Pregnant! By the Prince (6 page)

Nadya's eyes closed. "No. We've been over this, Leon. The law says you cannot.

I grabbed my sheet more tightly. "Huh?"

"I can marry whomever I choose, Nadya. There are no restrictions on who a member of the royal family may wed. Our constitution outlines this clearly."

I didn't know what was going on, and they were even speaking German - a language I could actually understand.

"Do not lie to me, young man! Do you not understand the resolution of fifty years ago? The royal family must marry Dolotovyans - it is so that the institution of Dolotovya remains pure."

"Teya, please. The people have forgotten that."                                          

"They have not!" They were face to face screaming at each other. "If you even try to marry that hussy, I will tell the world, I swear to our Lord!"

"Leon," I said calmly, "Is it true such a law exists?" Hearing this after thinking all those negative things was torturing my thoughts. Was I, in American terms, being played? Was I just some American girl he wanted to fuck? He sounded like he'd been around the world a bit - and he wasn't a virgin himself, I realized.

Leon was silent.

"Does it?" Was I just one girl of many for him? Was I not special at all?

"It does." He said, flatly. "It was passed after we resisted the Red Army, in a fit of nationalism. The 'Dolotovyan Purity' law."

Tears welled up in my eyes. The crazy old woman was the more truthful one.

"Lying to women to sodomize them, Leon. I had thought your mother taught you better than that."

"You - you lied to me." I spat out. I jumped off the bed, and looked for my clothes.

"But you and Uncle - "

Nadya interrupted, almost in panic. "Don't you dare mention our secrets in front of the hussy."

Leon spoke, calmly and solemnly. "My father, I know, I heard him demand it on his deathbed."

I kept trying to calm myself down from sobbing, not knowing who to believe as I dressed myself.

"It's all besides the case, Leon." Nadya continued. "You already have a perfectly fine bride picked out for you by parliament. MP Barlec's daughter, Delia. A good Dolotovyan woman whose fiance is cheating on her. That's just terrible."

"I don't - "

"Quiet, Leon. Please, every lie you speak makes it harder for me to keep my mouth shut."

"You have a fiance?" I glared at Leon.

"Technically, yes. I do not love her, though. I never wished to marry for simple political reasons." Leon replied, feeling himself cornered in a hopeless fight.

It was true. It was all true. Lies, lies. I was just another lay for him and I never had a chance of being more than that - and he never stopped lying even then.

I didn't want to wait to put my pants on. Them in hand, I darted through the door that Nadya had barged in through.

"Beatrice, wait!"

I was already gone. I found the room meant for me, and dove into the bed, my tears seeping through the pillowcase.

I was a fool. A complete fool.

-Chapter Seven-

The next morning came, and I didn't see him again. The hospitality still stood, I guessed. There was a hot breakfast waiting for me in my room. It tasted good, but my heart was too heavy to really enjoy it.

I couldn't stay here. I knew they'd have me until I wanted to leave, but I couldn't. I showered, got dressed, and packed all my bags. I sighed, and headed toward the palace doors.

"Where are you going, hussy?" I heard that cranky voice scourge my ears in German.

"I'm going. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Her demeanor softened. "I just wanted you to stay away from Leon. If you can do that, you're as welcome to stay as long as you want."

"I can't stay here, then." I felt so unbelievably foolish, thinking of him with any fondness.
All of it was lies, but the hurt was still very much real.

Nadya looked at me for a time, then sighed. "I suppose I can understand. The passions always take us the wrong way, it seems you're simply naive than seeking to become royalty yourself."

"I thought what he was saying was true. That he wanted me for more than - um, what happened last night. I never have had a man talk to me like that."

"Leon is quite the charmer. If he wasn't my nephew and I was a half-century younger, I could see myself in your place. You'll learn when you get older."

"I'm going to go back to that inn, if they'll still have me. Than you - and thank Leon, I guess, for all the hospitality."

"Wait, har - , I mean Beatrice. I can arrange things for you until you depart for home or wherever it is you're traveling."

That she did. I didn't expect some departing kindness from her, but I guess tradition just always won out for her. Kindness, of course, seemed to be this country's tradition.

My room was paid for, my situation explained. I was even left with some food to carry with me. Sandwiches, jerky, homemade potato chips.

It's all I nibbled on over the next few days. I could barely leave bed. I woke, I thought about Leon. I stared out the window expecting him to come running, like he'd abdicate the throne for me.

Still foolish. He knew he was already engaged, apparently. He knew the sweet nothings he told me of being his queen were bullshit.

I'd have to just check it off to youthful stupidity. I wished the internet worked here so I could talk to one of my UK internet friends who complained endlessly about monarchy. I'm sure she'd get a laugh at least over the excesses of Dolotovyan royalty too.

Nothing though. Just sleep, and watching the days go by.

***

"Bea, you can't just be sitting around the hotel all day," my friend Rebecca said. This time, I was laying flat in a different hotel room. "We're in Paris. Me and Jess are going to go get a tour of the catacombs underneath the city. It'll be spooky!"

"You go ahead," I murmured. My energy was completely gone. "I just need to relax. Feeling a bit under the weather."

"Ever since you came back from your little misadventure, you'd been under the weather."

"Well, I am." My declaration was punctuated by me shooting up and running to the toilet, letting it taste the breakfast I had eaten earlier. "See? Not an excuse. I really feel bad."

Rebecca laughed, following me in and handing me one of the towels. "I'm wondering, did you ever fuck this prince who had the hots for you?"

I took my time in cleaning myself off. I had told them not much more than the romantic approaches of Leon. I left out the sex part. I didn't want them to know that it was the root of me being an exhausted, depressed lump. "I already told you, no, I didn't. I just found it amusing."

"Really? You expect me to believe that?" She went to the mini-fridge and gave me a can of Sprite. I opened and drank it, knowing it to be the tribal remedy of Americans for anything stomach related.

"Yes," I affirmed.

"Cause I notice two things here. You know Beth?"

"Your older sister?"

"Yes. I remember her bawling her eyes out and then being nearly catatonic for weeks after her first boyfriend broke up with her. She'd gave her virginity to him, she thought she had found the one, and then the world had ended."

I gulped more Sprite. "What on earth does that have to do with me?"

"Let's see, you're handling it a bit better, but moping around the hotel room when you're suppose to be out enjoying the world tells me you're heartbroken. It wasn't just some flirtations, was it?"

She crossed her arms, her gaze firm. She had me, and I was being forced to confess. "No, it wasn't. He said wonderful things to me. He talked to me into bed. Then I found out everything he said was crap."

Rebecca sat beside me and pulled me close to her. "It's okay. We all have our regrets, Bea. It's part of being young. You screw up a lot, you learn from your screw ups. It happens."

"It felt so real. Like he meant every word." Rebecca didn't move. "I guess I just don't realize how true love really feels yet. Doesn't make it hurt any less, though."

She shrugged. "It happens. Second, well, um, with how ridiculous you said the country was about contraception."

"I don't even want to think about that." Like I had to pile on how much of an idiot I was. That some part of me hoped I would have his child. I was twenty with my own aspirations. I wasn't ready to up and be a mother.

"Fine, fine. Seriously, Bea. Come with us. Tour of the catacombs. It'll be spooky. Interesting, and historical too. Lots of inspiration there."

I stared down at the floor. "I'm fine."

"I don't want you spending all day inside again, Bea. Promise me you'll do something. We're going home in like, a month, and you've spent the past two simply moping. That's quite the waste of a summer."

It took me a moment to offer a solution. "I'll head to the Louvre. Nice and quiet, give me plenty of time to think, and I wanted to see it to begin with."

"Good, Bea. You better go." She punched me in the arm. "Or the next punch you get will be in your face."

She giggled as she stood, and started to get dressed herself.

Sadly, I grabbed my shoes and began to lace them up. I never thought going to see the best art in the world would be so difficult.

***

Silence. I didn't want silence - not in the least. I was hoping for noise to drown out my thoughts, and perhaps grant me a break.

All I got instead were some murmurs throughout. Low enough to be ignored. I cursed people having good enough manners to stay silent in an art gallery.

Instead I was forced to try to use the art to escape.

It used to be that I was infatuated with art. I had dreams of seeing the Louvre. Seeing photos was one thing, sure, but I truly appreciated art when I saw it face to face. The texture, the marks of technique that went into them. It allowed understanding for the hard work and dedication that went into it.

They were just pictures right now.

I suddenly understood how some people didn't find joy in this.

I kept on walking down the line taking in the sights.

No matter what, no painting or sculpture took me away from the thoughts of him.

The way he used me. The lies he said. The fact that the results of one foolish night of pleasure may well be growing inside me.

Pleasure. The things he did to me that night. The sound of his voice, his warmth. Even the simple touch of him against me was so amazingly magnificent.

A hand on my shoulder - a very much familiar hand.

I turned - and there he was. His soft hair, his sculpted body - and his beautiful face. It held the growth of a month and some change, and his eyes told me he was exhausted.

"Leon? What are you doing here?" My voice was at a whisper, respectful of the gallery.

"I missed you. I had to see your face again."

I blushed, just like the first time I met him. I forgot all the bad that came with it, if only for a moment.

"Beatrice, I want to apologize for not being one hundred percent truthful with you."

That awoke the memories of the lies. "About just trying to charm me into bed by treating me like the princess that I clearly couldn't be?"

"I adore you, Beatrice. I didn't wish to mislead."

"You did," I said, a tear dripping down my cheek, the hurt rushing back. "Why couldn't you have told me the truth? If it was just a stupid fling, I'd be able to understand."

"I didn't wish it to be only a fling."

"No, you wanted to convince me that it was more so I'd let you have sex with me, without asking you to wear a condom or pull out." Memories get revived so harshly when spoke. I started to walk away from him.

"Please, Beatrice." In spite of everything, his words still stopped me even though common sense told me to keep walking.

"Why are you here? Not for a simple apology. I'm touched if you think it was worth that much."

"What we had was worth much, much more."

"Well thank you, but I'll be on my way."

"I want you to come back to Dolotovya with me."

That struck me suddenly. For a time, I was silent, choosing my words carefully. "I'm on a trip with my friends right now, sorry."

"What will it take for you to come with me?"

Part of me wanted to turn, and run back to him. Embrace him wholly. It wanted to forgive, for a simple chance of having him again.

"Would your school friends like to accompany you? I am sure you would enjoy their presence for what I want to do."

"What do you want to do?"

He laughed softly. I always loved his laugh.  "My engagement is being celebrated with a parade through the town. I'd love for you to attend."