quiet is almost more unsettling.

  “Father?” I say, breaking the silence.

  “Yes.”

  “What’s it like…to be king?” I seldom get alone time with my father. And right now, I feel if I don’t ask him, I may never know.

  He turns slowly back toward me. “Lonely. Make sure to surround yourself with people you trust, but then surround yourself even more tightly with a few people who not only are trustworthy but would die for you. I hate that about this. You will learn things that you won’t be able to tell anyone. Those secrets will become your albatross to bear. But you will need to be strong. You will need to do the right thing, even if it brings you great pain. Because once you swear your allegiance and put on that crown, you are the guardian of all of this.” He motions to the vastness in front of us. “Norddale is rich with traditions and culture. Its people depend on us to carry on the legacy of our ancestors. They don’t know the sacrifices we make to do that. And they must never know. So, enjoy your time now, my son. Because not too long from now, you will be standing in my shoes and you’ll need to be strong, stronger than you ever thought possible.”

  I swear my father’s eyes glisten with tears as he speaks. He’s never shown much emotion, and the little he has shown over the past few days has been more than I’ve ever seen. But right now, I don’t even know what to make of his cryptic words. What does he mean? Of course, being king is hard, but why can’t he just tell me that?

  “We should head back,” he says as he turns Rex around. He looks at me as he pats Rex on the side. “I mean it, Chris. You should be careful. Even out here, it’s not safe for you to be alone.”

  “Yes, father,” I grumble as I follow him to the stables. I mumble under my breath the whole way back. How am I supposed to have fun if I can’t go anywhere or do anything, and I always have to have security around?

  When we dismount at the stables, my father turns to me. “I promise that it’s not all bad. I shouldn’t have been so melancholy about it. Why don’t you come with me on my next trip? It’s time for you to see how things are done.”

  “Really?” I ask, surprised because he’s never invited me on any official visits out of the country.

  “Yes. I would enjoy your company. Now, get on back inside,” he states, motioning toward the door.

  “Yes, sir,” I answer. I run back to my room through the secret passages. A million questions swirl in my brain. But one floats to the top over the others. What are these secrets that I will be burdened with and when will I learn of them?

  Chapter One

  “To thine own self be true.”

  ~William Shakespeare, Hamlet

  Fifteen years later…

  Christian

  Future kings don’t get to choose who they marry. But they do get to choose who they love. That wasn’t written in any official royal handbook, but it might as well have been.

  The first time I met Mia Edgewater is engrained in my memory for all of time. I required a new personal secretary. I had finished all my academic and military duties. My duties now would be to serve the crown. Father insisted I interview three candidates. She was the first one. I never interviewed another.

  The moment I laid eyes on her I knew she had to be part of my life, even if it was just so I could admire her from afar. She had the most mesmerizing reddish-brown hair that shimmered under the crystal chandelier in my office. Her dark eyes gave her a mysterious presence like she had a secret to share. Her skin looked more like a woman who spent her days enjoying the outdoors rather than the pale skin of the princesses I was constantly required to meet and accompany to various royal affairs. And the glasses. She wore a pair of glasses that more belonged to the librarian at my boarding school than to a young woman. Those glasses became my kryptonite. Something of a fantasy that was always playing on a reel in the back of my mind.

  As I stare out the window of my private jet, it’s the glasses that I’m thinking about, the first time she made my fantasy come to life.

  “Is that all, Your Highness?” Mia says as she looks up at me from behind her glasses. Her hair is pulled up in a bun on the back of her head. She is wearing a button-down blouse and a pencil skirt with heels that make her taller but still substantially shorter than me. We’ve been playing this game of cat and mouse for months now. And day by day, my resolve is cracking. I shouldn’t want her. She is my employee, well, she is an employee of the crown. A relationship would be forbidden. I am the heir to the throne and the only woman suitable to marry me would need an HRH accompanying her name.

  “Yes, Mia. That’ll be all,” I state as I lean back in my chair, handing her the last envelope. We’ve been working late, as usual. Mia is sorting my mail into stacks as I go through it. We have arranged a system for most of my daily tasks and she now knows them forward and backward. What I want to say is that it wasn’t all and that she needs to bend over my desk so I can fuck her because that is all I have thought about for days and my royal cock is tired of my hand when all it wanted is Mia’s pussy, but I refrain. I don’t know how much longer my willpower will hold out.

  “Very well, sir. I will see you in the morning. Your first appointment isn’t until eleven. Shall I have the kitchen bring your breakfast at the usual time, or would you prefer a lie-in?” she asks as she stands up and begins to pick up the piles of envelopes.

  “I’d like to lie in with you,” I think to myself.

  “Sorry?” she asks, raising her eyebrow.

  Shit, had I said that out loud. “Later is fine.”

  I stand and follow her out of my office, inhaling her perfume with each step. I’m not sure what is more intoxicating, her smell or the mere vision of her ass swaying. She hasn’t noticed me approach her, so when she swivels around to say something else, she is nearly knocked over and the envelopes go sailing in all directions.

  “Oh, shit,” she yells as she falls to her knees in front of me.

  “What was that?” I ask.

  She looks up at me. Her face is now eye level with my cock and the vision of what she could look like with those red lips wrapped around it is all I can see at that moment.

  Her face reddens. “I…I’m sorry, Your Highness. I…” She trails off and looks down, collecting the papers on the floor. I can’t help but drop to a knee and join her in retrieving everything.

  “We’ll have to sort these again,” I say, feigning contempt.

  “I’m so sorry. I think I remember most of them. I can do it and follow back up if I can’t remember,” she states as she grabs the envelopes and piles them on the floor next to her.

  And that’s when I see it. Her lip trembles and that small reaction is enough to unleash the protective beast inside me.

  I reach out and gently take her chin between my forefinger and thumb, urging her to look up at me. Our faces are closer with me on my knee, but she is now on all fours, so I still hover above her. I can see the unshed tears in her eyes.

  “Mia,” I breath, “it’s alright. I can sort these. I’m not mad.”

  She sniffles as a single tear manages to make it over her lower eyelid. I catch it on my thumb. “You’re not?”

  I shake my head and take her face in my hands. We are nearly face-to-face as she rises on her knees.

  “W-what are you doing?” she asks.

  “I’ve been fighting this since the moment I saw you. I’ve tried, Mia. I’ve tried so damned hard to
not want you, but I can’t deny it any longer,” I say in a low voice.

  “Your High—”

  “Christian,” I correct as I run my thumb over her bottom lip.

  She clears her throat, and I can feel her swallow against my hand. My mind goes to a thousand dirty things that I want to do with her.

  Her mouth opens and then closes. She is flustered and it only makes her more attractive. I should ask before I take, but I’ve never had to ask for a thing in my entire life. As the heir to the throne, everything has been presented to me on a silver platter. And right at that moment, I want to take her, to make her mine.

  I bring my face to hers and whisper, “I shouldn’t do this, but I don’t have any more willpower left.” And with that, I kiss her. She doesn’t move at first, but she also doesn’t pull away. It is when I lick her bottom lip that I unlock the door into her soul. She suddenly responds with fervor like I have ignited a flame within her. The kiss takes on a life of its own as we divest each other of our clothes. The image of Mia laid out naked on my 17th-century Mazarin desk, her legs spread and dangling over the edge is a sight I will never forget. Every inch of her body is perfection, the type of perfection men dream about and fight wars over. I don’t worship her body properly. No, it is quick and rough, and we both take what we need. The languid, slow lovemaking will come later, and it won’t disappoint.