Hannah Currie - Heart of a Royal (Daughters of Peverell Book 1)

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayedin this novel are either fictitious or usedfictitiously.

HEART OF A ROYAL

Copyright 2019, Hannah Currie

All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or in whole isstrictly forbidden without the express written consent of thepublisher, with the exception of a brief quotation for reviewpurposes.

WhiteSpark Publishing, a division of WhiteFirePublishing

13607 Bedford Rd NE

Cumberland, MD 21502

ISBNs:

978-1-946531-53-7 (paperback)

978-1-946531-55-1 (hardcover)

978-1-946531-54-5 (digital)

Table of Contents

On e

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

S eventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seve n

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

Thirty

Thirty-One

Acknowledgments

For Isabel andKatie

When I wrote about Kenna,I was thinking of you.

You both make me soproud.

The world was crashingaround me

I couldnt find myway

My life had skittered somewhereout of reach

All I knew wasfading

Leaving mebehind

All alone, too scared toeven stand

But then,

there You were

Still and steady, sure andgood

Holding out Your hand forme to take

Asking me to trustYou

Telling me Icould

Showing me theway

That I might know

Your strength and lightand hope

Your care and love andpeace

Youre the reason I canbreathe

In the middle of thiswhirlwind

If mortification could kill,Id be six feet under. And Nurse Kristiann over in the corner wouldprobably still be trying to hide her laughter at the funeral. Somehelp she was. A word, a jerk of the head, even a cough would havebeen enough to warn me the three of us were no longeralone.

Well? What happened next? DidPrince Thoraben find another pair of pants or did he have to staysitting there until the princess left? What did the king say? Was hemad?

I did my best to ignore Kristianns muffledlaughter and the bemused prince standing in the doorway and focusedinstead on the wide gray eyes of the little girl in the hospitalbed. The one intent on getting me into trouble. Even if she had noidea she was doing it. Not that I could really blame her. I hadbeen the one to tell the story.

He, uh

Seventeen years and nine monthsof living in the palace should have taught me better than to sharepersonal information about the royal family. Id never betrayedtheir confidence before, steering well clear of anything which would put thefamily I all but called my own in a bad light, but Roni had lookedso worried this morning, staring out the window, the bright shirtsshe favored swapped for a colorless gown as she counted down thehours till her heart surgery. Even her curls were drooping. I wouldhave done anything to make her smile, so when she asked ifThoraben, who she idolized along with the rest of Peverell, was asperfect as he seemed, Id told her the first story that came tomind.

Well?

Uh My gaze drifted beyond Roni to Ben,still standing in the doorway, all six foot of him. Hed crossedhis arms now, a half smile quirking the side of his mouth as heleaned against the door, no doubt waiting to see what Id do next.As if I had any idea. What had I been thinking? And how had I notnoticed him standing there? King Everson aside, Prince Thoraben wasthe most powerful man in Peverell, drawing the public eye whereverhe went. Once upon a time, him catching me sharing one of his mostembarrassing moments would have only made me embellish it more,teasing out each moment until we laughed so hard we couldnttalk.

Once upon a time, wed beenchildren. Heum

A hand rubbed its way acrosshis smile, doing nothing to wipe it away. I dont knowwha t mannerof pleading or apology he saw in my expression, nor how much hedmake me pay for it, but with a shake of his head and a few stridesforward, he finally spoke.

He made up a story aboutneeding to leave, borrowed his little sisters pink jacketu nder thevery gallant guise of carrying it for her, tied it around hiswaistdesperately hoping it was long enough to cover the split inthe back of his pants that lengthened as he stoodand walked backto the car. Where he proceeded to sit for the next forty minutes,waiting for his father to finish his meeting, not sure whether heregretted more the fact that hed tried to impress Princess Tarynwith a cartwheel or that his little sister and her best friend,Lady Kenna, had witnessed it and were still giggling. Thankfully,his father, the king, never found out.

Prince Thoraben! Ronistraightened in her bed, a thin, almost translucent hand fiddling with thegown she wore, tucking it tighter round her shoulders. Youre inmy room!

He grinned as he pulled a chair over to herbed and sat. I heard you were having an operation this afternoonand thought Id come and see if you were okay.

I hadnt thought her eyes couldhave widenedany more, nor my respect for this man grow any higher than italready was. Somehow, they did. You heard about me?

Sure. Lady Mackenna here talks about you alot. He winked. She blushed. And me, it seems. Heat rushedacross my cheeks again as he turned to me, eyebrow raised. I shouldhave been thankful he found the situation so amusing. Perhaps Imight have if I hadnt been so busy berating myself over the factthat, once again, Id let my heart get in the way of my bettersense.

A princess always considers her wordscarefully before speaking.

A princess must be respectful at alltimes.

I wasnt a princess. Not in blood nor intitle, but while I lived at the palace and acted in their name, thesame rules applied.

She thinks yourehandsom e,Roni piped up, drawing his attention back to her.

She does, does she?

And there went the tips of myears. Burnt to a crisp. Any second now my hair would start smokingand set off every alarm in the place. Ronis heart might not have workedproperly, but her matchmaking mind certainly did. Last time Ivisited, shed tried to set me up with Blake, one of her nurses.The time before it had been her uncle. Apparently, shed nowdecided to skip those options and go for the most eligible man inPeverell. As if he even had the option of marrying me.

I sent a desperate glarein Kristianns direction, begging for intervention. Surely,she could come up with something. Nurses always had something theycould do. Take a temperature, check a dressing, chart the level ofpain

Yep. And the nicest manshes everknown. I said she should marry you because shes a princess andyoure a prince but she said shes not really a princess so shecouldnt but my mom said she might as well be because she acts likeone but when I told Lady Kenna that, she said

You kn ow, maybe you should marry him, I interrupted, not surewhere she was going with this conversation but certain Ben didntneed to hear it. Amused as he currently seemed.

Roni sighed . I cant. Im too young. Momsaid so. But youre not, Lady Kenna. Youre exactly the right age,and you did say he was

Okay, Roni, I interrupted,again. Yep, definitely going to get me in trouble. I think wevetold Prince Thoraben enough of our secrets for today. Look,Nurse Kristiann is going to check your blood pressure nowwhether she needed to or notAnd then as soon as your mom arrives,youll be ready to go.