“Not necessarily,” he counters.
“Why? Because you think you can sit here and dictate who I can and can’t marry? I’m sorry to tell you, but I don’t give a damn what you think. I—”
“As it stands,” he interrupts, tone icy, his small, dark eyes trained on me in superiority, “even if she is pregnant with your child, he or she will not be considered a full heir with rights of succession unless you’re married when the baby is born. And the marriage is one approved by the sovereign.” He looks at my father.
While Dalton’s opinion on the matter is clear, based on the disgust covering his expression, my father’s isn’t. I can sense his turmoil.
Feel his humanity.
So that’s what I need to appeal to. His human side. His reasonable side.
“Would you really withhold your approval of my marriage to the woman I love and would do anything for, a woman who’s currently carrying your grandchild, because some advisor told you to? You’re the king, Father. You make the decisions.”
He peers at me, torn. As king, he needs to act according to what’s best for his country and the monarchy. Right now, that appears to conflict with his role as my father, who should support his son when he’s finally found the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with.
“You’ve really dug yourself into a hole here,” he exhales, breaking the silence.
“I just want to marry the woman of my dreams. Like you were able to.”
“That was before anyone thought I’d be king. I wasn’t under an obligation to get the monarch’s approval because I’d already been pushed down to sixth in line by that time. It’s different with you. You are the heir apparent. Whom you decide to marry holds a great deal of weight on how people will view the strength of the monarchy.”
“And how will it make the monarchy look if people find out I’m forbidden from marrying the woman carrying my child?” I look from him to my grandmother. “I’ve always remembered my place, stayed quiet about a lot.” I return my attention to my father. “But if you allow this to happen, I will not stay quiet about it. You can be damn certain about that.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose, the stress of this situation wearing on him. When he looks at me again, his gaze goes to my hand. I follow his line of sight, noticing the tremors.
“I thought you were doing better.”
I shake out my hand. “I was.”
“You were?”
“Am,” I correct. “I am. It’s fine. Probably just jet lag.”
He studies me for a protracted beat, then sighs. “I won’t withhold my approval.”
I exhale a huge breath of relief. “Thank you. I—”
“Your Majesty,” Dalton interjects, eyes frantic. “You’ve seen the reports from the polling the publicity team did. Those numbers don’t—”
My father holds up his hand, cutting him off. Dalton quickly falls silent, but it’s obvious it kills him to do so, to know the king is no longer following his advice. At least not on this matter.
“I have complete control over my approval,” he says, giving Dalton a pointed stare before looking back at me. “But I can’t do anything about the law of succession. For your child to be an heir, to be considered part of the royal family, he or she cannot be illegitimate.”
“What is this? The bloody 1950s? People have babies all the time without being married.”
“The rules on who can and can’t ascend to the throne are clear. Granted, they were put in place because some of our ancestors seemed to think it a competition to see how many women they could impregnate.”
“That was centuries ago. Times change.”
“Yes. But the purpose for it is still valid. To—”
“I know. I know. Protect the monarchy.” I run a hand over my face.
It’s amazing how I could go from being on cloud nine when I asked Nora to marry me a week ago to being absolutely miserable. A part of me wishes I’d never come home. But I couldn’t just ignore my duty, especially with the referendum on the ballot. The people need to be reminded of exactly what they’re voting for — having me as their king in a few years when my father voluntarily abdicates, as is the tradition.
“And if we decide we don’t care about the baby being a full heir?” I ask. “If we don’t want to be rushed to marry before he or she is born?”
“If that’s—” my father begins, but Dalton places his hand on his arm, stopping him.
“There’s also the Royal Marriages Act to consider.”
“All that says is I need the monarch’s approval prior to marrying.”
“Essentially, yes. But if you recall your schooling, you’ll remember it also sets forth restrictions on this grant of approval. The Royal Marriages Act forbids the king from approving a marriage between an heir to the throne and someone of…loose morals.”
“Loose morals?” I couldn’t have heard him right. This must be some sort of alternative universe. That’s the only possible explanation for what’s going on right now. “What does that even mean?”
“According to the act, that includes but isn’t limited to prostitutes, habitual drug users, and women who bear a child outside of wedlock.”
“You do realize it’s the goddamn twenty-first century, right?” I seethe. “Someone choosing to have a child outside of wedlock isn’t evidence of loose morals. It’s a personal decision.”
“May I ask how far along Nora is in her pregnancy?” my grandmother inquires.
“Six weeks.”
She nods, keeping her shoulders square.
“There are…options,” Dalton says after a beat.
“Options?”
“We can still fix this situation.”
“Fix?” I struggle to say, knowing all too well what he’s suggesting.
“It’s still early on in the pregnancy. There’s still time to…” He waves a hand, “make it go away. I believe that’s better for all involved, given the referendum vote.”
It takes every ounce of self-control I have to not fly across this table and land a hard blow to his face. I find it ironic they’ll forbid me from marrying Nora if she’s already given birth to my child, but they’ll sit here and suggest I do something unthinkable.
Hypocrisy at its finest.
“It doesn’t help you haven’t been in the picture much lately, sir,” he continues. “People are already concerned about your…condition.”
“Condition?”
“Yes. They remember how quickly your mother died from MS—”
“That was because she didn’t get the help she needed and took her own life, a detail you’ve all conveniently kept out of the media.”
“Nevertheless, all that matters right now is that the monarchy is in jeopardy. The referendum didn’t have much support until you broke protocol and granted an interview to some American magazine. Now, all the people of this country see are the king approaching retirement age and an heir who may not be able to fulfill his obligations. So you need to do everything possible to re-instill their confidence in you. Based on early polling, this leaked engagement…to an American, no less…certainly isn’t doing that.”