The Prince's Captive Virgin. Maisey Yates

in the inky blackness.

      “So,” he said, “you have come to see about your father.”

      “Yes,” she said, her tone unsteady. She took a deep breath, tried to get a grip on herself. She was not easily intimidated. She never had been. She had spent her childhood going to private schools that she was far too poor to have gained admittance to, if not for a trust fund previously established by her long-deceased grandfather.

      Everyone there knew she was there on charity, and she had been forced to grow a spine early. Everyone was always teasing her. For being poor. For always having her head in the clouds—well, she had her nose firmly planted in a book. But, those stories, those fictional worlds, were her armor. They allowed her to insulate herself. Allowed her to ignore the taunting happening around her.

      She had survived a childhood surrounded by the mocking glances and cruel words of the children of Hollywood royalty. Surely she could face down the Prince of a country that was the size of a postage stamp.

      She heard a heavy footfall, an indication that he had moved deeper into the room, but she still couldn’t see him. “I arrested your father,” he said.

      “I know that,” she said, doing her best to keep her tone steady. “And I think it was a mistake.”

      He chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound. It lay flat in the room, making it feel as though the temperature had dropped. “You’re either very brave or very stupid. Coming to my country, my home, and insulting me.”

      “I’m not sure that I’m either. I’m just a girl who’s concerned about her father. Surely you can understand that.”

      “Perhaps,” he returned. “Though, I find it difficult to remember. I have not worried about my father in quite some time. The cemetery keeps him in good comfort.”

      She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say to that. If she was supposed to say that she was sorry that his father was dead. In the end, she imagined that he probably didn’t want her sympathy.

      “That’s what I’m afraid will happen to my father,” she said. “He’s sick. He needs treatment. That was why he got the pictures of you in the first place. He needed money to cover the cost of the treatment that the insurance wouldn’t. This is his job. He’s a photographer. He’s—”

      “I have absolutely no interest in paparazzi scum. That kind of thing is forbidden in my country.”

      “No freedom of the press, then,” she said, crossing her arms and planting her feet more firmly against the stone floor.

      “No freedom to hunt people down as though they are animals simply because you wish to collect photographs.”

      She huffed. “I doubt you were hunted down. I was able to gain admittance to the palace easily enough. My father is an experienced photographer, and I bet it was even easier for him.”

      “He was also caught. Unfortunately, he had also already sent the photographs off to his boss in the United States. And, as his boss is unwilling to negotiate with me—”

      “I know. The photographs are planned to go out in an exclusive later this week. I spoke to the Daily Star.”

      “But they are so invested in the fact my interim leader’s tenure has now come up, they want the monopoly on these photographs for when I make my decision about my rule.”

      “If I had been able to negotiate with them,” Belle continued, “I wouldn’t have come myself. But, I imagined that they didn’t explain to you about my father’s illness.”

      “Am I supposed to care? He does not care about my afflictions.”

      Rage poured through her. “Are your afflictions going to kill you? Because his will. If he doesn’t get back to the US and get himself into treatment, he is going to die. And I won’t let that happen. I can’t. You want him sitting here wasting away in a jail cell? For what? Your pride? He can be of no use to you.”

      She heard him as he began to pace, his footsteps echoing off the walls. She could just make out a dark shape, movement. He was large, but that was all she could gather.

      “Perhaps you have a point. Perhaps he is of no use to me. Beyond the fact that I feel the need to make him an example.”

      “An example to who?”

      “Anyone who might dare to do similar. Is it not enough, what was done to my family already? The press feel the need to come back and add insult to injury near the third anniversary of the accident? I will not allow it.”

      “So, you’ll let a dying man rot away in your palace then. Haven’t you ever heard that two wrongs don’t make a right?”

      “You mistake me,” he said, his tone suddenly fierce. “I am not trying to make anything right. What has been done to me can never be made right. I want a pound of flesh.”

      She heard his footsteps, and, she realized, he had turned away from her. That he was beginning to walk away. “No!”

      “I am finished with you,” he said. “My servant will show you out.”

      “Take me.” The words left her trembling lips before she had a chance to think them through. “Instead of my father. Let me take his place.”

      “Why would you want to do that?” She heard his footsteps drawing nearer to her again. She blinked hard, cursing her inability to see through the thick darkness.

      “Want is a strong word. But, I’m not currently in need of medical treatment. If I stay here in your palace for however long the sentence might be... I’ll be fine.” There was the matter of her scholarship, of the fact that she was supposed to be getting her master’s in literature. But, for her father’s life, she would easily sacrifice a piece of paper.

      “And what good will that do?”

      “Just tell everybody that I’m the one who took the pictures. That I am the one who caused all this trouble. Use me as your example.” He said nothing. It was so still and silent in the room that she thought he might have left. “Please.”

      “If we do this, I am not simply letting you off with such a bland public story. No.”

      “I thought you wanted to make an example of him.”

      “I did,” he said, his tone hard. “However... I think there are more creative uses for you.”

      A shiver ran through her. Fear. “I don’t think you want me for...for that.”

      “You mistake me. If I wanted a whore, I could have one summoned easily enough. You...you’re beautiful. Uncommonly so. And I find myself in an interesting position.”

      “What?”

      “Your father didn’t decide to get my photograph on a whim. In the last three years, an interim ruler has been governing in my stead. But that...that period has ended. His term has ended. And I have a choice to make. Whether or not I abdicate for good, or take control of what is mine.”

      The air rushed from her lungs, a strange metallic taste on her tongue. “And...and you’ve decided?”

      “I will not hide away forever,” he said. “I will reclaim my throne. And in that I will make my example. I and my country will not remain broken. And I will not be kept under siege by the press.”

      “Well I... I don’t know anything about ruling a country. I can’t help you with that.”

      “Silly girl. I don’t need your brain. I need what I myself no longer possess. I need your beauty.”

      She could scarcely understand the words he was saying.

      “So, you have a deal,” he said.

      He’d given her no time to react to his previous statement. The swift proclamation stunned her. She nearly stumbled, nearly fell down to her knees.

      “I...