The Royal Agreement

Chapter Thirteen

Victor

I stormed into my study, slamming the door harder than I intended. I could barely think straight, the events of the parlour crashing through my mind in a chaotic whirl. The sound reverberated through the room, but it didn’t do anything to release the pressure building inside me.

The soft fabric of my shirt felt suffocating, and my hands were trembling as I crossed the room to stand in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. My chest heaved with the weight of my frustration and anger.

How could they do this to me? An arranged marriage? At this age? With someone I barely know now—someone who doesn’t even remember who she is? Who I was? What we were? My jaw clenched at the thought.

No, I already have someone I love.

But as I stared out at the palace grounds, my focus was miles away—years away, even.

Ciella.

I closed my eyes, trying to shove the thought of her from my mind, but it was impossible. Her name, her face, and her laughter from those days—before the accident—were etched too deeply into me to forget. Once upon a time, I wanted nothing more than for her to be my future.

I had loved her with everything I had, and she had loved me too. We were inseparable. I had hinted at the arrangement—our families’ agreement—countless times. She used to spend so much time at Amalienborg, it felt like a second home to her. She knew, even before we ever said it aloud, that we were destined for each other.

But that was before.

Before the accident. Before she lost everything. Before we lost everything between us. All the memories of us were wiped away like they had never existed. And I—well, I had done the only thing I could do. I gave her space. I let her recover, hoping that one day she would remember us, remember me.

But she never did. And with each passing day, it felt like the Ciella I knew was drifting further away, out of my reach.

In the wake of that loss, when my heart was broken beyond repair, Alvah appeared. She wasn’t a replacement for Ciella—no one could be—but she was there. She was steady, she was kind, and she cared for me when I had nothing left to give. Slowly, painfully, I let myself fall in love with her.

With Alvah, things were simple. She didn’t carry the weight of a past that haunted me, and I didn’t have to pretend to be someone I used to be for her sake. I asked her to marry me. Quietly, in the shadows, because I knew the world wouldn’t approve. But I loved her. I love her. And now…

Now, they’re telling me I’m to marry Ciella.

My fist clenched at the thought. How could they ask this of me? How could they revive an agreement made so long ago, when everything had changed? I already have—

The door to the study creaked open, and I turned, knowing exactly who it was before I saw her face. Alvah. She entered with that usual grace of hers, her soft smile lighting up the room for a moment until her eyes met mine. She must’ve seen the storm brewing behind my expression because her smile faltered, replaced by a worried frown.

“Victor,” she said softly, coming closer. Her presence always calmed me, but today it wasn’t enough to extinguish the fire inside me. She lifted a hand to my cheek, her touch gentle, her eyes full of concern. “You seem stressed.”

I sighed heavily, taking her hand in mine and kissing it, savoring the warmth of her skin against my lips. She had no idea what I was about to tell her. No idea how the fragile peace we’d built was about to shatter. I pressed her hand tighter to my face, closing my eyes for a moment as I kissed her forehead, trying to ground myself in this one moment before everything fell apart.

“I am… stressed,” I admitted, my voice thick with the weight of the news. “There’s something I need to tell you, but I don’t know how.”

Her frown deepened, and she tilted her head, waiting for me to continue, to explain the turmoil she could see so plainly on my face. I knew this would devastate her—she was the woman I had asked to marry, the one who had seen me through my darkest days. The only one who knew how much I had suffered when Ciella lost her memories. Alvah had been my rock, the one constant in my life when everything else was falling apart.

“I—” I broke off, shaking my head as I struggled to find the words. I took both her hands in mine, holding them against my chest. The pain in my heart was unbearable. How could I make this right? How could I possibly make it up to her? “I am betrothed to Ciella, dear.”

The silence that followed was suffocating. Alvah’s eyes widened, and for a brief second, I saw the hurt flash across her face. She bit down on her lip, trying to keep her composure, but I could see the cracks forming. She pulled one of her hands from mine, taking a small step back.

“That cannot be, Victor!” she whispered, her voice trembling. “You asked me to marry you! How can they do this to us? Have you told them? Have you fought for us?”

“I was going to,” I said quickly, the guilt flooding through me. “I was going to tell them today, Alvah, but they blindsided me. They brought up an agreement made between my grandfather and Ciella’s—an arrangement that’s older than both of us. They had it all planned before I could even protest.”

Alvah shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. “And you just… let it happen?” Her voice cracked with the weight of her disappointment. “You didn’t fight for us, Victor? You didn’t even try to protect the promise you made to me?”

She was crying now, and it was killing me. I pulled her into my arms, holding her tightly, wishing I could shield her from this nightmare. “I tried,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I did. Even Ciella was surprised. She had no idea either. It’s not what I want.”

But the words felt weak in my mouth as if they couldn’t possibly convey how much this was tearing me apart. I had let her down, I knew that. And seeing her like this—shattered—was more painful than anything else.

Five years. That’s how long Alvah had been part of my life. She had come into the palace when I was at my lowest when the weight of Ciella’s lost memories and the political turmoil in Italy had crushed my spirit.

Italy had fallen into dictatorship, and Ciella’s family had found refuge here, in Denmark, with us. But that refuge had come with a cost—an old promise between our families, one I hadn’t known would resurface like this.

But Alvah… she had been my light in all of that. When I had nothing left to give, she was there. And I had sworn to myself that I would let go of the pain of the past, of Ciella and all the memories she had forgotten. I had promised myself that I would give my heart to Alvah, and now that promise was being ripped away from me.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Alvah whispered, her voice barely audible. “We were supposed to be wed, Victor. You asked me. We were just waiting for the right moment to tell everyone. How could this happen? How could they make this arrangement?”

“The day Ciella’s family was summoned, they told me there was something I had to fulfill,” I explained, my frustration rising again. “I thought it would be some political obligation, some duty to my country. I had no idea it would be this… this vintage agreement. One made before we even knew who we were.”

I led Alvah to the lounge bench near the window, my legs feeling weak as the weight of everything bore down on me. “There must be a way out of this,” I said, trying to cling to whatever hope I could find. “My grandfather is dead. Her grandfather is dead. This can’t be binding. I need to look deeper into this—I will find a loophole. I won’t let this happen, Alvah.”

I cupped her face in my hands, my voice stronger now as I kissed her—fiercely, desperately, a promise made in the heat of the moment.

“I swear to you, I’ll find a way out of this. I’ll make you my queen. You, and no one else.”

She kissed me back, her tears still falling, but I felt her belief in me, her trust. We had survived everything together. We would survive this, too.

But even as I said the words, the weight of the situation pressed down on me, and I knew that escaping this would be far more difficult than I wanted to admit. There was no simple solution.

I was bound to Ciella in a way I hadn’t expected, and yet, my heart belonged to Alvah.