Royal Rock:A Bad Boy Royal Romance(2)

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.