Chapter One
Twenty-Three Years Ago
Azalyn Rippak rubbed the material of her skirt between her fingers and resisted peeking out of the storage room once more. Keltor would come as soon as he could. After all, he was a prince with a lot of boring tutors and instruction from his father, King Kastor, and his schedule left little room for meetings with her.
If only their time together didn’t have to be so short, let alone secret. But she was a shop assistant’s daughter and nowhere near the same station as a prince. Keltor had assured her that next year, when he turned twenty and inherited more responsibilities from his father, he could start finding councilors sympathetic to his desire to take Azalyn as his bride. Once he had enough support, he could announce his intentions publicly, but not before.
Why politics had to be so complicated, she didn’t know. At seventeen, she’d never really thought about them before meeting Keltor. She knew her extended family’s merchant business like the back of her hand, but none of that would help in her current situation. Or, so Keltor had said. She hated relying on him for matters related to the palace. She really needed to study a bit more about how it all functioned.
Steps echoed down the hallway. Her worries melted away and her heart skipped a beat. Her prince had finally come.
Yet in the next heartbeat, doubt crept up her spine. What she had planned was a big step for both of them, one from which there was no return.
Maybe she should rethink it.
However, as soon as Keltor entered the room and locked the door, his eyes met hers and the world melted away, as did her doubts. He already risked everything to spend time with her. She trusted that he wouldn’t abandon her and disregard all his promises to date.
Jumping into his arms, she kissed him. She wasn’t an expert on the subject, but as his lips devoured hers, she couldn’t help but sigh.
Keltor chuckled and broke the kiss. “What happened to making me work for everything? Giving in so easily strokes my ego, and I know you try not to do that.”
She frowned. “Excuse me for missing you. It’s been two weeks, Keltor. That’s a long time.”
He gently placed her on the floor and lightly stroked her back. “I know, love. My father is growing suspicious, which means I have to be even more careful.” He took her chin in his hand. “But everything I do is for us. If I could resign my place as heir today and run away with you, I would.”
She finished his thought. “I know, but Kason is in the army now, and your sister can’t rule because of the law. I still think that’s stupid. Females are just as smart. You’ve said so yourself.”
“Yes, but remember Kalahn isn’t more than a baby right now. Father announcing the heir is a toddler—and a female one no less—won’t help anything, especially with the recent end of the war with the Brevkan. He has to be focused on healing and rebuilding Keldera.”
She noticed the worry in his eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He shook his head. “I’d rather not waste what time I have with you talking about serious matters. I’m more interested in what you have planned for today’s adventure.”
If it hadn’t been so long since she’d seen Keltor, Azalyn might’ve pushed. But she’d worked hard at finding a new surprise for her prince, and was anxious to get started. “Come. The guard rotation change will happen soon, and if we miss the small window available to leave the palace grounds, we won’t have another chance for hours.”
Keltor took her hand and motioned in front of them. “Then lead on, my lady.”
She flashed a grin, opened the door to peek out, and tugged him behind her. When she’d met Keltor by chance a year ago, he’d been dressed as a commoner and had been roaming the streets of the capital. It was still hard to believe that the male she’d castigated for stepping on her foot had ended up being the future king of Keldera.
Not that it had mattered to her at the time, nor did it in the present. All she wanted was to become his bride and live out a future with her best friend and counter-balance.
Strange to think a prince helped to tame her impulsiveness, let alone the fact a shop assistant’s daughter was able to show a new side of the world to a crown prince.
Squeezing Keltor’s hand, she led them through one of the service tunnels and toward the palace’s side exit. She was aware that Keltor’s future wasn’t his own. Still, she believed in their love. He would find a way for them to be together.
Some might say she was foolish for such thoughts, but stubbornness was Azalyn’s middle name. Her father had never believed she could apprentice to an acquisitions’ assistant before her eighteenth birthday, and yet she’d done it at sixteen.
Becoming Keltor’s bride and one day the queen of Keldera might be a little more difficult, but she never said never.
They reached the end of the service tunnel and checked out the area, from the perfectly laid out garden to the surveillance stations posted at regular intervals around the palace grounds. The guards would be gone from this section for the next five minutes. She whispered, “Run.”
Never releasing her hand, Keltor ran and took her with him. His long legs made it difficult to keep up, but Azalyn pushed to run faster.
Once they reached the tree cover at the edge of the grounds, next to the crumbling palace walls that still hadn’t been rebuilt after the war, they stopped to catch their breaths.
At the flush on Keltor’s cheeks and his hair slightly disheveled from the wind, his handsomeness made her ache. “You’re beautiful.”
He snorted. “Males are not beautiful.” Before she could state her case, he reached out and ran his finger down her neck. “The flush on your lavender skin is splotchy.”
“Keltor,” she growled.
“Let me finish. The patterns remind me of distant galaxies. One day, I want to show you them from a spaceship and maybe even some of the nearest planets. The shape and colors of them are unlike anything you’ve ever seen. You’d love it, Aza. I know you would.”
Her anger eased a fraction. “Now who’s planning adventures?”
“A certain female opened my eyes to the world.” He reached out and pulled her up against his body. “She has also taught me a thing or two about life outside the palace and how much more there is to see. Learning to be king is important, but I’ll never be a good one if I don’t know how people are living elsewhere in the world. Meeting you was a gift and one I’m never going to take for granted. I hope to prove it to you. We’re going to have amazing adventures, Azalyn. Just wait and see.”
While many of her friends said males just told females what they want to hear in order to get them naked, Azalyn believed Keltor was different. His passionate words did something to her heart.
Any lingering hesitations she’d had about her plans for the night vanished. She wasn’t going to back down. “Then hurry up and kiss me so I can show you our latest destination. I have a surprise waiting for you once we get there.”
“I used to hate surprises, but if you’re doing it, then I can’t wait to find out what it is.” He kissed her once more before releasing her. “Lead on, my lady. The heir to the Kelderan throne is at your command.”
It was difficult, but she kept her face serious. “I sure hope so.”
“Cheeky female.”
He reached out to tickle her side and Azalyn had to bite her lip to keep from squealing. “Stop it, or someone will hear.”
Leaning down to her ear, he whispered, “Then I hope our destination is isolated because I want to kiss and tease you without fear of being discovered.”
“Oh, it is. Now, hop to it, Prince. See if you can keep up.”
Azalyn dashed along the wall to the jagged opening big enough for them to sneak through. Having done it countless times before, she was careful to make as little sound as possible. As expected, Keltor easily followed her lead.
Just the idea that someone as powerful as a prince wanted her made her smile.
Then she remembered what she was determined to do later. Her family would call her a fool, but Azalyn knew Keltor would do anything to keep her.
And so she was going to offer her body to him later in the evening and allow him to claim her.
Glancing at Keltor, she waited for hesitation or doubt to rush forth like earlier, but it never did. No one accepted her rashness or tendency to defy expected female norms as much as Keltor. She loved him.
And together they would change Keldera for the better.
Picking up her pace, she enjoyed the wind rushing against her skin and the sound of her male right behind her. Tonight would be the start of her future and Azalyn couldn’t wait to see what it held.