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CHAPTER ONE
‘I WILL LEAVE you now to rest, Your Majesty’
‘Thank you, Pierre’ Queen Analia of Azoria hoped the relief she felt wasn’t obvious
Her grand vizier bowed and left the roo in a breath when suddenly a knock sounded and a different door to her suite opened to reveal her lady-in-waiting She quickly pasted a smile on her face
‘Do you need anything else, Your Highness?’
Analia curbed the spiking of irritation, which had nothing to do with her staff She shook her head and wished that just for once someone would address her as Analia ‘No thank you, Cecily That’ll be all for this evening’
‘Very well I’ll see you in the ’
‘Good night And thank you for today’
The young wo the door quietly behind her Now Analia did drag in a big breath while kicking off her shoes She went to both doors and turned the locks, pathetically grateful for even this s world A world that had been de her attention since she’d been crowned Queen at the unfeasibly young age of nine, following the tragic deaths of her parents
Noenty-two, Analia soovern a massive responsibility for the people of her small island principality, which lay off the southern coast of Italy in the Ionian Sea
She sighed deeply and undid the top button of her silk shirt and padded over to the open french s of her Venetian hotel suite which looked out over the Grand Canal She curled her hands around the stone balcony railing and drank in theherself to relax
Dusk was drawing the ancient city into a lavender-hued eours of the past two days spent on a trade ainst this timeless backdrop Her country had once been ruled by Italy, and Analia was taking advantage of these indelible links while on herher country properly into the twenty-first century
She sighed again, unable to shake a growing feeling ofe herself that she simply didn’t have the luxury toToo many people depended on her But here, now, Analia couldn’t seem to stop them She hated to admit it, but she felt lonely
As she looked across the canal she saw lights winking in cru on inside Were they fa the canal leaving a surge of white spray in its wake In the back of the boat Analia saw a ether This was a city made for lovers
An incredible poignancy filled her She’d never experience that She was destined to rule and to marry someone ould be a suitable consort She was due to announce her engage the end of one era and the start of another Producing heirs for Azoria
The ht lineage Analia kneould ood husband, for he was kind But she was not attracted to him and she would not love him She knew that And to yearn for love noas a futile dream
Still, the thought of Prince Wilhel wither inside her Her mouth flattened into a thin line to think of her infain Queen Thanks to a well-known archaic requirement of her constitution, and the fact that she’d had little or no privacy since she was a baby, everyone knew she was a virgin and had to stay pure until her ot e the constitution to reflect more modern values