Pregnant! By the Prince (7 page)

"You can't be serious. Rubbing salt in the wound?"

"Not my intentions at all. I just think you would love the festival."

Something was askew about the situation.

"There you are, Bea!" Rebecca's voice. I quickly used my hand to wipe any remnant of tears away as I turned to face her.

She was with Jess, the other friend I was traveling with. "Um, hey guys." I said, nervously.

"Who's this with you?" Jess approached Leon. "Got a beefcake here, Bea."

"Good day to you girls. I'm Crown Prince Leon Triskov, heir to the Dolotovyan throne." He shook their hands, being as gentlemanly as possible.

"Damn, Bea," Jess commented, looking him over than putting a hand on my  shoulder. "How'd you manage to score with a guy like him?"

I glared at Rebecca.

"Sorry, it was too juicy!"

Leon straightened his tie and grinned. "Girls, how would you like to visit my palace? There is a huge festival soon to occur, and I think you all would enjoy it."

Jess and Rebecca looked at one another. "Well we did see the catacombs like we wanted," Jess said. "What else is there in Paris if no one is going to propose to us on top of the Eiffel Tower?"

"How about you, Beatrice?" Leon said. "It's an all or nothing offer. Come with me."

My friends were super excited - both of them had a strong appetite for adventure. They would never forgive me if I denied them this. Sometimes friendship was about making sacrifices, though.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes.

"Sure," I said, gritting my teeth at Leon. "Let's totally do that."

"Come then. My driver will pick you up in an hour, and take you to my private jet."

"Wait," I spoke up. "You have a private jet?"

"Of course."

"Why couldn't you get me to Zurich in that in the first place? You told me you didn't have one."

He meekly grinned, embarrassed. He ran his hand through my hair, and cradled my neck, to look into my eyes. "I was selfish. I adore you, Beatrice. I wanted to have you completely - and for as long as I could. My apologies."

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to forgive him.

I didn't even know what I wanted any more.

-Chapter Eight-

The plane ride was terrible.

Sure, Rebecca and Jess had the time of their lives. Enjoying the free booze that no one carded them for. The exquisite Dolotovyan chefs that were on the plane with him - their first exposure to the cuisine were just like mine. Amazement.

Me, though, was something entirely.

I was angry, depressed, conflicted, and Leon knew it.

He conned me into coming with him to see his festival. Where his engagement would be announced.

Maybe he was a sadist of some sort, loving to screw with people's emotions. This was his way of twisting the knife about how foolish I was.

My friends weren't the one to talk to for support right now. They were swept up in the luxury - and they would have hated me if I didn't agree to come.

The whole trip passed and my shoulder remained cold.

He brought us to the palace, set us all up in nice rooms. Even Nadya remained pleasant enough. That - I didn't understand. Maybe it was true she only hated me for defiling her
nephew’s purity.

The first night back in Dolotovya. I laid on my back, staring outside - trying to find any logic to what he was doing.

"Beatrice," I heard his voice.

I turned to face him, not rising out of the bed. "What do you want?"

He took a few steps into my room. He was mostly dressed, but had only stripped himself of his suit's blazer. "I want to apologize about how I coerced you back here."

"It worked, didn't it? I get to see you officially announced that you're marrying someone else, and that your whole affair with me was just to get your jollies off."

He was silent.

I rose to sitting on my bed. "I thought it was only in sitcoms that guys would be so desperate for sex. You could have anyone in the country, regardless of the so called morality, yet you preyed on me when I was helpless." The venom in my voice started to gain traction. "You disgust me. I'm here for my friends to enjoy the day and nothing else. Get out of here and I'll just pretend nothing happened."

"Again, I apologize, Beatrice. I hope eventually you will forgive me for all of this. I wanted you - no, I needed you here." He smiled in spite of me raising my voice, and left me be as I asked.

Smiling of all things? He was a sociopath who didn't understand basic human emotions. That's what it was. I'd ask one of my psychology major friends when I got back to the states.

I turned and covered myself up, hoping I'd just sleep through this whole horrible endeavor.

The festival had begun. Floats were built - I didn't think such a humble country could pull off colorful cartoon characters and figures. I knew they had creativity from their paintings, but I didn't expect this.

It probably helped my amazement with not recognizing any of the characters. It was simply Dolotovyan culture, free from outside influence.

From the Palace though, wasn't just any float. It was a grand one with a stage, with a decorative throne atop of it.

"You three ladies will be riding on the main stage," Leon said, straightening his tie and making himself look as princely as possible.

Jess and Rebecca were so excited. I was the stick in the mud, unimpressed.

"I'll have some of my best seamstresses dress you appropriately. Ah, here they come now."

Through the palace's main doors, in came a few women, armed with kits and dresses underneath their arm. Smiles were on their face, and they approached us. They said something in Dolotovyan to the three of us.

"They want you to go with them, girls," Leon translated.

I sighed, and started to follow them as they walked off to the side room.

"Not you, Beatrice."

I turned to face him, an eyebrow raised. "What? You want to fully humiliate me by parading me around in a nightgown?"

"Not in the least."

The seamstresses and my friends were already gone - but another woman came down the palace stairs.

"I said I'd get some of my best seamstresses for them. You, Beatrice, will get the absolute best Dolotovya has to offer.

He spoke Dolotovyan to the new woman, and she gestured the opposite direction from me. I followed, raising a curious eyebrow at Leon. He simply nodded his head.

Into a separate room, she pulled at the nightgown, commanding me to take it off.

I blushed a bit, but figured it was necessary. She can't fit me for a dress over a nightgown.

The door was closed, and I threw it off, leaving me alone in my JC Penney panties. I blushed, but she was a professional.

She looked me up and down, rubbing her chin. Her eyes stopped at my belly.

I still couldn't understand her, but there was joy in her voice as she rubbed me. She was celebrating something I had been dreading. It had been months, after all, since that encounter.

The seamstress then grabbed a piece of the fabric and got to work.

I emerged from the room in my new gown, looking down at the floor.

"Beatrice, you look stunning, sexy, and - there simply aren't enough words in any language to describe you."

"Complimenting someone when you're about to engaged to someone else seems a bit shady."

"I cannot deny a truth in front of me. Dressed in blue, the color Dolotovya believes is linked to femininity and fertility. There is no better color for you."

The seamstress gave me a sequined gown. It went past my shoulders with beautiful fabric, stopping just above my elbow.

It modestly presented my breasts, enough for a man to imagine. From there though, the dress got very loose.

I had to fight for her to do that. She wanted to parade the discovery, giving me a form fitting piece. I shook my head and yelled enough for her to understand, even through the trouble of a language barrier.

Jess and Rebecca emerged from the other end. Their dresses were both white, almost twinned in design. It looked good on them, but before I could say anything they beat me to it.

"Damn, Bea. I'm totally jealous. Can we switch?"

"If it gets Bea naked in front of me, I feel it is worthy to see how other dresses look on her. I'm sure though, she'd be beautiful no matter what you put her in." Leon raised an eyebrow.

"No," I said firmly. I called him nasty things, but I found myself fighting myself not to laugh and being swept up in his charm.

Why couldn't love be easy?

-Chapter Nine-

Vibrancy surrounded me. The Dolotovyan people all gathered around the streets to watch the parade. At the train's flank, was of course, the Prince.

My friends and I were on his stage with him - seated away so we wouldn't be distracting from the importance of the Prince and the soon to be official fiance. Rebecca and Jess were having so much fun with this - taking in the sights and the temporary stardom they enjoyed from being so close to a monarch.

I envied them. I too wanted the joy of ignorance. Instead, I had to be the close to the man who had broken my heart, and had a strange infatuation with stomping on it too.

Also on the float was Nadya, sitting quietly, smiling - and someone I dreaded seeing.

It had to be her, Delia Barlec. She had all the features of the Dolotovyan women.

She was beautiful. Long dark hair, ice cold blue eyes, a charming smile and perfect teeth. There was no longer any wonder in me to why I was a one time thing and Leon was going to be with her for the rest of his life.

The woman watched him with intent - and was front and center on the float. The way the people on the street were pointing at her and the prince, well, that was gossip. I knew it all too well. The engagement was a mere formality, the people had been talking about it for awhile.

Music continued to blare, but I tucked my head down, and stared at the stage. I just wanted this to be over. I wanted to go home, to my old worn out bed and cry myself to sleep until I forgot that this country existed.

The horizon presented itself, we were almost at the city limits of the capital. The stage stopped, and carefully turned around.

Hordes of people filled into the streets, treating the prince's float like the stage it was.

There was one other person on the float. A bald man who I had never seen before. I wondered what his purpose was, if anything. I didn't have to wonder for long.

"Friends, countrymen, gather around!" Leon declared in English, of all languages.

The bald man was to his right side, and shouted words I couldn't understand.

He was an interpreter.

Leon was a master of many tongues, why did he need an interpreter to talk to his own people?

"Today, we gather to form a bond that will lead our country into the future. The crown of Dolotovya has long done well by its people, and when it finally passes to my head, I promise I will continue to serve - and better this country in ever way possible."

The interpreter kept talking. The crowd seemed sort of confused on why the speech was being done like this.

Leon continued. "Of course, a King never rules alone. The tradition of Diye has been what has kept the nation strong. He must have proof he cares for others but himself. The first step, of course, is for a prince to choose a princess."

He turned to the back of the float, his eyes scanning over it.

For a brief moment, Leon's eyes rested on me, that slight grin I loved on his face.

The slight grin I loathed.

The scan continued to who was clearly his princess to be.

"It is Dolotovyan tradition," he said, "for the crown prince to announce his engagement publicly, so that the whole country can know of his love. Love, of course, is what Dolotovya believes in - what makes us strong. Love for our fellow man, in generosity and charity."

What the hell did he know about love? I struggled to listen quietly instead of standing up and shouting in anger.

"Love to the one who means most to us, to give us the courage and guidance to do the right thing. Love is so powerful, that a member of the royal family is encouraged to marry as such, instead of for shallow political gain."

Just a politician, I told myself. Empty platitudes, when he's about to marry a parliament member's daughter. Lots of politics in that, I'm sure - and he conveniently left out the must be a Dolotovyan citizen to the statement.

"That is why, today, I am to declare my love, and ask my woman to be my wife, my partner, my princess - and soon my queen." Leon walked toward the back of the float toward pretty soon to be princess.