Page 16 of Royally Theirs (Risqué Royals)

There will be expectations of a Duchess. It was mentioned that I will have duties in my new role. More than being at the Duke’s side for events. I must give him an heir within two years. I must devote myself to the royal traditions as well as to the people of Cambridge.

It is expected that Ilearnhow to walk, talk, and behave as royalty. I will need to learn how to wave, even if we joked about it earlier. I will have to learn how to speak with the townspeople, how to be an advocate for those who need one, and how to work with all the other royals in other provinces.

Seated in the car, I begin to wonder how I ended up here. How long had my Gran been planning to give me to some man neither of us knew? We joked about how the matriarchs of our families had been putting this wedding together since we were born. If that is true, that means all the years I spent alone believing I would never find someone were for nothing.

“What is wrong, sweet Duchess?” Chambers wonders, his hand at my thigh startling me.

“How long have you known they wanted this marriage?”

Blinking at me, his eyes swing to Dom before they come back to me. I cannot breathe for a moment. I am overwhelmed with loneliness, betrayal, confusion, and absolute rage. How could they have kept this from me?

“It wasn’t that long ago when my girlfriends started getting engaged,” I say, my voice wavering with emotion. “I went to half a dozen weddings. All their bachelorette parties, all the engagement events. I would go to celebrate my friends, to toast to their futures, but mostly to prove to them and to myself I never needed any of it. That I was going to be fine being alone.”

“What is this, Chambers,” Dominic asks, reaching out to take my hands in his.

Yanking my hands back, I glare at him as the car rolls to a stop again. I take deep breaths, reaching up to swipe at my tears. They can’t know how alone I felt for most of my life. How I wondered who my father was, and how I wondered about my grandfather. I had always felt as if I was missing something. As if I was a storybook with chapters missing.

“My grandfather swore he would come for us. He sent my Gran and my Ma to Silver Shores ahead of him. He never came. You knew him, I am sure,” I spit the words out, shaking now. “You knew him, you know all about my Gran. You both know more about me than I do. About where I came from.”

“Calm down, love,” Chambers hums, turning to grasp my shaking hands.

“No. No. All the men in my life abandoned me. Men who were supposed to take care of me. Men who swore to be there for me, they never were. I never even tried to date because of it. I never wanted to turn out the way my mother had. My father was from Cambridge,” I admit, tears streaming down my face now, “He came looking for her. They had been promised when they were just babies. He swore to take her back home, to this province. Just like my grandfather, he never kept his promise.”

Throwing the car door open, I fall out, gasping for air. My head is spinning as my thoughts twist in my head. With bleary eyes, I stumble down the cobblestone road, tripping over my heels. I kick them off, throwing them behind me as both men come after me.

“Calm down Charlotte. Tell us what this is about.”

“I am telling you! Cambridge men...they broke me before. I said I never wanted to get married, I swore I never wanted a happy ending because those men made me believe that was impossible. Men just like you two. Men from this beautiful province who were royal, who had duties they could not turn their back on. You knew them both, I am sure.”

“Yes, love, I knew your grandfather. He was a good man,” Chamber starts, reaching for me as I skitter back.

“No! Do not touch me. He wasnota good man! And neither are you! I was alone forso long. Gran got her great love. Ma too. They were broken by those great loves. They were all I had, and I barely had them at all because of the damage done by men just like you. You knew, she knew, but no one let me know. You all let me believe I would wind up all alone. How could I spend my life with someone who could do that to me?”

Chambersclosesin on me, Dominic moving to my other side. I am blocked by their big bodies. Caged in. Earlier I loved how that felt. I have loved how they have both made me feel these past few days. And I can see how the women in my family allowed men to break them into pieces.

“Charlotte, baby let us take you back. We need to talk this through.”

“No. No wedon’t. I was right before. I never want to be married. I never want to be with anyone. I know how to handle it. I know how to live with my loneliness. I cannot do this.”

Turning towards a field, I start to run, never looking back as I weave through the thick woods. I have no idea what I am thinking. No idea where I am trying to go. Or how I think I can escape this. I have no choice in this ordeal. I knew that the moment I walked into tea with Gran that night.

I collapse when my lungs start to burn, stumbling in the thick grass. Dominic is right there, scooping me up in his thick arms. I am sobbing as he holds me close, his lips pressed to my damp forehead. Chambers is there and I cry out as I am handed off to him as they head out of the woods.

“Never run from us again. No matter where you would run, we would find you, love. Get us home,” Chambers barks to the driver as he ducks into the back of the limo. “Dominic, I want everyone out. We need to be alone.”

It sounds so wrong for him to tell his best friend to leave us alone. I frown against his chest as I struggle to even my breathing. They go together. I knew that the moment I saw them. They were a pair before I came along. If I could escape them, they would still be together.

Back at the castle, Dominic storms inside, barking orders to the door attendant. Within a few moments, flurries of movement begins as Chambers starts up the wide, curving steps. Instead of turning to the right to head to the quarters his mother set me up in, he goes straight. Towards his quarters.

Kicking open the heavy, wide doors, he murmurs something I can’t decipher. Despite my runaway attempt, I am clinging to him, shivering despite feeling as if I am burning up. I am dazed, confused, and still sobbing.

“Shh, shh, baby, please don’t,” he whispers against my temple, his lips there to brush a tender kiss to my skin.

Bending, he sets me on the bed, his head turning. I follow his intense gaze, seeing Dominic striding in after us. Just as he had before in the throne room, he closes the heavy doors behind him, locking them. Storming towards the bed, he scares me as he tears off his jacket, rolling up his sleeves.

“What is she going on about, Chambers? Have you always known it would be her?” he grits the words out as he stares his best friend down.

Chambers flinches, shaking his head. His jacket comes off too and I watch in awe as they face off. “No. If I had known it was her, don’t you think I would have gotten her here before now? I had no idea who it would be. I never had a choice about it. Mother talked about Silver Shores often, I should have investigated it. I should have found her sooner.”

---