Chapter Thirteen

It took Vincent close to three hours to realize that his husband might not be happy with him. It had been a fun few hours, for Vincent at least. As soon as dinner was finished, the king and queen left, and that was the signal for people to start to mingle. He was just about to ask Orion to dance with him, because Jaxon was dancing with Olivia and he thought that was only proper, but then Lady Violet came up and asked him, and Vincent felt it would be rude to refuse.

He thought the same thing when he was asked by Lady Rose, Lord Collins, the list went on. Vincent had a reputation as a graceful dancer and there were many people who wanted to be seen in his arms. Lady Violet in particular came back for him four times, and Vincent was at the point of saying something about how that would look when she said, "Oh, thank goodness. I thought that boring man would never leave."

"Boring man?" Vincent glanced around the dance floor, but he couldn't see anyone leaving.

"That insipid prince you married." Lady Violet shook out her curls. "Honestly, your highness, did the man trap you when you were drunk? You can tell me. You know we're good friends."

"I'm not sure I'd put it like that." Vincent tried to see past the other dancers toward the royal table, but Lady Violet was tugging him in the opposite direction. "What is wrong with my husband?"

He found himself in an intimate corner hidden from the other guests by the band. "Lady Violet, answer my question." There were at least six alarm bells ringing in his head.

"Really, your highness? You want to talk about him now, when I've finally got you alone?" Lady Violet's lips pouted. "Fine if you must know. It is common gossip that the King of Tyrion is a lush who spends all his time drinking and gambling. His son, Crown Prince Onyx is staid and boring and doesn't know the first thing about having fun, and the one you married, Orion…"

"Crown Prince Consort Orion," Vincent corrected quickly.

"Yes, well we've all seen what sort of a consort your husband is. Your highness, he's absolutely no fun either. There's talk…and I shudder to repeat it, but it has to be said, but there are rumors going around that your husband works for a living. Actually works."

"What if he does?" That wasn't the first time Vincent had heard the same rumor that evening, but no one could actually tell him what it was his husband was supposed to be working at. He had already realized he probably should've thought to ask Orion about that himself – at least that way he'd have facts to come to his husband's defense - but in the three days they'd spent together, he'd never thought to bring that topic of conversation up.

"Your highness, surely you can understand how badly that will reflect on your reputation? Any royal family that is reduced to working to keep body and soul together…"

"You don't know that's what he's doing. You don't know anything about him at all." Even as he said the words, Vincent realized he didn't either. All we've talked about so far is me. "Please excuse me, I have to…"

"Don't go." Lady Violet gripped his arm. "It's all over the castle that you two have separate rooms. Your husband is not going to notice if you're back late tonight. I have a carriage, and there're no prying eyes at my townhouse…" Her look was sly. "As you well know. You've been there before."

"Yes. Yes, I have." Vincent shrugged off Lady Violet's hand. "But I won't be engaging in those types of behaviors with anyone but my husband again. You said we were friends, didn't you?"

"Yes. Of course, we are. You and I have shared many intimacies in the past."

"I'm not talking about intimacies," Vincent said firmly. "I'm talking about the concepts of friendship. Where two people can enjoy each other's company, with their clothes on, converse, support each other's decisions, and be supportive of each other during major life events. That kind of friendship."

"Your highness, I would like to assume I am one of your greatest friends in that regard, then. It's because of that friendship that I believe I can tell you frankly that your marrying Crown Prince Consort Orion was a huge mistake. As your friend, it is surely my right to ask you, were you sober when you signed the papers?"

"I drafted the papers myself, and yes, I was perfectly sober when I did it. The marriage contract was my idea."

Lady Violet's eyes widened to what must've surely been the point of pain. "My goodness, your highness. Why would you do such a thing? There are so many more interesting people you already know who would have made an admirable consort to someone in your position. The crown prince consort is so different. Did you see that waistcoat he was wearing tonight instead of a robe? He doesn't even know how to dress properly for a royal function."

That statement hurt, and as his anger at a previous companion grew, Vincent reminded himself he couldn't afford to be banished from two courts in the space of a week. His mother would not be impressed. "I purchased that waistcoat for my husband as part of my betrothal gifts for him. I believed the colors would suit him, and he wore it this evening as his way of showing his appreciation for that gift. You could say he wore it to showcase his differences. I married my husband because of those differences - because he could hold an intelligent conversation to the point of challenging me intellectually – a trait I wanted in my life partner. He is amusing, he holds himself to a high moral standard..."

Vincent looked around at where they were and knew exactly how that would look to anyone who saw them disappear. "A moral standard I have failed at this evening, something I will be apologizing for – to my husband," he added as Lady Violet looked as though she was going to say something. "I pledged to be faithful to him, and I intend to keep that vow."

"You broke that vow the moment you didn't stop me kissing you in the receiving line." Lady Violet actually giggled as though that was funny. "While he was standing right next to you. How are you going to maintain your vows when he's left you like he did this evening? We both know he won't be waiting in bed for you tonight."

No, he won't be. Vincent knew that the same as he knew that somewhere during the course of the evening, he reverted to habit and lost touch of the one person who was coming to mean something to him. "This conversation is over," he said stiffly. "It has been very enlightening. It's clearly time I made new friends."

Spinning on his heel, Vincent stalked away, conscious of the eyes on him as he went back into public view. Ignoring them he went directly to the royal table where Jaxon was just assisting Olivia out of her seat. "Where's Orion?"

"Don't talk to me." Olivia put up her hand, refusing to even look at him. "If I'm forced to say anything to you right now, I will forget I am a lady. You will present yourself at my breakfast room at eight bells tomorrow morning and you'd better be bathed and not smelling of anyone's perfume. You have humiliated my brother this evening beyond repair, and it will take me a long time to forget that."

"Jaxon?" Vincent appealed to his old friend, but Jaxon was shaking his head.

"You stink of Lady Violet's scent, Vincent. I suggest you do as the crown princess has suggested. We'll see you in the morning."

The pair left, and Vincent followed them out of the hall, making his way to the suite of rooms prepared for him. He paused as he went past the rooms Orion was using. Should I? Shouldn't I? He lifted his hand to knock, but he hesitated again, lifting the material of his robe and sniffing.

Wrinkling his nose Vincent realized he'd been dancing a lot closer to some of his partners than he probably should have. That cologne is very strong. It wasn't anything Vincent had ever noticed before when he'd had a night out at an event, but then the people he'd ended the night with hadn't cared about it either. Orion will care.

Letting out a long sigh, Vincent lingered for a moment and then went on to his own suite. Morgan was waiting for him, and he didn't look happy either.

"I know, I know." Going across to a chair, Vincent slumped into it and kicked off his shoes as Morgan closed the door. "My old habits got the best of me, and I spent far too much time dancing and having fun with people who weren't my husband. I've clearly got some apologizing to do to my husband in the morning. Do you know what time he retired for the evening? I'm figuring I need to get up early so I can catch him and apologize to him before we join Jaxon and Olivia for breakfast. Hopefully she won't be as cross with me if she sees I've made up with her brother."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible sir." Morgan came over, holding out an envelope. Vincent frowned as he recognized the handwriting on the outside of it as his husband's. "The crown prince consort left the castle this evening. He refused to take any guards, and is only accompanied by his man, John. All John would tell me was that they weren't heading back to the Tyrion castle, but unfortunately that means we have no idea of his current whereabouts or his destination."

"Orion left me?" Vincent clutched the envelope to his chest – a chest that was suddenly very sore, as if someone had punched him. "If he was unhappy, why didn't he talk to me about it?"

"When would he have done that, sir?" Morgan collected his shoes and went to put them away. "Would that have been while you were snuggling with Lady Violet on the dance floor, or when you disappeared with her and were gone for more than twenty minutes?"

"We were just talking." Vincent wanted to sink into the floor. "Nothing improper happened."

"Sire, I must protest." Morgan spun around and Vincent realized his personal valet was furious with him. "You allowed that woman to kiss you, physically kiss you on both cheeks in front of the king and queen, not to mention your husband and his sister and brother-in-law. You didn't object. You didn't insist she leave, which is the least you would do to someone who had behaved so disgracefully in front of the royal family and your husband . Something any other royal family member would've done if someone had breached their personal space in such a manner."

When Morgan put it like that, it did sound bad. Vincent had genuinely not considered doing anything like that. As a single man, he'd never worried when people got into his personal space.

"The fact that your consort accompanied you to dinner was a miracle in itself. He had every right to leave you standing there, but he didn't, and I can only assume that is because his sister was one of the hosts. But then to compound your disgraceful behavior you didn't even share the first dance with your husband, which is a tradition for all royal family members. You chose to dance with Lady Violet instead. Sire, I can barely speak with how angry I am on your husband's behalf. Don't you understand what you've done?"

"This was my first official event as a married person." Vincent felt sick to his stomach. "I didn't know about the first dance protocol, and no one has ever objected to my friendly behavior before."

"You weren't married before, sire. Don't you understand how badly you humiliated your husband? You not only completely ignored him in public, but you spent the entire night blatantly dancing with people who have been more intimate with you than your husband will ever have a chance to be. That is all anyone can talk about downstairs.

"You should hear them, sir, talking about how Crown Prince Vincent from Faast is so bored with his husband, after only three days wed, he can't even be bothered to keep up appearances anymore. They are laughing at Orion and nothing he did tonight deserved that. In short, sire, your behavior tonight was totally disgraceful, especially when it was you who pushed for the wedding in the first place. Your mother is furious with you."

"You told her already? You didn't even give me a chance to explain my side of the story?" Vincent felt like he was being punched with one accusation after another.

"Queen Julia contacted me! Faast and Carntan share a crystal radio service. Some anonymous person, likely one of your acquaintances who you were entertaining this evening, was very quick to send a message to the Queen of Faast, expressing their discomfort at attending an event where your disgraceful behavior was allowed to go unchecked. She got out of bed to send a reply because she was so upset at your behavior. She is demanding you give the King and Queen of Carntan a formal apology, and in her words, ‘Fix your mess.'"

"How did this happen?" Vincent groaned as his reality started sinking in. "Everyone loves me. No one ever complains about my behavior. My friends all think I am witty, amusing, a delightful dancer, and…"

"And single, sire. You were single then," Morgan interrupted firmly. "I am not suggesting for a moment that all royal family marriages are as solid as the one Crown Prince Jaxon and Crown Princess Olivia enjoy, but every single royal family couple keep their differences out of the public eye, showing a united front.

"If affairs are had, they are done discreetly and never in such a way as to cause embarrassment to a spouse, and that's only in situations where the marriage contract didn't come with a fidelity clause, which yours did. Sire, you forgot your husband was even in the room before dessert was finished."

"I was so sure he would have fun with me."

"He might have done," Morgan said drily, "if you'd bothered to give him any attention at all. One of the footmen mentioned that they heard your husband tell Crown Prince Jaxon he was worried you would fall down Lady Violet's cleavage you were so attentive to it."

"Oh, goddess of steel and magic. Can this evening get any worse?"

"I suggest you read the note from your husband before you make that assessment."

And apparently, yes, Crown Prince Vincent's night could get worse. The note was brief and to the point.

Dear Crown Prince Vincent,

It is a shame that when I vowed to you in one of our first conversations to never embarrass you in public, I never considered asking you to conduct yourself to the same standard.

Brutal lesson learned. One I won't forget.

Orion.