The Wrong Prince Read Free Page A

immediately lowered her gaze. Her heart skidded. What was she was playing at? If she caught his eye, what would it accomplish? Cause the prince to simply hate her more? Or tempt them both to perpetuate an affair that would only become more dangerous, the closer she approached her wedding day?
    At last, the guests hushed as the announcer stood to his stocky feet at the onset of the dessert course. A pair of sisters across from Lucie gripped hands beneath the tablecloth. The announcer launched into a grand preamble on the significance of the event, the impending moment about to sweep the land of Tybiria and change one woman’s destiny forever.
    Lucie plunked a grape into her wine, muttering, “Oh, get on with it.” Her father shot her a startled look.
    “And now, Her Royal Majesty, our beloved Queen Emaxandra, shall come forth to reveal the identity of her lawful daughter-to-be.”
    The lawn fell silent as the Queen of Tybiria, Lady Emaxandra Straussen, made her graceful way to the front of the gathering. Everyone stood and bowed. She graciously entreated them to resume their seats, and Lucie sat, stealing another glimpse at the head table. Geo remained standing among the knights, watching his mother with polite interest.
    Lucie’s eyes then panned over to the Crown Prince Dmitri. She pursed her lips. Even for a ceremony of this gravity, the man could not remove his clunky spectacles? Surely, someone needed to inform the poor fellow how awkward and unbecoming they appeared on him. She surveyed him a moment more, registering the anticipation in his magnified blue eyes and the anxious gulp of his Adam’s apple, before returning her focus to the queen.
    “What a splendid tradition to celebrate with you this evening.” The regal woman smiled. “I daresay, it recalls to me the king’s own Reveal Banquet, when I was chosen among my peers.”
    Several seats down, a girl clutched her mother’s arm. The ladies behind Lucie appeared to be praying.
    “And so, with great joy, I announce the engagement of my eldest son,” the queen drew a breath, and her audience held theirs, “to Miss Luccia Camerlane of Backshore.”
    Silence.
    Lucie blinked, staring at the untouched petit-fours on her porcelain plate. A symphony of applause built among the guests. The lanterns around her blurred, while the clapping sounded brassy and distant, as though reaching her ears from the opposite end of a tunnel. In disbelief, she looked up at her father.
    “Go on,” he grinned.
    Unsteady, Lucie rose, wondering how she would manage to walk while her legs felt like the contents of a jar of preserves. She tried not to notice the defeated frowns of the other girls, their perfunctory clapping, even the few who’d burst into tears. She felt like a fading star, shuttling aimlessly through space, with every reluctant step toward the queen, who awaited her with outstretched arms. At last, Lucie approached the woman, her breath gone from her lungs the moment they embraced.
    Was this really happening? Why had she been chosen? Lucie hadn’t considered herself fit for the younger prince, no less the elder. A baron was the lowest rung of nobility. It wasn’t as if her dowry or standing could contribute anything of value to the Straussens.
    Over the queen’s brocaded shoulder, Lucie cast one impulsive, terrified glance at the head table. This time, her eyes connected with Geo. With a look of utter devastation and disgust, the man clenched his chin and gave a single, hardly perceptible shake of his ashen head.
    Lucie’s heart plummeted. Why, she’d led him to believe that she had been regularly intimate with her betrothed behind his back. The prince thought she’d betrayed him with his own brother!
    The queen planted a soft kiss on her brow. “Congratulations, Luccia. Welcome to our family.”
    The young woman felt ill, the meal and wine she’d just consumed threatening to resurface. Desperate, she turned again to the head table. But Geo was gone.

GEO