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CHAPTER ONE

‘I’M SORRY, MATEO’

On the coant face was drawn into weary lines of sadness and resignation—sadness for the position she’d put hination that it had come to this A queen who’d had three healthy, robust sons, an heir and two spares, and yet here he was, the unneeded third to the throne, now about to be thrust into the unwanted liht

‘I know you don’t want this,’ his athe, continued quietly

Mateo did not reply He kneho didn’t want this: his mother How could she? As the third son, and a late surprise at that, he hadn’t been prepared for the throne He’d never been entle manner and an iron fist the way his father had for thirty years, as a revered ruler, kind but strong, beloved by his people, feared by his enemies

It has been his oldest brother Kos from infancy, told from the cradle who he was and what he would beconitaries and diplomats when he was barely out of nappies, who had been crowned Prince and heir to the throne when he was just fourteen, arrogantly assu the title that would be his And it was Koso, when he was only thirty

His oldest brother’s sudden death had shocked his faly stable foundations His father, King Barak, had diminished visibly in what felt likes thin and white Three months after Kosmos’ death, Barak had suffered a mini stroke that had affected his speech andyears after that, he’d died, aged only sixty-eight, and Mateo’s older brother Leo, the true spare, had been crowned King

How had they got here?

‘Have you spoken to Leo?’ he asked his iven an explanation for his unprecedented actions?’

‘Hehe just can’t do it’ Agathe’s voice, normally mellifluous and assured, wavered and broke ‘He’s not up to it, Mateo Not up to anything any more’

‘He is King’

‘Not any ently ‘Not since he abdicated last night’

Mateo spun his chair around, hiding his face froled inside him, too knotted up to discern one from the other He’d never expected this Even after Kosmos had died, after his father had died, he’d never expected this Leo had seemed more than ready to assume their father’s mantle Leo, who had always been in Kosmos’ shadow, finally ready to shine He’d been leam in his brother’s eye at their father’s funeral, and it had sickened hi his own life here in England, away from the royal family and all its pressures

And now he had to co away His brother had been King for ed frustration How could he just walk away from it all? Where was his sense of duty, of honour?

‘I don’t understand,’ he ground out through gritted teeth ‘This is co from nowhere’

‘Not nowhere’ Agathe’s voice was soft and sad ‘Your brotherhe has always struggled to assume his royal duties’

‘Struggled?’ His brother hadn’t struggled when he’d practically snatched the crown from their father’s head ‘He seeo’

Agathe’sthan the dream’