The King's Innocent Bride Read online

  The King’s Innocent Bride

  Alexa Riley

  Contents

  The King’s Innocent Bride

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  His Princess

  Chapter 1

  Also by Alexa Riley

  Stalk the Author

  Copyright © 2018 by Author Alexa Riley LLC. All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email to [email protected]

  http://alexariley.com/

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Edited by Aquila Editing

  The King’s Innocent Bride

  by Alexa Riley

  Kate was forced to live with her uncle when she was little and was kept locked away. Then one night she found out her uncle was going to use her as collateral in a bet, and she knew she had to break free. But when she did, she never imagined she’d run straight into trouble with the king.

  James is ruler of all that’s around him, and he has to keep the peace in his kingdom. When a trespasser is brought before him, he isn’t prepared for what happens next. He’s ready to stake his claim and take what he wants. He’s the king, after all.

  Warning: This obsessive ruler is just what the palace ordered! Grab your tiara and get ready to celebrate the Royal Wedding with some fluffy, fun insta-love.

  To Harry and Meghan…

  we can’t wait!

  Chapter One

  Kate

  “Move, boy!” The guard shoves my back, pushing me forward. I stumble into my Uncle Jack, who stops me from falling to the hard concrete floor. His hands tighten on me for a moment. I look up into his dark eyes and know he’s telling me to keep my mouth shut. He pushes me back away from him. I stagger but find my footing.

  “Move!” the guard barks again. I drop my head down, wanting to keep my face shielded as much as possible. My gaze falls to the floor, and I let the hood I’m wearing mask even more of my face. I’m thankful that I have it on to begin with. I’d taken it to not only keep me warm but to also hide that I’m a girl. That seems to be working so far. They keep calling me boy and I haven't corrected them. The only problem is that it’s heavy and almost two times bigger than me. I keep tripping over it. I hadn't counted on needing to run. I thought I’d be sneaking away slowly in the night. Thinking I had hours to make my escape from my uncle's house.

  I’d been wrong. He found me missing within minutes. He had to have been checking on me. I wonder how often he did that without me knowing. Why he came at such a late hour, I have no idea. But he had. When he came flying out of the house screaming my name, I’d run as fast as I could. It wasn't fast enough. Not only had he caught me, but I’d made a grave mistake, one we were both about to pay the price for. I’d gotten lost when I’d run and somehow stumbled onto the king’s land. We both were picked up for trespassing by five armed guards. I knew I should have stuck to the road, but I was sure I would get caught by him faster if he was looking for me. It was clear it hadn't mattered. My uncle wasn't going to let me go without a fight. I belong to him. I’m his property.

  He’s ingrained that into my head over and over. He has the right to do with me whatever he likes. I should be thankful to him for how good I have it with him. Things could be worse.

  Let’s not forget the minor assault I’d committed. I might have punched one of the guards when he grabbed me. That ended with me getting a hard backhand. My cheek is still throbbing. Along with my hand. I reach up and touch my face, wincing when I make contact with it. My uncle tried to argue with the guard to let us go. He told him I was his child and he was just chasing after me. Our hands had been bound in front of us and we were loaded into the back of some large vehicle that didn't have a top on it.

  I’m not sure what I want, to be honest. I don’t know which of the two would be a better choice for me—a cell or a place back in my uncle’s home. I hated it there. I hated it from the moment I was forced to move there after my grandmother passed. She raised me since I was a little girl. I never knew my parents and only ever heard of an uncle. Then five years ago I was sent to him. Sent to what felt like a whole new world. It might have only been another country, but everything I knew about my whole life was gone.

  I was left with a man who seemed to hate me for no real reason at all. To him I was free labor. I’d been counting down the days until my eighteenth birthday. Where I grew up, you became an adult when you turned eighteen. I’d assumed the same was true here. I could be wrong.

  But I’d been hoping that was true and that I could finally be free of him. Where I’d go I had no idea. He never let me far from home. I was isolated. Then last week during one of his weekly drunken poker games he has at the house I heard my name come up.

  He gambled me in his bet. He won. I’d never been so thankful for being with my uncle than in that moment. Better the devil you know, I’d thought. But I also knew I had to get out of there because he might not win next time. I’d seen the way the men that came to his games looked at me. I’d even seen my uncle’s eyes roam over me a few times.

  So last night at midnight when I turned eighteen, I ran. Apparently, I’d run the wrong way. Not only had I dropped my bag with everything I owned, I ran right into a bunch of the king’s guards. Now it looked like I would be going to jail. Maybe that would be better than going back to my uncle’s. It would certainly be better than being given away like a piece of property. That couldn't be legal. Right? One would think, but I honestly didn't know. It’s not like my uncle sent me to school. The only people who even knew I was there anymore were the people who came to the house, his friends. He referred to me as the housekeeper to them.

  My uncle grabs my arm, pulling me into his side as we start to move down the long hallway from the cell we’d been sitting in all night. “Keep your mouth shut and do as you’re told,” he grits out at me for the twentieth time now.

  I also don’t think he wants anyone else to know I’m a girl either for some reason. I only went along with it at first out of habit, like I do when my uncle has people over. Most people thought I was a boy when they came around. Only a few of his friends really knew. Then once I got tossed into the cell with more men, I decided it was best to keep the act going. I also didn't want to feel the wrath of my uncle. He’s only struck me a few times, but it isn't something I want to feel again, less so after already taking one backhand to the face already today.

  I don’t respond, just keep walking next to him with my head down. A lock of my hair falls forward. I quickly tuck it back with shaking hands. The hold he has on my arm tightens. “Okay,” I whisper, jerking my arm from his grasp. I know he can’t reprimand me here in front of the guards. At least I don’t think he will. He releases my arm, and I try to step away from him, only to bump into anoth
er guard.

  “Watch it, boy,” he grunts, giving me a small push away from him. I stumble again, but this time I find my footing. All the guards are wearing all black with weapons strapped to their hips. I thought my uncle was a normal-sized man, but these men make him look small. I’m even smaller. It’s easy to see why they think I’m only a small boy with the hood over my head.

  I take a deep breath, trying to calm my breathing and come up with a plan, but I don’t see one. It’s not like I could outrun anyone. I was lucky to have made it as far as it did to begin with. My plan had been stupid, but I didn't feel like I had a choice.

  Maybe I can find reason with the king. All I know about him are the things my uncle and his friends said about him. I don't know much else. Heck, I didn't even know that I’d ventured onto his protected land. I don’t know what the rules and laws are when it comes to these kinds of things. I’ve been so isolated since I moved here to be with my uncle, thousands of miles away from the only home I’d ever known out on a small farm.

  The things they said about him weren't great. He’s cruel and unfair, they said. If my uncle thinks him cruel and unfair it couldn’t be good. My uncle is also cruel and unfair. If he doesn't see those traits in himself but recognizes them in someone else, theirs must be tenfold.

  I glance up to see two huge concrete doors swing open. Bright light spills into the gray, cold hallway. I have to close my eyes for a moment for them to adjust to the light. Stepping out into the bright sunny day seems wrong. It feels like it should be rainy or storming, not bright and sunny with the sound of birds chirping in the distance.

  “In.” The guard motions us towards a white van parked a few yards away. I follow my uncle in and sit down next to him. I don’t look back up until the van starts to move. I wonder where they are taking us. I overheard one of them saying the king wanted to see us. That seems a little extreme for trespassing, but maybe as it’s his land, the punishment will be more severe.

  I try to look on the bright side so the worry that is settling in my stomach doesn't take over. At least then when I do my time I can go free. Maybe make my way back to the small town I grew up in. And not because I long for that place, but because it’s all I knew before I came here. There I knew some kind of happiness. All that died with my grandmother.

  I watch the lush green hills pass for miles on end. I keep my bound hands locked together. My breath catches as a giant stone castle comes into view. It sits imposingly on the hill and looks like it’s been plucked right out of a fairy tale. It reminds me of one in a story my grandma used to read to me as a young girl.

  Beautiful pink rose bushes line the stone driveway up to the font. I can’t pull my eyes away from how perfect it looks. It almost doesn't look real. When the van door opens, I step out without being asked. I want to take a close look. Guards stand along the stairs that lead up to two enormous doors that have to be over thirty feet tall. They are standing wide open, and like an invisible thread is pulling me, I start to walk up the stairs. One of the guards follows in step beside me. When I get to the doors, I pause for a moment when my feet hit white marble swirled with gold traces. My feet move again, the thread pulling me close to something.

  I raise my head a little and still when my eyes alight on a throne in front of me. A man is sitting it in, his imposing frame dominating the room. There is really a king. I’d heard people talk about him before but, for some reason, like the castle it hadn't felt real. I don't come from a land of kings and queens. The closest I’d ever gotten was pretending to be a princess when I was a little girl.

  Even from this far away, I can tell he’s big. Even bigger than the guards. It’s almost comical, guarding a man who is so much larger than them.

  “Move,” the guard barks, pushing me forward. This time I’m not so lucky. My feet tangle in the long cloak I have on and I fall forward. I feel the guard’s hand lock around my arm, pulling me back to my feet in one quick movement. I scream out in pain at the hard jerk. My hood falls back and my hair comes undone, falling all around me as I get to my feet. The guard quickly releases me.

  “It's a girl?” He says it like a question.

  The room falls silent.

  Chapter Two

  James

  “Why are we here?” John, my main guard and best friend since I could walk, asks me. He looks as bored as I feel right now. I shrug. “Liar,” he throws back at me, cocking a smile.

  We both know why I’m here. It’s an excuse to get out of breakfast with my mom—a breakfast that I knew would once again involve her pushing me to find a bride. At the last breakfast she invited me to, she’d also invited three woman in hopes that I would fall madly in love on the spot. Now it seems like every time I see her she has some single woman with her, and avoiding my mom has become a game of chess.

  Falling in love on the spot is the fucking stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of, but I keep that thought to myself. I don’t want to hurt my mom's feelings.

  I love my mom and tried to smile though breakfast, keeping my manners in check as best I could, but things got heated when the women realized my mom had invited them each with the hopes that I would fall in love with one of them. Some men might get off on three women fighting over them. It just gave me a fucking headache.

  I hadn't cared for any of them. I’d later made the mistake of telling my mom I was thinking of asking someone out already. That’s why I ended up leaving so abruptly. It was a lie, but I was hoping it would get her off my back for a little. I was dead wrong. Now she calls me every day trying to find out who this mystery woman was. My plan is biting me in my own ass. She’s even been trying to get it out of John, asking him who the object of my “secret crush” is. He has no idea. Because there isn’t anyone.

  This morning I’d jumped all over canceling breakfast with her when I’d gotten word that someone had been trespassing near the castle’s south wall. Normally I would have let someone else handle it, but I used the excuse to get out of breakfast.

  Now here we are waiting for the man and young boy who committed the crime. I’ve already been told it was nothing major. The man was only chasing after his son, who was trying to run away. Still it had piqued my interest a little and now I want to know why the boy had been running away to begin with.

  “Can’t you pick a bride already?” John sighs, almost too dramatically. He’s just as annoyed about the whole thing as I am. He got married a few months back and his wife has been pestering him about it, too. Something about double dates and so on, another thing I have no interest in. I have a country to run. Seeing some of the changes in John over the past few months after finding his wife, however, has made me long for something more than work every day. I know they’re trying for a baby. I’ve never given much thought to having children before.

  Women don't interest me. Maybe that’s why I haven’t given it much thought over the years. Not since my dad warned me to keep an eye out for women who are only after a title and a comfortable rich life. I don't want that. If I’m ever to get married, I want what my parents had. My dad told me I’d know the moment I laid eyes on her. That’s how it happened for everyone in our family. I find it hard to believe that the great men who have run this country so perfectly believe in fairy tales, but they did and they do. My dad spoke about it with conviction. I knew he believed it. I only nodded along, not wanting to tell him I didn't believe in things like that and that no one has ever caught my eye, let alone made we want to spend the rest of my life with them.

  My eyes are drawn to a furor near the doors, making me sitting up a little straighter. The small figure moves closer and I wonder if that’s the child they spoke about. It’s hard to tell with the hood engulfing his body. I notice people behind him, but for some reason my eyes stay glued to the small figure getting closer to me. It’s like I’m in a trance.

  I grit my teeth as the guard pushes the hooded figure, toppling him. I stand, my anger growing by the second as the guard pulls him to his feet. I freeze when long,
rich, dark locks of hair come tumbling out in a wild mess. Big wide blue eyes with the thickest, longest eyelashes I’ve ever seen stare back at me, almost doe-like as the guard holds on to what is most definitely not a boy but a girl.

  “It’s a girl,” the guard bellows, as shocked as the rest of us. Silence fills the room and no one is sure what to say.

  My eyes go to where the guard’s hand is locked around her arm. Her wrists are bound with plastic zip-ties. My vision hazes over with red when I see the small mark on the young girl’s cheek, as if someone backhanded her across the face. Her bottom lip wobbles as if she is about to cry, and the sight is like a sledgehammer to my heart.

  How could someone hit a precious creature like her. Not only has someone hit this beauty, but I know they have struck the face of their future queen, and for that someone will have to pay for dearly. Being this close to her now, there is no way anyone should have mistaken her for a boy, especially if they were close enough to her to strike her.

  “Release her,” I growl, every cell in my body vibrating. The guard does as I command a little too quickly, catching the young girl off guard because she stumbles once again, only this time I’m in front of her almost instantly, catching her and bringing her to my chest.

  The smell of sweet roses fills my lungs as her soft body melts into mine. Fuck, she’s small. Even smaller than I first thought. No wonder everyone thought she was but a small boy when she had the hood masking her face. I have to fight myself from burying my nose in her hair and finding out where that smell is coming from, to keep my hands from roaming all over her to see how tiny she really is, to make sure there are no other marks on her body that I’ll need to exact revenge for.