I could still feel the slight sting on my cheek from where Bryce Koch had slapped me in front of the media. I smiled to myself again at the angry look in her eyes.
That was going to piss off the cabinet. I didn't much care, though. They were a bunch of stuffed coats playing political games with each other. I was the king now, and I didn't have to stoop down to their shitty level.
That American girl was the first person since I took the crown who had actually stood up to me. That meant she actually had a spine, and there was nothing I wanted more in a woman than fire and strength.
Bryce Koch seemed to have both in spades.
"No," I said to the Foreign Affairs Minister Richter Johansson. "Leave the girl alone. I deserved it, actually."
"What did you say to her?"
I shrugged. "Just mentioned my desire to get to know her better."
"I'm sure." Richter's pursed lips screamed disapproval, but that was fine. I was used to disappointing the members of the royal cabinet, the powerful lords and ladies who helped run the government of Starkland.
Lynette Muller, the public affairs minister, shook her head. "This is going to look bad, Your Highness."
I winced. "Stop calling me that. My name is Trip."
She shrugged. "Very well, Trip. With the separatists in the south gaining ground since your father passed, we can't afford for you to look weak."
"Then do something about that." I shrugged. "Leave the girl alone. She's a guest here."
"Very well."
I liked Lynette, though she could wear on my patience with her strict etiquette. She was middle aged, blond, and thin. The other members of the cabinet called her the Pig Charmer behind her back, because she spent all her time trying to win over the public.
The other ministers could be a bunch of out-of-touch, aristocratic shit heels.
"Minister Muller has a point, Your Highness," Richter said. I gave him a look and he frowned. "Okay, Trip. The rebels are gaining some support, although slowly. We can't afford for you to look weak."
I stared the man down and leaned forward. "I'm many things, Richter, but I am not weak."
"We know that, Trip, but the people need to know it."
"Fuck them," I said, looking out the window, "and especially fuck the separatists."
The separatists, or the Democratic Legion of Revolutionaries, were a huge pain in my ass. They began as a movement that wanted more democracy in Starkland and had bloomed into a full-on revolt when my father passed away two years ago.
None of this was meant for me, I thought for the hundredth time. If Leo hadn't been so desperate for military glory, I'd still be living the life of a high-ranking minister. I wouldn't have the responsibility of the entire nation resting squarely on my shoulders. That sort of responsibility was meant for my older brother, Leopold. He'd been born and bred for it, whereas I was never expected to amount to much.
Which suited me just fine. Starkland was a beautiful country full of beautiful women, and it was my pleasure to meet as many of them as I possibly could.
I'd met a lot in my time, right up until Leo died two months ago and the crown passed to me. Ever since then I was learning my new job and didn't have time for the pleasures of my old life.
Frankly, I hadn't so much as looked at a woman that way until Bryce Koch showed up. I couldn't help but smirk at her the second she stepped off that plane. She was a few years younger than me, twenty-one, with long dark hair tied up in a thick bun. Her lips were full and her green eyes instantly took in everything around her. I loved the way her soft, pale skin looked underneath her dark clothing, and I wanted so badly to slowly strip her bare until I could see and taste every inch of her.
Which was why I couldn't help myself. Normally I'd be polite to visiting guests, but she was just too delicious. I had to say something, just to test her.
And she passed that test with flying colors. She passed that test so well, the entire country was going to be talking about her for some time to come.
It was a shame that she didn't know why she was really visiting Starkland. If Lynette had actually told the Kochs from the start, I doubted she would have been so shocked by my comment. Actually, they probably wouldn't have come at all.
There were two big problems every king must face. The first problem was that of popularity. Even though a King had absolute authority, his ability to effectively rule could be seriously hampered if his popularity among his subjects was very low. The people's opinion mattered, which was something I was coming to realize and respect more and more.
The second issue was that of succession. In Starkland, we did not have queens. Only men could truly rule. It was antiquated and out of date, but it was the way things worked, and it had worked for thousands of years. At this point in Starkland's history, we weren't going to be changing the rules of succession.
However, those rules could be a huge problem. If a king didn't have a male heir to pass the crown down to, succession could get tricky. In the case of my brother, I was the clear successor since he didn't have a son. But if I were to get killed, the country would be in anarchy.
And so Lynette had found the Koch family. They happened to solve both of my problems in one neat, sexy little package named Bryce.
Five hundred years ago or something like that, Bryce's family had ruled Starkland. When the King died without a clear male heir, there was some major political battle for who would take over the throne. Eventually my family won out and Bryce's family was tossed out of the country.
They had been popular, though, and there was still a positive, lingering sentimental feeling about Bryce's ancient royal forebears.
And, of course, Bryce was a woman. She was capable of having children.
Lynette's plan was simple. We invite the Kochs out here and then we offer them a deal. If Bryce agreed to marry me, we'd set them up for life. They'd never have to worry about a thing ever again. We'd bring them into the aristocracy and all of their wants would be taken care of.
A pretty damn good deal, if you asked me. All Bryce needed to do was marry me, and then I could get the benefits of her ancient family lineage plus the potential to put a male heir in her stomach.
It all seemed so simple when we first talked about it. I wasn't much interested in marrying a strange girl, but my control of the country needed a boost, and I couldn't deny that a male heir would help a whole ton. I was willing to give it a shot, at least.
It seemed easy, right up until Bryce slapped me across the face.
I looked out the window at the city rolling by. It was my city, my favorite place in the world. I used to live in an apartment right downtown, and I could walk around the place just like anyone else. As it turned out, being the younger brother of the true heir meant nobody really cared much about me, which was just what I wanted.
But now I was stuck in the castle, away from the city and the people I loved. Ruling was boring, but it was important. I wished I could go back to my old ways, but the country needed me. They needed me to step up and rule them as well as I possibly could.
I didn't need a distraction. In fact, my advisors had been working very hard to get rid of distractions.
But as soon as that girl hit me in the face, I knew she was going to take a lot of my attention. I was already hard just thinking about all the attention I wanted to give her.
I was King Christophe Werner von Brunhild the Third, Prince of the Lowlands, King of Starkland, and I was going to marry that fiery American Bryce Koch and get her pregnant if it was the last thing I did.
BRYCE
I'd never been in a castle before. Americans didn't have castles. There wasn't the kind of history in America that there was in Europe. There just wasn't anything that old.
But this Starklandian castle was gorgeous. It looked like something out of an internet search for "perfect euro castles." It was all high stone walls and tall spires jutting up into the air. The city had clearly grown up around the castle, sprawling out away from it. Modernity met the ancient right in the heart of the city.
As far as I could tell from the car, that was the best description of Starkland possible. The modern world and the ancient world pressed up against each other everywhere I looked, from old-looking fountains to a high-speed rail line. Electricity and cable lines twisted through the air right next to two-hundred-year-old, Victorian-era streetlamps. The buildings were a mix of old and new construction with seemingly nothing to separate it.
Stehen was a city of juxtapositions and mixtures. It was a hybrid city, where the old met the new and created something absolutely beautiful.
I was already enamored with Starkland when we finally pulled up inside the castle's courtyard, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw next.
I thought I understood what a castle would be like. I'd seen movies and TV shows, and I figured I had a good idea. But as we walked into the main building, I realized I was absolutely wrong.