Keys to the Kingdom Read online

  The girls looked at each other and then at their father.

  "Randor?" asked Lenora. "Father, do you speak of the late Salazar's conquered kingdom?"

  "Yes," her father said.

  "Then they aren't really princes, father, for Randor is no more."

  "It was defeated, yes" Kier said, his eyes burning with anger at her words. "But one day it will be reclaimed."

  "By an army of five exiled princes?" Lenora asked, and there was mirth in her voice that angered Kier even more.

  He started to speak up, but before he could, the eldest of King Randor's daughters again addressed her father.

  "So why are these sons of Salazar here?" she asked. "Do you offer them sanctuary now?"

  Her father smiled patiently and nodded. "Yes, my daughter. I offer them sanctuary. And more. I offer them marriage to my daughters."

  "WHAT?" The girls erupted as one. "Marriage? To us? Are you mad, father?"

  King Randor put his hands up in an appeal for calm but the girls were in an uproar now, their voices raised and their color high as they looked from one to another, their eyes flashing with fury and indignation.

  "This is about male heirs, isn't it, father?" Fiona spat, her green eyes narrowed. "You'd give us and your kingdom to the sons of a failed king who couldn't hold his own lands or life before you'd trust you own blood with it!"

  "Daughters..." King Randor began, but he was drowned out again by Angelica.

  "You never loved us, did you? Poor mother. At least she died before she could see us so betrayed."

  "Please, girls..." King Randor tried again.

  "You're mad, father! These men have nothing to offer us. And yet you hand us over as chattel!"

  Meanwhile, Lark had burst into tears. "I can't marry a poor man, father. I simply cannot!"

  But it was Lenora who continued to speak the loudest.

  "This is an outrage father, and it will not be borne. Do you understand? We will not marry these five unworthy princes who have nothing more to offer us than their fine looks."

  "Daughter...."

  "No," she said, raising her voice now. "The five sons of Salazar are nothing more than fortune hunters who have obviously done a good job convincing an addled old man to hand over all that he has..."

  "Lenora, be silent," the king bellowed. "That is not true. I summoned them!"

  "If you did then you are truly daft!" Lenora shot back.

  And now Kier was on his feet and striding towards her. When he was inches away from Lenora he stopped and stared down at her. He was a handsome man, with shoulder length black hair and a strong, square jaw set in anger.

  "Your father did invite us, Princess Lenora," he said. "And now you will apologize not just to your king for embarrassing him in front of guests, but also to me and my brothers for calling us fortune hunters."

  Lenora looked at him with a mixture of disgust and disdain. "Me, a daughter of Randor, apologize to you? I shall not. And you, sir, may go to hell."

  "Is that your response then?" Prince Kier asked.

  "Yes," Lenora seethed. "It most certainly is."

  "Very well," he replied and took her by the arm and began dragging her across the room to where a chair sat. When her other sisters made as to rush to her aid they found themselves similarly restrained, each by the man to which she was being betrothed. And thus held fast they could only watch in horror at what happened next.

  Prince Kier sat down and threw Princess Lenora across his lap. She fought him vigorously, her blonde hair tumbling from its pins to spill across the floor like a shining golden cover.

  Kier adjusted his grip and made sure it was fast before lifting her skirts to reveal her thin, delicate pantalets. He considered removing them, but then decided against it. This was to be his future wife, after all, and some things are only for the eyes of a husband. Besides, the fabric of the undergarment was so thin he was confident that it would afford not protection against what he was about to do.

  Kier raised his hand and began to spank Lenora. Hard. She screamed in pain as he did so, for she had never been struck in her life. Within moments her bottom was burning with pain and the ears of everyone in the room were being assailed with the sounds of her curses.

  "Son of a whore!" she cried. "Son of a failed dead king!" "Son of a donkey and a goat!"

  But Kier ignored her insults, his only response being to strike her even harder until her taunts turned to tears.

  Her sisters cried out at the sound of their eldest sobbing.

  "Brutish bastard!" Fiona screamed, and Justin pulled her close to him, his mouth just inches from her ear.

  "Curse my brother again and you'll find yourself similarly thrashed," he said.

  His brothers had delivered similar warnings, and now all the girls were crying, though none louder than Lenora, whose bottom now glowed a deep dusky pink through the thin fabric of her pantalets.

  "Help me, father!" she cried through her tears. "Please! Please! Please!"

  But when her father only stood watching approvingly from the side without responding, Lenora finally broke down and began to beg mercy of her captor.

  "Please stop!" she cried. "It hurts so! Please!"

  "Are you ready to apologize?" he asked.

  She cried for a moment more, trying to muster enough strength to endure, but she could not as his hand continued to rain punishment down on her helpless bottom.

  "Yes!" Princess Lenora finally cried. "Yes! I will!"

  Kier stopped. "Very well, but let me warn you, Princess. If you do not stand and apologize to first your father and then me and my brothers I shall return you to this spot and thrash you another fifty times."

  He stood her then and she swayed, but held herself upright from force of will.

  Lenora was a mess, but even so she was beautiful, even with her blonde hair tear-plastered to her reddened face.

  "I-I-I-I'm sorry!" she said between catches of breath. "I'm sorry father."

  "And?" Kier boomed.

  "I'm sorry, sons of Salazar."

  Her sisters gasped. None of them had ever apologized for anything.

  From the side their father nodded.

  "A good start," he said.

  He moved over to where they stood and looked at them, his face suddenly sad.

  "It is my failure as a father that has brought me to this decision," he said. "And you are free to hate me. But one day you will thank me for choosing for you just the kind of husbands you need."

  When the girls refused to answer, he sighed.

  "Very well. Back to your chambers then. There are things I would discussed with your future husbands, and I am sure you would all prefer now to go and comfort your eldest sister."

  The girls said nothing, but only shot their father hurt, furious looks as they filed from the haul, their eldest sister in the middle of the flock.

  "Will they be all right?" asked Leo.

  "That's none of our concern," said Kier. "They need to realize the only peace for them now will come through obedience."

  And the old king laughed. "Exactly," he said. "As I said, I have chosen for them well."

  Chapter Two

  Princess Lenora's younger sisters huddled together, watching wide-eyed as their elder sibling stalked the floor. As soon as they entered the ornate circular parlor ringed by five doors that lead to each princess' separate room, they'd rushed to comfort her. But she'd rounded on them with such an expression of rage that they'd backed off as one.

  Now they stood waiting to see what she would do next, for they themselves did not know. None of them had ever known pain, save for the occasional slip and fall or needle prick or tummy ache. Never had anyone in the castle dared raise so much as a finger to them. And now their sister, their de facto leader, the strongest and fiercest of them all, had been reduced to tears and babbled apologies by a stranger who had meted out a child's punishment.

  When Lenora continued to pace and fume even after her sobs had subsided, the sisters looked
from her to Fiona, who understood that she'd been silently designated to try and communicate with the firstborn on their behalf.

  Fiona stood, uncertainly and made her way over to Lenora until she was standing in her path.

  Lenora stopped and looked at her and then Fiona - who always chose her words carefully - knew just what to say to make things better.

  "We will avenge you," she said, and Lenora responded by throwing her arms about Fiona's neck just as the other three sisters ran over to embrace the pair, offering assurances that they would not let this Terrible Thing go unanswered.

  When Lenora unwound herself from her sister's clutches, her demeanor was calmer, but her face was just as grim.

  "We will need to think this through," she said, "for I fear, sisters, that our normally amenable father will not be moved on his decision to marry us off to these, these...robber princes."

  She looked at them, from one to the other, determined that the import of her next words would not be lost on any of them.

  "And these men," she said, "are not to be trifled with. They are determined not just to marry us, but to have us follow meekly from day one. However, while our father may have forgotten his greatness as King Elgar, we have not forgotten our greatness as his daughters? Have we?"

  Her sisters all shook their heads in earnest.

  "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 breakf
ast 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!"