“They said we’re not supposed to have this many people back here.” Dane smiled and opened his soda. “I told them we would make it quick.”
“I want to talk to you all about something.” Harland held his ribs and balanced against the tray table next to his bed. “I’m sure by now you’ve all heard about the arrangement Violet has with the guys she lives with?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Seven guys and one girl. That’s crazy.”
“Is it? We’d only need two more to have that right here in this room—well, minus Lyric, of course.” He grimaced for a moment. “I’d like to invite you all to come back and live with me in the Southern Isles. With Lyric.
“Wow.” Lenny raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Leaving Kentucky?”
“You haven’t been back to Kentucky in a month.” I looked over at him and shrugged.
“I haven’t been to work in a month.” Dane smiled. “Thanks for taking care of us, by the way, Harland. I didn’t expect that kind of gratitude.”
“I owe you all a life debt.” Harland grimaced again. “It will never be repaid the way it should, but I think setting you all up for life financially is a good start.”
“Uh.” I raised my hand. “I didn’t see any deposits in my bank account.”
“You’re as wealthy as I am!” Harland started to chuckle, but then grabbed his ribs. “I mean, you will be, right—once you marry Lyric.”
“Well, if we get married, she also has to have my baby to satisfy the conditions of my grandfather’s trust agreement.” I exhaled sharply. “If we all agree to move to the Southern Isles, is that going to be a problem? I mean, don’t you have to take a wife?”
“My first act as king is going to be, I guess you could say, enhancing the law in the Southern Isles. It won’t just be a man that can have as many wives as he wants. Women will also be allowed to marry as many times as they want as well.” He smiled. “We could all marry Lyric.”
“Whoa...” I was the one who said it first, but everyone echoed the same surprise. “I do need her to carry the Massaro name, at least until I get my trust released.”
“I got no problem with that.” Harland nodded with a weak tilt of his head. “I guess, if you all agree, there’s only one piece of business left.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” I looked around the room.
“Dane.” Harland turned his attention to the man sipping a soda. “Or should I call you Paul?”
“How many names do you have?” Lenny snorted and shook his head in surprise.
“Violet told me what she did for you.” Harland sighed. “And why it was necessary. If you come live with me in the Southern Isles, Adeline can live there with you.”
“I...I could see my little girl again?” Xavier—Dane—Paul’s eyes filled with tears.
“You could.” Harland nodded. “And since you’ll be married to the queen, that makes her the first princess of our line.”
“Harland—I...” The soda hit the floor and he rushed over to hug the prince.
“Careful!” Harland winced.
“What did I miss?” Lyric walked in. “Why is Dane hugging Harland? Dane, you’re gonna break him!”
“His name’s Paul now.” Lenny shrugged. “Don’t ask me why.”
Epilogue: Lyric
Six months later
We all relocated to the Southern Isles, leaving our old life behind. I convinced my parents to move there with me, and with a little prodding, my sister decided to come as well. The thought of having a whole kingdom full of men that would treat the sister of the future queen right was enough to drag her away from her life in America. Harland set my parents up in a mansion with servants and all of the things they needed to have a lovely retirement. They didn’t fully understand how their little girl ended up becoming involved with five different guys after the World Ball, but they did their best to understand. My sister thought it was the greatest thing ever and couldn’t wait to start her own harem of delicious Southern Isles men.
Harland was fully recovered when he took the throne, shed the title of prince, and became the new King of the Southern Isles. He started instituting change immediately, allowing women to take as many husbands as they wanted, abolishing useless tariffs, and even renegotiating the tax they had with New Zealand. His popularity level surged quickly and when he announced that he was going to be the first man from Southern Isles to only marry one woman, it made the news across the entire world. The announcement that followed, about allowing his future wife to have other husbands, did more than make the news; it became a media sensation. We worked hard to keep our name out of the news after Harland’s kidnapping, but there was no way to avoid it once he took the throne.
Harland’s brother was imprisoned, but Harland didn’t make it a rough life. The jail cell he was put in was fairly comfortable, but it would be the only room he would see for the rest of his life. I thought it was entirely too kind. After what he did to Harland, I would have been happy to see him executed. Harland did exile his brother’s wives though, along with any potential children that they could have been carrying. Considering how many wives he had without a child before he was imprisoned, I was fairly certain he wasn’t entirely functional in that department, but I kept that theory to myself. Princess Aria was the only one who tried to fight her exile, begging to divorce Rohr and marry King Harland as she was originally supposed to do. If Harland hadn’t put her on the boat as fast as he did, I might have slapped the pretty off her lovely royal face for daring to try and lay claim to one of my future husbands.
Maximo was pretty happy to relocate to the Southern Isles. He still had four years to figure out how to get his trust and we had two plans to make it happen. The first was to produce the heir bearing the Massaro name, which I fully intended to do once we were wed, and the second involved convincing the trustee to transfer the money to an account in the Southern Isles. If our first plan didn’t go through, Harland said he could release the money once it was in one of his banks. Maximo was eager to have a child with me, but he was thankful for the alternative in came it didn’t happen.