Page 19 of The Heart of the King

Time would tell.

But now it was time to face her new world.

After two longyears - plus a few months - it was finally over.

David’s father had been found guilty, and the moment the verdict was read, David became king.

He wasn’t in the courtroom but watched on television as the jury foreman read off the piece of paper. Stewart and several others wanted to be in the room with him, but he’d refused. This was a moment of importance, but he didn’t want to have people around. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let him be completely alone.

Randall stood guard at the door. The official photographer wasn’t allowed in the courtroom so he was with David.

So was Jasmine.

She sat next to him, her hand through his arm and resting inside his elbow as he leaned forward. His elbows rested on his knees and his hands were clasped as the words came through the speaker.

Guilty.

The gavel pounded.

Click. Click. Click.

The cameraman captured all of it.

David bowed his head as the enormity of all of it swept over him. Until the moment he heard the word and the gavel, he worried that something would happen to keep his father from paying for his crimes.

“Is that it?” Jasmine asked quietly. “Are you king?”

He looked at the screen then nodded. “I am.”

Knowing at least a couple of these photos would become public, David sat up, making sure to not slouch. He was king of Auverignon, and kings did not slouch.

That kind of thing had been pounded into his head by his parents and his grandfather.

Always present the right front to the people.

Do whatever you want behind closed doors. Try not to get caught doing something the public would find distasteful.

Like destroying a hotel suite.

Paying off a mistress.

Using public funds and covering it up.

All things his father had done. He’d done his share of things he wasn’t proud of - that was a large part of the reasoning behind not being King Steven - but nothing illegal, outside of underage drinking overseas, and he did his best to stay away from overly immoral or unethical as well.

Except for one-night stands and drinking binges.

Those went together, and he’d had far more of those than he cared to admit.

Until several years ago when he’d decided it wasn’t worth the clean up afterwards.

The nondisclosure agreements.

The occasional court case.

The paternity claims which all turned out to be false.

The unexpected marriage which turned out to be legal.