“I love you,” he says against my skin. “I want to have babies with you.”
As we lie beside each other, spent and awash in sweat, I thank my lucky stars once again for allowing me to love and be loved by this splendid, wonderful man.
We are happy.
Almost too happy.
*
I counted my blessings too soon.
The interview played like a dream in every news channel in the world. It went viral on YouTube, just as Madame Fournier predicted. Moldavia is suddenly on the world map. Tour bookings shoot to the roof. Hotels are overbooked.
Things have never been better.
Exactly two weeks after our announcement to the press, the Archbishop of Moldavia – the very one who conducted the old King’s funeral service – declared on front page headlines:
“I WILL NOT SANCTION KING ALEXANDER’S MARRIAGE.”
8
“He will not sanction our marriage? What does it mean?” I say anxiously.
I expect Alex to laugh it off. To say, “Oh, it means nothing. Just an old man having his usual indigestion.”
But he doesn’t.
His brow is furrowed. He hesitates for a while, and then he says slowly, “There is an old Moldavian law that harkens back to the sixteenth century.”
I have been reading up on Moldavian history but I am in no way as adept in it as Alex.
I say, “Back to King Philip II?”
“Yes. The Philanderer King. He wanted to cast aside his first wife, Celeste, to marry the daughter of a count. But Celeste was a princess of Spain, and the Spanish King was furious that his daughter was to be treated such.”
My heart sinks. I believe I know where this story is heading.
Alex’s features are pained. “Because Spain was rooted in the Inquisition and such, they wielded great power over the Moldavian church. The Archbishop was swayed to the Spanish cause. If King Phillip had cast Celeste aside, Spain would have gone to war with Moldavia, and there would have been no Moldavia.
“Philip finally saw reason. The Church then decreed that all royal marriages must be sanctioned by them for the greater good of Moldavia. Much chastised, Philip passed the law. It has never been revoked.”
Just when I thought we were going to be so happy . . .
There’s a roaring in my ears. I knew it. Alex and I are never, ever destined to be together.
I find my voice, broken as it is. “Wh-what happened to Philip and the count’s daughter?”
“Philip took her as his mistress against Celeste’s wishes. They had many children together. But no, they never formally married.”
Is that to be my fate?
Alex’s shoulders are tense. He seizes my arms. “Liz, listen to me. I won’t let a stupid obscure law made in the sixteenth fucking century to make me rescind my proposal to you.”
“But how? I don’t want you to go against the church.”
“If that’s what I have to do, I’ll do it.”
This is all going wrong, wrong, wrong. It’s a big step to go against the head of the church, even if you’re King. Tatiana was right. None of this would have happened if Alex just toed the line and married her instead, as intended. Now everyone is in a conspiracy against us. There’s much, much more at stake than them merely not wanting Alex to marry a former hotel maid.
Alex says grimly, “I’ll get it sorted out. I’ll have to see the Archbishop.”
I bite my lower lip. “Are you close to him?”
“Uh, no. He never liked me much. He’s Marie’s godfather. He thinks she would make a much better monarch than I ever would.”
Oh.
Alex clasps my shoulders. “Let me take care of it, Liz.”
He hugs me.
I let myself be hugged.
9
I wait anxiously for Alex to return from his meeting with the Archbishop. The TV is on. The newscaster is speaking in French, but I am able to grasp the proceedings now.
The scene on the TV is one of marching protest. University students have taken to the streets against the Archbishop’s declaration.
The newscaster, a dignified man in his fifties, says, “The streets of Moldavia have been turned into mayhem as protestors burn effigies of the Archbishop. King Alexander Vassar and Elizabeth Turner are exceedingly popular with the young people.”
Cut scene to a student protestor being interviewed.
She says into the microphone: “It’s stupid. The Archbishop says he won’t sanction Alexander’s marriage to a common American and the only reason he gives is that it goes against what the old King would have wanted. Come on. I mean no disrespect, but the man is dead! Alexander has to move on. Has the Archbishop even met Elizabeth Turner?”#p#分页标题#e#