“Do you two ever wake up at a reasonable hour?” Olivia huffed and she busted through the door and into Riley and Drake’s room.
“Wha…” Riley looked up, her hair covering her face, “what time is it?”
“It’s 5:30!”
“That’s what you call a reasonable hour?” Drake groaned from under the pillow he’d thrown over his face. “The suns not even up yet.”
“It’s a big day. You have somewhere to be too, Drake. Liam had a custom suit made for you. Chop, chop.” Olivia clapped her hands in the middle of the room.
Drake and Riley laid motionless on the bed. Olivia let out a short, heavy sigh. She walked over and grabbed the covers, flinging them off and on to the floor. Much to her surprise, the Walker’s had slept in the nude the night before.
“Surprise.” Drake said flatly, still attempting to smother himself unconscious for a few more minutes of sleep. He was just happy he’d been laying on his stomach that morning.
“Dear god.” Olivia quickly turned around, disgust riddling her face.
“We’ll be out in a minute, Liv.” Riley sat up and pulled the top sheet over herself.
“Make it quick.” Olivia’s heels clicked loudly on the hardwood as she quickly left the room.
Drake removed his pillow from over his face and sat up.
“Bet she won’t do that again.”
“Definitely,” Riley let out a sleepy laugh as she got out of bed and went into the closet. She came out clothed a few moments later and threw clothes at Drake.
“Get dressed before the wicked witch of the north puts a spell on you.”
Drake walked down to Liam’s room and knocked on the door, but Liam didn’t answer.
“Li?” Drake called out before knocking again.
Liam opened the door, shirtless and still in his pajama pants.
“It’s 5:30 in the morning. Why are you awake?” He failed to stifle a yawn.
“Bridezilla came and woke me and Riley up.”
“Fortunately for us, we don’t have anywhere to be for another 2 and a half hours. Olivia must have gotten schedules mixed up. I’d get some more sleep if I were you.”
“If you don’t mind, I’m gonna crash in here on your fainting couch. She won’t bother you. You have your own people for that.”
Liam stepped back and let his friend in.
“Oh Drake, I wish that were true.”
By the time Riley had sat down to get her makeup on it was already coming up on 10 o’clock. The wedding started at noon and they were running a little behind. Olivia was her usual demanding self, ordering around wedding planners and the help like they were incompetent children. They’d gotten their hair and nails done already, but Olivia being ever the perfectionist had her hair redone three times before she bordered on satisfied. She sat next to Riley at the vanity with a thud.
“You doin’ okay, Liv?” Riley asked.
“Yes and no. Everything is going fine. I’m not even that worried about being late. What are they going to do? Call off the wedding?” Olivia rolled her eyes.
“So what’s bothering you?”
“I’m worried about an attack on the wedding, for starters. There’s enough security out there to stop a global invasion of foot soldiers, but they always seem to find a way. That aside, I’ve dreamed of this day since I was a little girl. And it was always to Liam. I can’t believe it’s actually happening. I just want everything to be perfect.”
“We all do. And it will be. Enjoy today, Liv! It’s your wedding day!”
“I’m trying, Riley. I really am,” Olivia paused, “but I got some news a few days ago.”
“What’s that?”
Olivia looked at the woman doing Riley’s makeup, “could you excuse us for a moment?”
“Certainly, Your Grace.” The woman bowed and left the room.
Olivia fiddled nervously with the hem of her shirt before turning to Riley.
“I’ve had really painful, irregular periods ever since I started having periods. I’ve been on birth control since I was 13. It helped a little, but every period would still put me in bed for days. Once I got older I was able to take some more serious pain relievers every month so I could function. I went to the doctors last week and they did an ultrasound and ran some tests,” she stopped and looked up at Riley, her eyes wet with tears, “they don’t think I can have children.”
“Oh,” Riley said meekly, “does Liam know?”
Olivia shook her head.
“No. I haven’t been able to tell him. With all the madness happening over the last week I’ve barely had the chance to breath. Approving menu’s and seating charts and color schemes and cakes. Dinner last night was the longest I’ve seen him in the last two days. There hasn’t been a good time.”
“Wait, so if you can’t have kids, that means…”
“No heir.” Olivia finished Riley’s sentence for her, her words shaken by a ragged breath.
“What does that mean for your contract?”
“The contract only applied to me, not my kin. I don’t think it holds any weight as far as more assassination attempts goes.”
“Don’t you think you should tell him? I mean, that’s kind of important.”
“You think I don’t know that,” she snapped, “I know he wants kids, Riley. I know how desperately he wants a family. He needs to have a family for the crown. I can’t give that to him. I can’t give the country the crown it needs.”
“So now what?”
“There’s always the option of a surrogate. They’d take my eggs and Liam’s sperm and we’d have to try that way.”
“Like you’d trust anyone enough to let them carry your child,” Riley scoffed.
“Actually, there’s only one person,” she stared at Riley longingly.
“Wait, wait. Hold on. Me?” Riley’s eyes grew wide.
“The one and only.”
“Slow down,” Riley stood up and started pacing the room, “how long have I been on your incubator radar?”
“I always knew there was the possibility of not being able to have children. Until I got engaged to Liam I hadn’t concerned myself much with it. I figured I was only a duchess. A duchy could be handed to anyone. Clearly.”
“Watch it,” Riley warned.
“That’s not what I meant. I meant that had I not had any children to hand over my duchy to, they’d find someone else. It wasn’t problematic that I might not be able to have kids. But now with my station as queen, having children is important.”
“You could always adopt, Liv. But that doesn’t answer my question.”
“I’ve thought about you since before I even had the tests done. I was preparing myself for the news but I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure.”
“And how do you think Liam and Drake are going to handle this?”
“I don’t know. That’s something we’d all have to sit down and discuss.”
Riley moved in silence, still pacing as she wrapped her mind around the thought of carrying a child that was Liam’s, especially with the incident they’d had before.
“You know what, we have a wedding to get ready for. We have to put all this on the back burner for now. It’s 10:15 and there won’t be a wedding to worry about if we don’t get our asses ready and out the door.”
“Right,” Olivia dried her eyes, “I’ll get Jennifer in here so we can get this finished up. You think she has any whiskey by chance?”
Drake and Riley were riding in the back of a limo on the way to the cathedral. She couldn’t help but appreciate the sight of him in his new grey suit. It was definitely customized to his measurements and fit him better than his navy one ever could.
“Hey,” he looked at her with concern, “is everything alright?”
“Yeah,” Riley shook her head, “just nervous to be on international television in real time for a huge national event.”
“Come on, you’ve been on live TV half a dozen times now. No sweat.”
“Yeah,” she let out a nervous laugh.
“You wanna tell me what’s really going on?”
Her eyes met his and she felt what little composure she had start to crumble.
“Olivia can’t have kids.”
“Come again?” Drake tilted his head at her, looking up over his brows.
“Liv. She… she can’t have kids. She told me today while we were getting our makeup done.”
“Okay,” he drew out the word, “and that’s your problem how?”
“Well, she kind of wants me to be a surrogate.”
“A surrogate?” His voice thickened with surprise.
“Yeah, you know, his sperm, her egg, my uterus.”
“No, I know what a surrogate is, Riley. I’m not an idiot.”
Riley pursed her lips at the accusation that she ever thought he was.
“I know that, Drake.”
“Sorry,” he blinked a few times at her.
“Believe me, I had the same reaction.”
“Does she know about…”
“About Liam and I’s hiccup? No. Only you, me, Liam and Bas know about that.”
“Right,” Drake swallowed, “you’re not actually considering it, are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does Liam know?”
“No.”
“No, of course he doesn’t know. He would have mentioned that to me.” Drake rested his elbow on the window sill and placed his hand over his mouth.
“What do you think?”
“I think it’s bonkers, Ri. There isn’t some pion she could assign the task to? I’m sure there’s plenty of women who’d love to carry the heir to the throne.”
“I think I’m the only person she trusts to do it.”
“No. It’s out of the question. Absolutely not.”
“I think we should really talk about this later. It’s kind of important to…”
“To the crown. It’s important to the crown, Walker,” he turned towards her, his body stiff, “I’ve already given up enough for the fucking crown. The only thing the crown has ever given me that was worth a damn was you, and now I’m being asked to share you, too. As if I haven’t already done that enough.”
The words hit her like a knife to the chest. The memory of her and Liam together after Drake had purposed came all too quick and her stomach turned. Drake still didn’t know about it, and he probably never would. She’d suppressed that memory so much that she almost forgot it even happened. She pushed it back down again, trying to keep the tears from forming in her eyes.
“You’re right. We have already been through enough. If she asks again, I’ll tell her no.”
“Thank you,” Drake leaned back into his seat, his body still tense.
The limo came to a stop in front of the large cathedral. Hundreds of people lined the entrance, waiting to catch a glimpse of the newest duchess and soon-to-be duke. The limo behind theirs held Olivia and her guards as well as Mara. Their driver came around and opened the door. Light bulbs quickly began flashing as Drake stepped out to the adoring crowd. Riley was jealous of the oblivion they had to the conversation that had just taken place moments before. She hoped her makeup hid the rosiness of her cheeks, which always happened when she was upset. Drake held out a hand for her and gave a reassuring nod as she stood.
They walked up the stairs of the entrance and into a lavish foyer that was decorated in centuries old décor and architecture. Riley was momentarily taken back by the beauty of it all before she heard the doors behind her close.
“We should probably get in there and get into our spots,” Drake motioned towards the set of double doors in front of them.
“Duty calls.”
Drake lightly tapped on the door and they swung open. Music filled the air as Drake offered his arm to Riley. She gave him a small, genuine smile and placed her hand under his arm as they began towards the alter. Drake let out a soft chuckle.
“What?” She whispered.
“It’s just,” he dipped his head down and whispered in her ear, “next time we do this, it’ll be our wedding.”
Riley broke out into a large smile.
“Yes it will, Mister Walker.”
They reached the end of the aisle and split apart. Drake took his position behind Liam, placing his hand on his friends shoulder as he passed and nodding at Leo. Riley stood alone behind where Olivia would be in just a few minutes and suddenly she felt self-conscious. She wished time would hurry so that all eyes would stop being on her. She soon got her wish as the double doors opened once again, and a veiled Olivia emerged before them. Given that she was an orphan with no family and Constantine had passed, they opted to have Bastien walk her down the aisle. After all, Bastien was kind of like all the wayward children’s surrogate father.
“If everyone would please rise,” Leo’s voice echoed off the walls.
The hundreds of guests filling the pews stood. Olivia and Bastien started walking as music reached a crescendo through the cathedral. By the time Olivia reached her, Riley had already started tearing up. She loved weddings, and this one was no exception. She looked over at Liam, who stared down at Olivia with a gracious smile, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“If everyone would please be seated,” Leo proclaimed.
Everyone sat down and Leo straightened.
“Dearly beloved, we have all gathered here today to witness the joining of my brother, King Liam, and Duchess Oliva in holy matrimony. As much as I regret our father not being here to join these two together I’m honored to be given the opportunity. Liam wouldn’t be here anyway if not for me and my roguish ways.” A laugh rippled through the crowd. “All joking aside, it truly is an honor. I’ve watched my brother grow from a prince to a king, and now a husband. His ability to compromise and his loyalty to those around him are traits I foresee him taking into his marriage to form a strong, everlasting bond between himself and his wife. Most of you know I’ve known Olivia since she was a child as well. She was born a fierce and outspoken girl, and not much has changed since those days. She treats my brother with honesty and respect, both of which I appreciate and admire. I know he will be well taken care of in her hands. Now I’m done rambling, so let’s get to the good stuff shall we?” Leo motioned towards the two children that had been chosen from Cordonia to carry the rings. A little girls stepped up to Olivia and handed her a silver band at the same time as a little boy handed Liam a thin one. They took their seats as Olivia and Liam turned towards each other.
“Olivia,” Leo turned to her, “do you take Liam to be your wedded husband, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to him for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” Olivia said proudly, slipping the band onto Liam’s finger.
“Liam, do you take Olivia to be your wedded wife, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to her for as long as you both shall live?”
The pause was ever so slight. So much so that if Riley hadn’t been focused so intently on him and still so in tune with his body language she might have missed it. She caught his eyes flick over to her, but they left just as fast as they came. Riley saw Olivia’s body tense a bit and knew she’d noticed, too.
“I do,” Liam announced as he guided the ring onto Olivia’s finger.
“By the powers invested in me by the country of Cordonia, I now pronounce you husband and wife. May you seal this blessed union with a kiss.”
Liam carefully lifted the veil from Olivia’s face and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in close and kissing her. Cheers and loud claps erupted around them. They broke apart and turned to face the crowd. Olivia sported an exuberant smile and Liam did the same.
“It is my honor to present to you Liam and Olivia Rys, your newest king and queen of Cordonia.”
Another round of deafening cheers began and Riley fought the urge to cover her ears. Liam looked over his shoulder at Drake, who had a wide smile and was clapping for his friend as well. Liam looked over at Riley, who had joined in the cheers, but his smile faltered. Before she could move the couple had already began making their way out of the cathedral and out the doors. The jubilance continued when Riley noticed Leo step towards her. He turned his head to her ear.
“So you saw it, too.”
“Saw what” she asked, trying her best to sound genuinely confused.
“Nothing,” Leo chuckled, “must have been imagining things.”