Free His Royal Secret by Lilah Pace

Cassandra . . . assuming he could ever have convinced her to say yes, which was doubtful. “You saw me through a rough night.”
    “And I’ll see you through as many more as it takes. After all, I’m getting a tiara out of this deal.”
    Cassandra winked at him, then departed.
    Afterward he fed the corgis and collapsed into bed. Exhaustion had drained away all other concerns. James thought of nothing more than the fact that his suddenly altered schedule would allow him, for once, to sleep late in the morning. Glover would walk the dogs. He could just . . . sleep.
    He dreamed of Ben, but the vision was indistinct, neither fantasy nor nightmare, just the image of his face and the knowledge of his presence. James awoke a few times, as if shaken by the sheer force of the memories, and he’d think,
Still Ben
, before falling asleep again almost instantly. Maybe he had dozens of dreams about Ben; maybe it was just one dream, which couldn’t be ended by waking.
    Then a hand tapped him on his shoulder, gently but briskly. “Sir?”
    James opened his eyes. Glover, his butler, stood at his bedside, impeccable in his suit, though the grayish light through the drapes suggested it was still only just past dawn.
    “What is it?” James mumbled. It was unlike Glover to rouse him this way. Although awakening an employer was one of a butler’s traditional duties, James preferred to rise by his own devices and had instructed Glover to allow this unless specifically told otherwise. Then he realized one of the possibilities and sat upright. “Oh, God. Is the king dead?”
    “No, sir. However, the Lord Chancellor wishes to meet with you rather early this morning, and I believe the Lord Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls will also be in attendance. According to Ms. Tseng, they hope you will be able to meet with the Privy Council this afternoon. I thought you would wish to breakfast well.”
    The regency—they were going ahead with it immediately. Today.
    What swept over James then was the deepest, most profound relief. Last night he’d been too battered down by fear and exhaustion to see Ben’s small show of mercy as any but a temporary respite from the ongoing suspense he lived with, forever wondering if he would be found out and cast from the succession.
    But today he would become prince regent, king in all but name. Richard’s skullduggery was powerless against that. The queen might protest today, and as the wife of the king she was one of the five people who had to be consulted about a regency—but with three of the others agreeing to it, even the queen’s objection could be overruled.
    James was going to fulfill his promises to his father. His sister would be safe. He could go on forever like this, if it meant being true to his family and his duty; that mattered more than his personal happiness, more than anything. And now, finally, nothing could stop him.
    “Sir?” Glover raised an eyebrow. “Shall I see to breakfast?”
    James took a deep breath. “Quite right. Thank you, Glover.”
    His path was again clear. He’d prepared for this job his entire life; finally taking up the duty would be more relief than burden. All would be well.
    He only had to forget about Ben.
    •   •   •
    Great Britain Names Prince Regent
    Ben saw the headline on his phone first, while hurrying the last couple of blocks to work, when he didn’t have a chance to read.
    But what else was there to know? James had achieved everything he wanted in his life, save for the literal crown itself. Ben wanted to be sour about it, because becoming nothing other than what you were born to, living a life of idle luxury while spending money received from everyday taxpayers—well, he had no respect for that.
    Still, he knew that he had frightened James badly, and unkindly, after an afternoon of intimacy that seemed to be as rare in James’s life as it was in Ben’s. The man deserved a good day after what he’d been put through.
    When