Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 72146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“I will listen,” I promise. “I will hear what you have to say.” My voice cracks at the severity of meeting. It’s as if everything is falling apart.
“Here is my first confession,” he says, looking down at his hands, seeming to steady himself. Then he looks back into my eyes. “I am not able to conceive children.”
I’m stunned. Truly. It’s not at all what I expected of him.
He gives me a few moments to absorb this new information. Do not worry, Princess. It will not be a problem. When Prince Jasper said that to me on the picnic blankets, I thought he might’ve meant it flippantly or ignorantly. I thought he might have said it in the way that a man who knows nothing of how easy it is to become pregnant might say it.
Now I see it in a different light. He was confident because he was sure.
“All right.” I swallow, bracing myself for yet more secrets to be revealed. “What is your second confession?”
Sheepishly he glances up at me and then clears his throat and admits, “We both wish to have you.”
“I’m sorry?” I question for him to repeat. “Both of you?”
“We both wish to have you,” he repeats and offers me an honest gaze that strikes me straight to my heart.
“Both of you.” My mind reels. I am glad I did not insist on standing, because this news would have brought me to weak knees. “You both wish to have me…as a wife?”
“I would offer you my hand in marriage. I think attempting to offer both our hands would cause more than a little unrest within the lands, and part of this—the smaller part, Princess—is that our kingdoms would benefit from our marriage. With our lands combined, we would be stronger and less vulnerable. Please understand that I would make many sacrifices to ensure that we can live out the rest of our lives in peace. I will do almost anything to guarantee that my brother never feels he must go to war again.”
My heart pounds at the thought of war. At the reminder of what it did to Prince Casen. War should never be taken lightly.
I can tell that he means this, but I am still struggling to understand how this arrangement would work. A public marriage is easy enough to grasp—many kings take mistresses, and they rarely suffer blame for it. The same is not the case for princesses…or queens.
“We would be wed,” I say slowly. “But the rest…”
”Sex would be with both of us.” He answers honestly and without hesitation.
“Sex would be…” I attempt to repeat his words and fall short.
It is the prince’s turn to swallow hard. “And not only for…the pleasures we could offer each other. If you were to want a child, my brother would need to be your lover for the matter of conception.” He clears his throat, then again. “Because, as I said, I am not able. No amount of sex with me will produce a child.”
“And what of your brother? Does he wish to have a child?”
“In this manner, yes. I know you enjoy what he offers you. It did not seem to make a difference that he is not entirely, but mostly, mute and scarred, and he has never wanted a lover, but he did agree that he would do me the favor if I needed and wanted a child. Now, given what—”
My head spins with this explanation.
“Who came to me at night?” The words escape my lips almost before the thought behind them has fully formed. “Which of you? You seem to know much about the affairs I’ve had with your brother,” I practically hiss.
“More than you confided in me,” Jasper manages and then apologizes.
“He mostly writes to communicate. And he saw you first. There was much activity surrounding the ball, and it was easy for him to stay unnoticed. At first, he came simply to observe you. To see if you would suit me as a match, and to see if other suitors might be an obstacle. He stayed while I made arrangements for my kingdom. He…heard your desire and feared that another would hear of it.” A sharp blush heats my cheeks at the memory.
Jasper continues, “He didn’t wish to lose you so he did as you asked. That is where we ran into some…hiccups if you will?”
“Hiccups?”
“Both of us wanting you and falling for you, neither of us wanting the other to fully have you. So my…previous agreement with my brother, to supply me with what would be needed for a child…it changed…some.” He’s less confident than before, but I see how all the puzzle pieces fit and how everything happened.
Now I stare off into the garden. I felt his eyes on me. I practically felt him calling to me with his presence. I went out to the balcony to try to discover who the intriguing stranger was.