CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1

“Oh, please. Seven minutes the other way, and you’d be Queen,” Christian, her brother, said.

“Well, it didn’t work out that way, and you’re going to be King.”

“He’s talked about retiring for years; he won’t do it,” Christian argued. “The last I heard him talk of retirement was at Christmas, and Mom talked him out of it.”

“He might. You’re more than old enough to take over for him now, and his Parkinson’s has been getting worse. You know how he hates looking weak on camera.”

“It’s not his fault he has Parkinson’s,” Christian replied.

“I know, but he’s also sixty years old, and I’ve heard Mom tell him that she wants him to start taking it easy. The events, functions, and the travel have been getting to him a lot more lately.”

“You know I don’t want this, right?” he asked her.

“It’s the hand you were dealt,” Elin reminded her twin.

“What if it’s the hand I deal you?” he asked.

“What are you talking about?” Elin glared over at him as they walked down the expansive hall with paintings from the masters hung in ornate frames that were just as beautiful as the paintings they held.

“I don’t want it. I never have. I’ve dreaded the day he dies, and not just because he’s my father. I’m a Prince, and when I get married, I’ll be a Duke and a Prince. I’m good with that.”

“Dad would say it doesn’t matter what you’re good with – it’s your duty to take your place,” she argued.

“You’re next up after me, Elin. We both know you should have been born first. I don’t know why I fought you out of the womb and ended up with the unlucky straw, but that’s how it feels to me – unlucky.” He shrugged a shoulder as they continued down the hall and turned right. “I’m going to abdicate when it happens; whether it’s today or in ten years. We might as well talk about this now.”

“What?” She stopped walking. “Christian, you can’t just abdicate. Dad will kill you.”

“I want to serve my unit and my country. I can’t do that if I’m King. I’m a military man; that’s what I want for myself. Dad will understand that. He’s always known there was a chance I’d want to remain in the Royal Air Force. I haven’t hidden that from him. The entire country knows. I’m a Captain, and I’ve earned that rank; it’s not just something they’ve given me because I’m a Prince. I want to retire from the Air Force one day, and if this country ever has to go to war, Elin – heaven forbid, but if they do – I’ll be there fighting for it.”

“Well, that makes you sound like a good person and not at all like someone trying to shirk his duties and thrust them upon his unprepared sister,” she replied.

“You’ve known this could happen,” he said.

“As a possibility, yes. But you’re telling me it’s reality now.”

“Because it is. I’m ready to tell Father and Mother that I’d like to be left out of the line of succession from now on. We can announce it to the country whenever, but that’s my decision.”

“It’s that American university you went to,” she joked. “It gave you all sorts of ideas, didn’t it?”

Christian laughed and said, “You’d make a better Queen than I would King any day of the week. Besides, we’re twins, Elin; he’s been preparing us both for this for years because we were inseparable when we were younger and actually like each other now.”

Elin stared into his blue eyes that so resembled her own and watched as he ran a hand through his unkempt ice-blonde hair. He’d get a cut and style it neatly before leaving the palace, but right now, he wasn’t a Prince – he was her brother, her twin who was seven minutes older and thus, had been called the heir to the throne of Norway. They’d been raised by a humble monarch who didn’t want to rock the boat and his equally humble wife. They also had two younger sisters. Neither of them was particularly interested in the throne – at least, not now – but that made sense: Lillian was twenty-seven, and Mari was only twenty-four. Christian and Elin were thirty years old and had started taking on more and more royal work since their father’s Parkinson’s diagnosis five years prior.

“Let’s just see what he has to say. Maybe he just wants to talk about some ambassador visiting or a family holiday.”

“Well, Lillian and Mari weren’t invited, so I doubt it’s the family thing,” Christian reasoned as he started walking again.

She followed close behind as she’d done since they were born, always one step behind her big brother. He’d always been just a little bit bigger and just a little bit faster. When it came to school, he was better at some things; Elin was better at others. The first time they’d been separated had been university – Christian had gone to America, and she’d gone to a school in St. Rais, followed by law school in Norway. After that, they’d both served their mandatory two years in the military as per her father’s requirement that all royals, regardless of gender, serve for two years. Christian had stayed. She’d spent the past several years taking an active role as a senior member of the royal family.

“Ah, come in,” their father said, standing from behind his old pine desk that had been given to him as a gift from his father prior to his death. “Have a seat. Your mother is on her way. She had lunch with the Prime Minister’s wife today.”

They sat down on the small sofa opposite the two chairs in the overly large office meant more as a meeting room and office combination than a true office. The door opened, and their mother walked in past the two guards that had opened the doors for Elin and Christian only moments earlier.

“Hello,” she greeted with a wide smile that endeared her to everyone she met.

“Hey, Mom,” Christian said, leaning forward to grab a grape from the bowl of fresh fruit her father had brought in every day.

Elin watched her father walk over to the chair, and her mother moved quickly to him to help him sit down. It was more protective than was absolutely necessary, but it was evident that her father’s tremors and other symptoms were beginning to show more and more every day.

“Shall we have tea brought in?” he asked once they were all seated.

“I’m good,” Christian replied.

“I just had some at lunch. Elin?” her mother asked.

“I’m fine,” Elin said, crossing her legs how she’d been taught by her mother when she was young.

“Very well. I suppose I should cut to the chase, as they say,” he began. “Your mother and I have been talking, and I’ve been speaking with my doctors as well. It would seem this disease is progressing faster than they initially projected, and it’s far beyond tremors now.” He paused as his wife of thirty-two years took his hand. “They’ve done more tests, and it seems some of my cognitive functions are showing a decline. We thought I’d have at least a few more years, but I need to announce to the country that it’s time for me to retire. What does that mean for a King? I know I’ve asked myself that question. Monarchs don’t retire; they die and pass the crown on to their firstborn. But, in rare circumstances, monarchs do retire, and while it’s still an abdication, it means that they are no longer the sovereign.” The King looked up with the blue eyes all of his children inherited. “It will soon be time for a new King of Norway, Christian.”

“Dad, I–”

“Now, I know this isn’t what you wanted or expected,” he interrupted his son. “But I can’t let the country see me fall apart. I am still technically the head of state, and while that doesn’t mean all it used to mean, it means something, and I won’t have people think me weak or frail. That’s my ego; I’m aware. However, I also won’t have anyone think this nation is weak or frail. I won’t put it at risk as my mind continues to go. You understand.”

And it wasn’t a question; he expected them to understand.

“Dad, I don’t want to be King,” Christian replied. “I never have. But you know how much I love the Air Force, my men, and my job.”

“You have a duty to your country.”

“And I will perform that duty as a Captain in the Royal Air Force,” Christian replied.

“Christian, don’t do this,” their mother chimed in. “You know this is more than your military career. Your father is telling you that he needs his only son to do his job.”

“Mom, I’m the only son, but I’m not your only child. We all know it should be Elin anyway,” he said, hooking a thumb at Elin. “She’s better at this. She’s been doing it for the past six years while I’ve been training.”

“You’d place your duty on your sister’s shoulders?” their father asked, clearly unhappy. “I thought you’d grow out of this phase.”

“What phase?” Christian asked.

“The one where you don’t care about anyone but yourself,” he replied.

“Dad, that’s not fair,” Elin said. “Christian cares about his men. He cares about the Air Force and this country. That’s how he wants to serve.”

“So, you’re all right with this?” her mother asked. “Your brother abdicating right after your father? You think that shows the country a strong monarchy?”

“I think he should remove himself from the line of succession, saying it is due to his military service, prior to Dad announcing his own retirement.”

“And what about you?” her father asked.

“What about me?”

“Elin, you’d be Queen of this country,” her mother said.

“Oh,” she uttered, realizing that maybe for the first time since she’d met her brother in the hallway and they’d walked into this room.

She’d be Queen. She supposed she’d known this to be a possibility. Since they were little, Christian had spoken about how he didn’t want to be King. Ultimately, he didn’t see the purpose of the monarchy and didn’t feel that someone who felt that way should be the one wearing the crown. Elin suspected that his four years living in a country without a monarchy didn’t help him find that purpose, and once he’d joined the Royal Air Force, his mind had been made up. She should have been preparing herself for this eventuality because that was what it had been all along; an eventuality.

“I want Christian to be happy, and it’s clear that’s in the Air Force. I did my two years in the Army, but I don’t want a career in the military, and I don’t plan on becoming a nun, so I see no reason why I couldn’t be Queen of Norway and fulfill my duty,” she said, trying to sound confident as her heart thundered in her chest.

“We haven’t prepared you for this,” her father replied.

“Dad, you’ve prepared both of us for this. Elin and I took all of our lessons together as kids. If it were Lillian or Mari, I’d understand your hesitation, but Elin knows what it takes to be the head of state. She has a political science degree and is, technically, a lawyer. The nation loves her because she’s constantly out there volunteering and taking care of them. She’s the best choice.”

“There’s not a choice, Christian,” their father said before he cleared his throat. “That’s not how this works. I’m not a father running the family butcher shop who has to decide which child will take it over when he can’t handle the work anymore. I am a King. This is a country we’re talking about. You will do your duty.”

“I am, Dad. I swore an oath to the Air Force, to the men and women who serve with me, and to the crown.”

“Yes, to me.”

“No, to the crown,” Christian argued. “To what it represents. And yes, to the person who holds it, but more to the institution. If you retire, Elin will be the crown.”

“Well, he is retiring. That decision has been made already,” their mother said. “Elin, there has never been a Queen by birth in independent Norway.”

“I know,” Elin said.

“And you’re prepared to be the first?”

She thought about how she’d be the first in more ways than one and decided that would have to be addressed at another time because it was too much for their parents right now.

“I am,” she replied.

“Hans, our son has made up his mind. I don’t know that we can change it,” their mother said.

“I’m aware,” their father replied, clearly seething beneath the surface. “I will have my secretary draft the statement that will go out regarding you being removed from the line of succession so that you may pursue your military career. You will sign off on whatever we write without question.”

“Okay,” Christian agreed, likely feeling as if that was the best he was going to get out of this situation.

“I’ll talk to Prime Minister about the rest,” their father added. “Say nothing to anyone about this, you two; not until we’ve had a chance to talk.”

“Not even Lillian or Mari?” Christian asked.

“Not even to your sisters,” he replied. “I have to wrap my head around how to present this to the country, and we’ll get your sisters on board then.”

“It’s time for your medication,” their mother reminded him.

“You may go,” he said dismissively to his children.

The doors were opened for them, and they made their way down the hall until they were sure they were alone. Then, they both stopped without telling the other that was what they’d planned to do.

“I still always feel like a kid when he does that,” Christian said. “You may go,” he imitated their father’s deep baritone.

“Me too,” Elin said, smiling.

“Well, you used to be Her Royal Highness, Princess of Norway. Then, you were made Princess Royal. Now, you’re about to be Her Majesty, Queen Elin of Norway. How does it feel?”

Elin just lifted an eyebrow at him, unsure of how to answer that question.