Page 36 of The Royally Broke Billionaire
She had no doubt that her brothers would want to help her out, but she hated the thought of living off them––even on a temporary basis. Besides, due to past sensitivities in that regard, she knew her husband would staunchly refuse to take a dime from her family.
The prince cleared his throat importantly as he held a single sheet of paper in the air before the council. “I hold in my hand solid proof that King Sebastian is and shall remain the proper monarch of our fine island.”
“What so-called proof is this?” The council leader sputtered, obviously not believing for a second that Pierce had what he claimed.
“These are the certified results of the DNA test that was performed shortly after Liam’s arrival at the palace. The test was done merely as a formality, since no one truly doubted the king’s paternity of the child. The results sat forgotten in the lab until now.” He held the slip of paper higher in the air, even though there was no way the council could make out what it said from where they sat.
“And?” One of the only women on the council spoke for the first time. Her glare made it obvious that they were growing weary of the dramatics.
In a bold, confident voice, Pierce proclaimed, “And they prove that King Sebastian is NOT, in fact, Liam’s biological father.”
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Piper felt like she might pass out at this revelation. As much as she wanted the island’s ruling monarchs to retain their thrones, she didn’t care to have her reputation dragged through the mud any further.
She shook her head, knowing that they must have somehow tampered with the results or be trying to play a trick on the council. She hadn’t been with anyone else. It was bad enough that the entire kingdom would know she had a one-night stand with the king, but now they were insinuating that she had also been intimate with someone else.
Stunned eyes from around the room turned in her direction. The denial was on the tip of her tongue, but the words refused to form. If it was only her reputation on the line, she would find a way to deal with the repercussions of this fabrication for the monarchs’ sakes, but she refused to give up Liam’s birthright.
Rather than forcing her to answer, Pierce continued in a confident tone. The eyes in the room all volleyed back in his direction as he said, “Science tells us that baby Liam’s father is a perfect match with one of our decorated royal soldiers, who served our island well before being taken from us prematurely… Corporal Andrew Stark.”
“Drew!” Piper’s hand flew to her chest as her entire body reeled with this stunning news. When she wavered on her feet, Finn put a steadying arm around her. She tried to focus on his warmth along her side, but instead, she found herself staring down at her son’s head and trying to wrap her brain around the fact that her beloved Drew was his father.
“Come forward, young lady,” the leader of the council barked at her.
Piper felt unsteady on her feet as she took a few tentative steps forward, despite the fact that Finn stayed firmly by her side as she moved to stand before the head of the council.
After she made her way towards them, the councilwoman asked Pierce to bring the genetic test to her for inspection. The serious woman studied the page through the narrow glasses perched on the end of her nose before giving a single, curt nod, implying it looked legitimate to her.
When she held the paper out towards the group’s leader, he snatched it out of her hand as if he intended to prove the results fake. He scrutinized it, but evidently didn’t find anything suspect. Looking up at the prince, he said, “We’ll need to verify the legitimacy of this with the testing facility, of course.”
“Of course,” the prince answered with supreme confidence.
The cantankerous man held the paper out to a young assistant, who had been standing on the sidelines of the proceedings. She scurried forward to collect the page and then tapped on her cell phone after he ordered her to verbally confirm the results with the laboratory.
Piper was beginning to dare to hope that this revelation was actually true. Liam might be her final, precious gift from her sweet first love, Drew.
The assistant punched the button on her phone to end the call and nodded at her boss. The man glared at Piper. “What is the meaning of this? You arrived here, claiming your baby was the heir to the throne when he isn’t even related to our king.”
Although the man’s obvious anger made her uncomfortable and fidgety, she turned and spoke directly to her king and queen. “I’m so sorry, Your Highnesses. I truly had no idea, but I must have already been pregnant with Drew’s baby on that fateful night at the bar. Considering the rotten luck I’d been having, I just automatically assumed, when I found out I was pregnant, that it was due to our ill-advised one-night stand.”
Obviously still trying to process the meaning of all of this, the queen shook her head. “But Liam sneezes three times in a row, just like Sebastian, and he looks so much like him. We all see it.”
She turned to Mo for confirmation. Her friend nodded her agreement that she, too, saw the similarities between the two.
Piper had a good idea why that might be the case. “I honed in on Sebastian that night at the bar because he vaguely reminded me of Drew. My reeling brain thought that being with someone who resembled Drew might feel almost like he was here with me, holding me in his arms again.”
The queen nodded slowly to acknowledge that Piper’s explanation made sense. Suddenly, turning to face the tribunal, she was all-business when she said, “Well, if we’re done with this ridiculousness, my husband and I have a kingdom to run.”
The ringleader’s face was puckered like he had just eaten a dozen lemons, but he grudgingly said, “Since King Sebastian does not, in fact, have an illegitimate child, there are no grounds for his dismissal at this time. He shall remain the ruling monarch of Isle de Monsail. Tribunal adjourned.” He pounded a gavel with finality on his desk perched above them.
The four royals whooped and hugged each other with decidedly un-royal excitement. The queen’s brothers and their wives hurried forward to congratulate them for escaping unscathed.
When Finn slid around her to pay his respects to the royals, Piper hovered awkwardly in the background. She wasn’t sure if she would be punished for inadvertently almost costing them the throne, but she was fairly certain that she would no longer be welcome on the royal grounds.
Just as she was wondering if the royals ever ordered corporal punishment, the queen called out to her. “Piper, come here, please.”
Summoning her courage, Piper stepped towards the queen. She felt fairly certain that the regal woman wouldn’t have her flogged while she held Liam in her arms. Even though he wasn’t related to the king, her son was still an innocent baby, who didn’t deserve to witness his mother being punished.
