Page 6 of The Royally Broke Billionaire
Two additional place settings and chairs were immediately delivered to the table as the royals greeted the newcomers. As soon as they were seated, the red head furrowed her brow and glared across the table before boldly asking, “Who’s she?”
The queen covered for the woman’s brash question by making an introduction. “Maureen and Pierce, this is Piper Pearson. Piper, I’m sure you recognize these two.”
Piper’s cheeks turned hot pink as she smiled and nodded at them. The prince and his new bride were no strangers to the scandalous side of the news. Princess Mo-zilla, as the press liked to call her, was known for being brutally honest and famously uncoordinated. The kingdom had practically breathed a collective sigh of relief when they found out that tactful and graceful Tess, rather than awkward and clumsy Mo, would be their new queen.
Living up to her nickname, Mo glared in Piper’s direction before asking Tess, “Why is she here?”
“Piper and her handsome son, Liam, are going to be staying with us in the royal residence,” Tess told them as if that explained everything.
Unwilling to be shut down so easily, Mo scrunched up her face. “How long are they staying here? And why will they be living in the royal residence, rather than in the guest wing in the bed and breakfast?”
Tess had hoped to keep the entire scandal under wraps for a bit longer, but now that Mo was here, it was bound to leak out. Mo had a tendency to let things slip, even when she had absolutely no intention of doing so.
Taking a deep breath and accepting the inevitable, Tess smiled at her bold, fearless, and utterly lovable friend before saying, “They will be staying here indefinitely because Liam is the king’s firstborn son.”
For one of the first times in all the years Tess had known her, Mo was struck speechless. She sat there blinking back and forth between Tess, Piper, and Sebastian with her mouth hanging wide open in a ridiculous ‘o’ shape.
Prince Pierce was the first to regain his senses. Turning to his brother, he asked, “Are you certain about this? Have you done a paternity test?”
Tess answered. “That isn’t necessary. When you meet Liam, you’ll see.”
Obviously not feeling her confidence, Pierce said, “It most certainly is necessary. People will do anything to weasel their way into the royal family.”
Tess didn’t appreciate the openly accusatory glare the prince was aiming at Piper. Feeling the need to defend the woman, she said, “Sebastian wasn’t even in line to be king when this happened.”
“Nevertheless, DNA tests don’t lie. People do.” The prince had his arms crossed tightly across his chest.
“She’s not lying.” It was the first words the king had spoken since Mo and Pierce’s arrival.
Mo sucked in a deep breath, obviously scandalized by his quiet admission. Hissing through her teeth in the king’s direction, she asked, “How could you?”
“It happened long before he met me,” Tess attempted to diffuse her friend’s fiery temper, even as she smiled over how quickly Mo had jumped to her defense.
“Well this… I just… It’s not…” Mo blustered, seeming to still be at an uncharacteristic loss for words.
“This news was a bit of shock for us all,” the queen filled in before quickly adding, “But we will handle Liam’s arrival and his place within our family with grace and dignity.”
“You might, but I won’t!” Mo yelled far louder than was necessary to be heard. To accentuate her point, she chose that moment to stand up to tower her impressive height over the table. With her sudden movement, she managed to knock over her crystal water glass, which toppled her white wine goblet and sent liquid and shards of broken glass flying.
The loud ruckus startled everyone, making the ensuing silence seem that much more pronounced. Used to creating wildly inappropriate scenes, Mo was the only one who didn’t look shaken by the minor catastrophe. She narrowed her green eyes in Piper’s direction, looking almost like an angry cat. Shaking a finger to drill her message in further, she practically hissed. “Tess is the king’s wife, so her child should be the heir to the throne.”
Trying to calm down his angry wife as the royal waitstaff scrambled to clean up the mess, Pierce said, “That’s not the way it works, sweetheart.”
Turning her glare in his direction and softening slightly, Mo pouted, “Well, it should be. Tess deserves to see her offspring take the throne.” Angling her head towards Sebastian, she said, “You are the king. Can’t you change the rules to make this right?”
Before her husband had a chance to respond, Tess jumped in to answer her friend’s question. “I appreciate you going into scary mama-bear mode for me, but the rules are clear on this. Liam is the king’s firstborn son, so he is the rightful heir to the throne.”
Mo started to object, so Tess held up her dainty palm to stop her. It was obvious that she had already processed this and made up her mind about her stance on the subject. “We will not change ancient laws that have been abided by for centuries to suit our fancy. It wouldn’t be right.”
All eyes turned to the king when he cleared his throat from the head of the table. The gaze he was giving his wife was filled with love, admiration, and regret that he had hurt her. He spoke to her as if they were alone in the room. “I don’t deserve you, Tess. You are the most beautiful, kind, and gracious soul on this earth. I’m the luckiest man alive to have gotten to marry you and to get to spend the rest of my life loving you.”
The watery-eyed, love-infused smile Tess gave him clearly stated that all was forgiven, as far as she was concerned.
Addressing the room at large, King Sebastian said, “As is always the case, my wife is right. It wouldn’t be advisable to change the kingdom’s long-standing rules on this matter to suit our wishes.”
Mo made an aggravated growling sound deep in her throat, but she didn’t dare to object to the island’s sovereign in a more direct manner than that.
The king went on as if he hadn’t heard the disgruntled noise. Lifting his wine glass in a toast, he said, “To Liam, the heir to the throne.”
