Page 82 of The Stallion & The Tigress
“I can, I will, and I have.”
“But, he’s a bastard,” she screeched.
His father smiled at Aleksi, who still wasnot certain he had heard him right.“Aleksandr is my son, and I maynot have been married to his mother, but I loved her, and she lovedme.”
Aleksi sat back.It was the first time hisfather had ever even mentioned his mother.Somehow, hearing that hewas born of love, not mere lust, mended another small part of thehole in his heart where he had buried his mother.
“And,” his father said as he slowly turnedback around to face Anastasia, “he is the only person in myimmediate family who has acted, as Princess Sahar so succinctly putit, in an honorable and princely manner.”He pivoted back toAleksi, who sat taller with his father’s praise.“Even as a stableboy, he always made me proud, and will make me more so as a goodand honorable king.”
“King Asad,” Anastasia whined.“How can yousit there and allow this travesty?Surely you can see that myfather has been touched in the head by his illness?”
“I see a man who loves his son, and a son whohas earned that love and more,” King Asad told her.“I see a king,a good king, whose entire family, but for this son, has conspiredagainst him, have tried to murder him, not for the sake of hiskingdom, but for their own vanity and greed.”He gave her awithering glare.“In truth, when he asked for my opinion on this, Iencouraged him to name Aleksandr successor to his throne.”
Aleksi sat speechless, unable to do more thannod his appreciation to King Asad, who dipped his head inacknowledgment.
Anastasia stood, her face the samepomegranate hue of her gown.“I do not have to stand for this,” sheshrilled.“My mother, your counselors, they will never allow thisaberration.”
“Your mother and her co-conspirators arealready prisoners in my palace,” their father told her.“I sentword back to my chief counselor days before I arrived here.”
“Well, I, you…”
“You and your mother have lost your palacecoup.”Queen Oona spoke for the first time, her voice as calm andserene as her face, and no less forbidding because of it.“Isuggest you take your father’s more than generous offer of exileand pack yourself and your prince off to his city, before hisfamily hears of your disgrace and disallows your marriage.”
Aleksi couldn’t help but grin as Anastasiahuffed out of the chambers, blowing hot air from her cheeks as shewaited impatiently for Brawn to slide open the bolt.Once she wasgone, Brawn stood sentry at the door and Aleksi’s father stoodbefore him.
“Do you accept my offer, my son?Will youreturn to our home as my heir and successor to be trained in theart and politics of ruling a kingdom?”
Aleksi glanced at Sahar, who sat beaming athim.She’d been right about his father, and equally right abouthim.He was a stubborn, arrogant ass.But she’d also called himgood, honorable, and princely.He vowed then and there to prove herright.To prove his father right in choosing him.His heartache ofregret was that Sahar had not chosen him to be her husband.Thatshe would not be his queen.
He stood and clasped his father’s forearm.“Iaccept, Father,” he said.“My only condition is that I remain hereuntil the matter of a war is settled between King Asad and KingOx.”
His father clasped his arm tighter.“Ofcourse, Aleksandr.A king must hold to his alliances.”
Sahar sat in bemusement as everyone in thechambers, including Brawn, stepped up to congratulate Aleksi andMaksimillian.She was glad for Aleksi.Thrilled, actually.Provenright in a way even she hadn’t dreamed of.As for herself, shewould never be more than a memory to him.She had lost her chanceof loving him, of him ever learning to love her.She had chased himaway and into the arms of Ursula, who had been smart enough toaccept his marriage proposal when he was nothing more than a king’sbastard to the world.
Ursula would make him a good wife, the wifehe wanted, a wife of strong body and easy temper, but she wouldnever love him as Sahar had, as Sahar did—this she knew down to hermarrow.She knew she loved him, and, she realized, she had almostfrom the moment she’d met him.Her pride and stubbornness had kepther from admitting her love, even to herself.
She’d been so set in her mind that love hadto be a certain way that she had been willfully blind when it cameto her as an arrogant, strutting stallion who teased her,challenged her, and called her his tigress.She dared not admit itto him now that he would be king.He would think his change infortune was the reason for her accepting him.
She was too late.He was betrothed toanother.
As if reading her thoughts, Aleksi turned toher, his head cocking slightly.She stood and walked across theroom to him with a shaky smile.“Congratulations, Aleksandr.”
“Thank you, princess.”
He dipped his head, and that shock ofsun-kissed hair fell over his forehead.She started to reach outand push it up, and then stopped her hand in midair.His brown eyesdarkened to earthy loam and he took her hand in his and kissed thebacks of her fingers.
“Thank you for what you said to my father,”he told her, still holding her hand in his.His big, strong handthat knew her body more intimately than she did.
“I spoke the truth,” she said, slowly pullingher hand from his.
He dropped his hand and flexed his fingers.“It gladdens me that you think so.”His voice was low andcaressing…and confusing.
“Ursula has chosen well for her husband,” shesaid.
He cocked his head.“Yes,” he agreed, andmanaged to say it without gloating.“She has chosen the best ofmen.”
Sahar swallowed past the lump in her throat.“You will both do well, as a king and a wife,” she said, her voicecracking.
