Prince of Secrets

“I’m very pleased you took our house’s name, Demyan,” the king said with sincerity. “Your parents could have avoided this surprise today by allowing Oxana and me to adopt you as a child. It was their choice not to, as you said...for their own expedience. I, for one, was joyfully surprised and I know your mother feels the same.”

Chanel smiled, pleased the outwardly cold man so obviously cared about his adopted son. Demyan said something she did not catch.

“You think you are more than an expedience to the king and queen?” Duke Zaretsky sneered. “He has just ensured you sacrificed the rest of your life for the sake of his family’s wealth. You are far more his tool than you were ever mine.”

Chanel didn’t understand what the duke meant by his words, but there was no question they were intended to wound. And she wasn’t about to stand by while anyone tried to hurt Demyan.

She pushed open the door to what turned out to be a very impressive masculine study and crossed to Demyan’s side quickly.

His dark gaze flared with something that looked like worry before pleasure at her presence sparked to life, as well. “Hello, sérdenko.”

“What are you doing here?” the king asked with his usual less-than-warm attitude toward her.

“The reception was getting too loud.”

“You cannot abandon your responsibilities as a hostess on a whim.”

“Really? Then what are you doing back here?” she asked with enough sarcasm to be mistaken for her sister. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it your name on the invitation listed as host of this party?”

Demyan laughed, taking her hand and pulling her to his side. “You make an excellent case, little one.”

Everyone in the room except Chanel showed differing levels of surprise at his humor. The king recovered first, giving her a grudging look of respect when she’d expected a frown and polite dressing-down.

She had a lot of experience with both and a lifetime realizing she was no good at taking the path of least resistance, even if it meant avoiding them.

“Point taken,” King Fedir said. “We should all be getting back.”

“Does she know yet?” the duke asked, his expression calculating, his tone undeniably malicious.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHANEL DIDN’T ASK what he meant, or even acknowledge the man had spoken.

He’d done it in Ukrainian. Somehow she doubted Demyan had been into sharing confidences with the older man, which meant the duke had no idea she understood the language. That made his choice to converse in it pointedly without courtesy.

“You will be silent,” the king replied in the same language to his brother-in-law, his tone harsh.

Ignoring both posturing men, Chanel smiled up at Demyan. “I missed you.”

“Oh, how sweet,” Princess Svitlana said in a tone that made it clear she thought it was anything but.

Demyan’s expression was an odd mixture of tenderness and a strange underlying anxiety as he looked down at Chanel. “I am very proud of you. Not many science geeks would do so well at an affair of state with so little training.”

“You assigned a very potent group of babysitters.”

His nostrils flared as if her words surprised him.

“You didn’t think I realized you’d asked them to watch over me?” Once she had, she’d felt very well cared for.

Demyan would never leave Chanel to sink or swim in the shark-infested waters of his life.

“I could not be with you the entire time,” he said by way of an explanation.

Not that she’d needed one. “Because you’re a prince.”

“It’s a nominative title only,” his birth mother said with more venom, in English this time. “He’s no more a prince than you are a well-bred princess.”

Chanel gave the older woman a measure of her attention, but kept her body and clear allegiance toward Demyan. “I am not a horse and I wasn’t born in a breeding program. While I won’t claim to be a princess, Demyan is definitely a prince.”

“He won’t inherit. Not now that Princess Gillian is carrying the next heir to the throne.”

“But he is the king and queen’s son. That makes him a prince.”

“I gave birth to him,” the duchess said.

Chanel found it odd that the duke never verbalized his claim at fatherhood. “Congratulations.”

“Are you mocking me?”

“No. I don’t know what your other children are like. Hopefully more like their older brother than their parents, but I do know you gave birth to an amazing man in Demyan. I’m sure you are very proud of that accomplishment, but you aren’t his mother any more than I am a princess.”