Page 1

Chapter 1
Cian
“Everyone!” King Diarmuid’s voice is commanding despite his eighty-two years and the precarious state of his heart after three heart attacks. “This is such a happy day!”
I grin. It really is. My brother, Torin, just got married to the love of his life. He and Abigail are clearly meant to be and will be an amazing King and Queen to our home country. Torin will officially take the throne from our grandfather within the year.
Everyone is happy. Everything is settled. And the wine they’re serving with this late dinner for the family and close friends is the best I’ve had in years.
I smile and look around the table. Everyone is here except our eldest brother, Declan, but no one expected him today. But my sister, niece, parents, grandparents, and all of our closest friends are here, and the general mood is one of cheerful contentment.
“And I want to add to the merriment!” our grandfather goes on. “Since everyone is together, this is the perfect time to tell you all what’s next before you all jet off back to the US.”
Many of those gathered in the room live in the US despite our ties to Cara. My brother who just became king, my sister, and I all abdicated twelve years ago and headed to the states. Torin rescinded his abdication and came home two years ago, but Fiona and I still live in Louisiana. Fiona is married now, and she’s not going anywhere.
And I’m…not sure.
But that’s been the case for most of my life.
As the youngest of the O’Grady royals, the spare to the spare to the spare, I have no responsibilities, there are no expectations of me, and I’m able to do whatever the hell I want.
So, I have.
It’s pretty great.
“Diarmuid, I don’t—” Linnea Olsen starts.
She’s standing right next to Diarmuid and he now takes her hand, cradling it against his chest.
She’s the eldest granddaughter of Diarmuid’s late best friend Alfred. She’s been a close advisor to my grandfather for years and was, in fact, arranged to marry Torin and become Cara’s next queen, until he fell in love with Abigail.
“As you all know, I’ve always expected this day to include this lovely woman,” Diarmuid says.
Everyone smiles and nods. It’s no secret that Linnea and Torin are both fine with their ‘engagement’ being broken and that Linnea is thrilled that Torin and Abi are now married.
“We absolutelyadoreAbigail.” My grandfather gives Abi a huge smile.
I look at my new sister-in-law. The shy, introverted scientist, who balked at the idea of a life in the public eye as a royal, is blushing intensely even from this little bit of attention. She looks both embarrassed and confused.
“But,” the king goes on, “what many of you don’t know is that when Alfred and I entered into our agreement?—”
I snort. A few others do as well. The ‘agreement’ he’s referring to is the drunken poker game where he ran out of money—somehow as king?—and had to offer up something else of value to continue to play. He offered up a grandson, Alfred accepted, and…my grandfather lost. From that night on, one of Diarmuid’s grandsons was promised in marriage to one of Alfred’s granddaughters.
We all thought the whole story was a joke.
Until Torin returned to Cara, rescinded his abdication, and agreed to take his place as the next leader of the country…and got a fiancée as part of the benefits package.
My grandfather gives us all a frown, and everyone quiets again. “As I was saying,” he continues. “Alfred and I wanted our families to be united. Alfred had only one granddaughter at the time.” He smiles down at Linnea. “I had three grandsons. Contrary to popular belief, our agreement had nothing to do with the throne.”
I frown and lean forward.
He’s correct in saying that we all believed that Alfred made the agreement with the understanding that his granddaughter would be the future queen. Why else would he have done it?
But my grandfather continues, “It was simply theassumptionthat it would be a union of our first grandchildren. Then Declan left, and the agreement moved to my second grandson. But now that my second grandson is married to another, the arrangement will move to my third grandson.”
I repeat his words silently.
The agreement was initially to marry Declan and Linnea. They are the first grandchildren in each family. Okay, if someone was going to take the arrangement seriously—which clearly Diarmuid and Alfred did, even if the rest of us did not—that makes sense.