Keys to the Kingdom (3 page)

"Good," said Lenora. "Then we must form a plan, one that will assure we don't have to marry these men."

"How will we do that?" asked Luna with a mischievous smile.

"By making certain they don't want to marry us," Lenora said with a smile.

The sisters looked at one another and smiled.

"But we will have to be subtle about it," the eldest princess continued. "I'm sure they will be expecting us to resist, and we will, but not in any way we expect. We will undercut their ardor by using our own special talents."

"Talents?" Lark asked. "What talents have we, besides being pretty?"

"Being pretty isn't a talent," Angelica snapped.

Lark stuck out her tongue but straightened up when her oldest sister looked sternly in her direction.

"Angelica is quite right," Lenora said. "It will take more than being pretty, so we will use our less than attractive traits. It's no secret that we can be incorrigible. If I had a piece of gold for every time Father told me I was impossible I could buy my own castle. So if I put my "charms" to work, what man would want to marry me?"

She turned to Fiona. "You're a troublemaker," she said. "That makes your job the easiest, as it involved subterfuge. Get them fighting among themselves and they'll be weakened by the distraction."

Lenora turned to Angelica. "You're the best among us at lying," she said. "I sometimes wonder how you keep them all straight, or even believe what comes from your own mouth. You can keep them guessing at every turn, and if we need someone to cover for us it will be you."

"Fair Luna," she said. "You were aptly named, for the moon is a shiny plaything. You among us have the most fun by playing with his love like a toy. Just when he thinks you treasure it, break it and cast it aside."

"And as for you..." Lenora looked at your youngest, spoiled sister sitting there with her perpetual pout. And she smiled. "Dear, just be yourself."

"But sister," Luna said, worrying her lip with her teeth. "What if they..I mean, aren't you worried that they'll...do what that awful eldest prince did to you?"

Lenora's face flamed red with anger and humiliation at the memory. "Let them try," she said. "For each blow visited upon our bottoms, these princes will pay with more aggravation than they ever anticipated. Mark me on this, sisters. We are the daughters of Elgar, and we will not be spanked into submission. We will be strong."

She held out her hand. "Promise me that."

"We promise," her siblings said in unison, placing their outstretched hands on top of hers.

Lenora smiled, seeking to convey a sense of certainty to the others. But deep down she felt a grain of unease. The spanking had hurt. It had hurt very much. How much more could she take? And how far were these princes willing to go?

* * *

Kier walked into the quarters he shared with his brothers with a confident stride. Behind him his brothers subconsciously adopted the elders' swagger as they moved one by one into the room to collapse in chairs around the roaring fire.

"See, gentleman?" Kier asked, stretching his long legs out and lacing his hands behind his head. "Nothing to it. One firm spanking and the clawing wildcat is reduced to a complacent little kitten."

Prince Justin, the second born, sighed and shook his head. "I must confess, brother. I expected more defiance all of them. But your betrothed certainly appeared subdued, and the others shaken by what they saw." He laughed. "It would see the king doesn't really know his daughters as well as he thinks he does."

"Indeed," Kier said, rising from his chair and walking to a table. Decanting a large flask, he poured five celebratory drinks. "Of course, as a elderly man, taming all those willful young women must seem like a daunting task. Is it any wonder that he magnified it beyond proportion? Not that it matters. His failure as a father will be our gain. Normally I disdain men too weak to control their own offspring. But I must say in this case...."

He lifted the tray holding the drinks he'd poured and offered them to his brothers, who stood to raise a toast.

"To a new dawn in Ardonia, beginning with marriage to our five beautiful, obedient princesses."

"Here, here!" his brothers said, as the glasses tinkled together.

And then they settled back into their chairs to talk and plan and dream before going to bread and dreaming of their bright futures.

* * *

So the official courtship period began the following morning with the Princes of Randor joining the Princesses of Ardonia for breakfast.

It was a lavish affair, with the shiny oak table covered in silver dishes holding glistening hams, mounds of fluffy eggs, fragrant breads, jams, honey from the royal hives and milk from the royal dairy. Another platter held exotic fruits from faraway lands - pomegranates and bananas and quince.

The princesses lined one side of the table and the princesses the other, each sitting across from the one they were slated to eventually marry.

The five sons of Randor, who'd known nothing but want during their time in exile, sought not to seem too hungry in front of the haughty princesses, who watched from under long lashes as they piled their plates high. When Leo tried to stack a third piece of bread on his already heaping plate, Quentin nudged him and scowled.

Prince Ivan noticed Luna watching, a smirk playing on pretty mouth.

"Does something amuse you?" he asked curtly, his face growing warm under her scrutiny of him.

She smiled prettily. "Everything amuses me, sir. At the moment I'm amused that your brother seems to fear the food may sprout legs and run away before he can eat it all. Look at how he piles his plate like a peasant boy. What's next? Is he planning to fill his pockets as well?"

Leo reddened as the girls all began to twitter with laughter and the four younger princes immediately looked to the elder, who had give them advice on how to deal with defiance, but not scorn.

He could feel Kier's eyes on him, demanding that he take charge and make an example of this impertinent beauty.

"Leave the table, Luna," Ivan said firmly.

She looked at him, her expression one of amused disbelief.

"Leave the table? Leave my table? Why?"

"For you rudeness," Ivan said coolly. "When we are married..."

"But we are not married," she interrupted.

"Not yet," Ivan replied. "But we shall be. And now wife of mine will be allowed to display such rudeness at my table. Such disrespect will not be tolerated. So go to your room."

Luna looked down at her plate. "Before I've even finished my breakfast?" she asked. At her side, her sisters watched the events carefully, their pretty eyes narrowing with anger.

"Yes," he said. "Perhaps missing breakfast will make you more willing to behave properly when the noontime meal is served."

Luna regarded him for a moment from across the table. And then she picked up her fork and resumed eating as if he'd said nothing at all.

Ivan clearly had not been expecting her to simply ignore him, and he turned his gaze to Kier, who subtly jerked his head back towards Luna, indicating that the fourth born brother should pursue the matter with no further hesitation.

Luna, however, paid him no heed, not even when he rose and began to make his way down the long table and up the other side - where he women were seated - towards Luna.

It just as he rounded the corner that his feel slipped out from under him and he fell - most ungracefully - to the floor. The princesses erupted in laughter as he slowly sat up and peeled the banana skin from the bottom of his shoe while rubbing the back of his head where he'd bumped it.

Kier was immediately on his feet. "Which one of you did that?" he boomed, his eyes traveling from one beautiful face to the other.

"Not, I," said Lenora, returning his bold gaze.

"Nor I," said Fiona. "Perhaps it slipped off Prince Leo's over laden plate. For shame, Leo, causing your brother to slip."

Leo looked at her dumbly.

"Well I'm not to blame," said Angelica. "The banana was on the floor when we came in. We were simply smart enough to avoid it." This, of course, was a lie.

Luna sighed. "Am I really expected to marry the clumsy one?" But even as she asked she couldn't suppress her wicked giggle.

"It wasn't me," objected Lark. "Bananas are yellow. I hate yellow. It clashes with my ribbons."

Ivan had clamored to his feet now, and was brushing himself off. His face was red with embarrassment and growing redder as the princesses continued to giggle at him.

"Stop that!" Kier said. "Stop that immediately! We are the Princes of Randor! We are to be your husbands and masters, and we are not to be trifled with!"

This only made the girls laugh harder.

"Oh no," Lenora said. "Who would possibly trifle with such
well-heeled
loyalty!"

"That's it," Kier said. "All of you! To your quarters! Now!"

But the girls just resumed eating, and as their laughter died away the only sound that could be heard was the tinkering of silver on plates.

Even Kier seemed at a loss for words now as his brothers looked at him for some clue as to what to do next.

He ran his hand through his hair nervously, trying to decide. He got the obvious feeling that Lenora - like him - was the leader. Should he take her from her chair and spank her bottom as he had done the night before?

Even as he considered it, he realized that would not be fair. After all, it had been Luna who had ignored a direct order, and he had no proof that she had tossed the banana peel in Ivan's path.

But something must be done, and quickly, if he and his brothers were not to completely lose face with the women they sought to command.

"Stop eating," he ordered again. "Stop eating at once and go to your quarters. Now. All of you."

The women didn't even look up.

"You!" Kier snapped his fingers towards a servant standing nearby. "Come at once and take everything from the table. Including the princesses' plates."

"Beg pardon, sir," the man said, staying where he was. "King Elgar gives the commands in this castle. I will only take food from his daughters' mouths on his direct orders."

"Well then go get him, then!" Kier boomed.

"My orders are to stay here during breakfast," the servant said, unmoved still. "If you seek the king, then have one of your brothers fetch him."

"These bananas are delicious, sisters. Try them!" Lenora's voice floated to him from across the room.

When Kier shot her an angry look, Lenora picked up a banana slice and popped into her mouth, smiling innocently as she did.

Kier groaned in frustration. "You, Quentin. Go fetch the king."

"Certainly brother," Quentin said, rising quickly from the table to the disappointment of his siblings, each of whom had hoped to be chosen to leave what was beginning to look like a losing battle.

As he left, Kier turned back to the princesses. "When your father hears of this you'll find the tables turned. Don't think that my brothers and I are so easily outwitted."

"Oh no," Lenora said. "We'd never think that."

Then she and the others burst into laughter again.

"Stop it!" Kier commanded. "Stop or I'll..."

"You'll what?" Lenora asked. "Beat us. For laughing? I can only imagine how much fun life will be with you once you've banished mirth from the castle. Or is it simply forbidden when you are its target."

She turned to Luna. "You get the clumsy one. I get the insecure one."

Kier felt his fists clenched. His hands itched to grab Lenora form her chair and haul her across the room, to throw her over his lap and bare her bottom - modesty be damned! - and spank her until her perfect posterior was a deep cherry red and she was begging him for mercy.

But she'd succeeded in making him look petty, and if he spanked her now he would only look more petty.

And she knew it. He could tell by the way she looked at him with this satisfied, victorious expression on her beautiful face. And he was going to marry this woman? Did he want to?

Then he reminded himself of the king's promise of lands and titles and riches, of honor restored to the sons of Salazar. And Kier knew he had a duty to forge ahead and tame this woman and - if possible - try to love her.

"Where in the world was that king?" he wondered and finally, when he was nearly at his wits end, the doors opened and King Elgar walked slowly and stiffly into the room with Quentin by his side.

But it was too late.

The sisters had all risen from the table, their plates now cleared of food.

"I was told I was needed?" he said, looking from his daughters to the princesses.

"Yes, papa. We summoned you," lied Angelica. "For we wanted to thank you for the lovely breakfast and tell you how much we love you. The girls circled their father then and smothered his old face with kisses as he sighed with happiness."

Kier moved over to Quentin. "You didn't tell him," he observed. "You didn't tell him why he'd been summoned."

"I thought it was best if you did," Quentin said defensively.

"My daughters tell me the food is not to your liking?" The king stepped forward now and looked at the table where the princes' plates sat nearly full across from the princess' cleared ones.

"No, there is nothing wrong with the food."

"But your plates are still full!" the King observed.

"We were....distracted," Kier said.

"By the good conversation," Angelica offered.

"Yes," Fiona said. "The princes were just telling us how they enjoy jousting, and how they are extremely adept at it, and how they regularly practice jousting with one another in a most aggressive fashion. They think you might like to watch a match!"

The brothers looked at one another in confusion. They'd said nothing of the sort, and what's more while they knew how to joust none of them were particularly adept.

"Splendid!" the king replied before Kier could explain. "It's been years since I've seen a good jousting match. We'll arrange one for later today, and I'll even put up one of my jewels as a prize to the prince who wins!"

"Lovely!" Lark replied. "I do like a man with jewels. I home my betrothed wins it, so he can make a gift of it to me!"