"Oh my!" I exclaimed, staring at the woman I had just met in the flesh a few minutes ago. The picture on Taylor's phone screen didn't do her justice. She was more beautiful in the flesh than in these photos.
"Apparently, they have been together for years. According to reports, it's not a new thing especially as his mother was the king's mistress too. And-" She stopped.
"And?" I asked putting down her phone.
"It will continue even after you are married."
I breathed. When making plans, it was imperative one had all the facts together before launching. So stuffs like this will not catch one unaware. A mistress. Although he had promised not to touch me, I hadn't thought about it. I just assumed he would have other women, discreetly of course, not a mistress that he could attend functions with, go on vacations with and even have children by.
The headache I had felt earlier, returned. The plan was to stay married to him until his father dies and I will be free. In that time, I will not have any children or expect any commitments from him as my husband. If his father lives for another ten years before he dies, and he lets me go, what will I do when I become free? How can I live with him for ten years without really having him except his name and title? Can I live with someone else owning him? Taking my place? Having his children?
"Tania?" Taylor called softly. "I know what is going on in that mind of yours but you have to calm down. Ten years is a long time. A lot can still happen."
I nodded, wringing my hands in my lap.
"Remember when you said for your cause to have a fighting chance at success, you will have to make sacrifices? This is one of the many sacrifices."
Taylor was right. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I needed to focus on the big picture.
I opened my eyes and turned to her, "Thank you," I said sincerely, looking her in the eye.
She smiled and took my hands in hers. "That's what I'm here for."
We remained silent until we got to the house. I noticed Ovian's car in the driveway, so I knew he was around. I braced myself to see him and look like I was excited about the wedding.
As soon as I got in, Jasper informed me he was in the Sunroom. I headed in that direction, asking Jasper to bring me some freshly squeezed orange juice.
"Tania." Ovian nodded as he took in my appearance.
"My prince," I responded as I make my way to sit on the long chaise in the room, opposite him.
He sighed. "Mother says you declined her designer."
I gasped. "Who will she report me to next? The council members?"
"Don't be like that Tania, you know she's used to getting her way."
"And I'm not about to join that train. And if you have come here to ask me to allow her have her way with the wedding, then you are too late."
Ovian smiled. "I didn't come to tell you anything. Just to be, what's the word? More accommodating?"
"Hmph." I grunt. "I will try."
"Please, we will all be living under the same roof soon, and she can be very nasty. I just want your time there, albeit small, to be pleasant. Promise me, you will try to tolerate her." Ovian was pleading.
I looked at him. He was wearing a simple short sleeved white shirt and gray pants, that stretched across his torso. The shirt made his broad chest all the more visible and taut and inviting and... It was disconcerting. I looked away and nodded at his request.
"So how was shopping? Found a designer yet?"
"Yes." Should I tell him about my meeting with his mistress?
"Did you meet anyone?"
At that I looked at him. Does he know already? I didn't want to lie to him. Maybe his mistress has spoken to him. "Yes actually, I met a friend of yours. Alexandra or Alexandria something. Can't remember her surname."
He nodded and continued watching me, as if trying to find out what I knew. "She's my mistress, Tania. Not my friend. We have known each other since we were teenagers."
Just then, Jasper walked in with my drink, saving me from a retort I would have regretted. I thanked him and took a sip.
"That long?" I said after Jasper left. "Aren't you two tired of each other already?"
He smirked. "No. I can never be tired of Alexandria. She's special and she's for me alone."
"Really? So you are her first?"
He smirked again. "Yes, since she was sixteen. She is not of noble birth, in fact, she was the stable master's daughter. If I could marry her I would have. As you know, I didn't have a pleasant childhood, but whenever I was with her, I tend to forget all my troubles. So as the years passed by and I knew she couldn't marry again, I took her as my official mistress, and made sure she has everything she needed."
All the while he was talking, I was seething with envy. I couldn't explain it but I just knew I couldn't take all of this sitting down. I just couldn't, and so I blurted.
"Are you telling me that like your father, you will parade your mistress about?"
"I am not like my father." He said quietly.
I put down my glass of juice. And rubbed my sweaty palms on my dress. "I am sorry that came out that way. What I meant to ask was, will she be in our lives, even when we are married?"
"Yes."
I gasp. "Why?"
"Because she will be giving me what you cannot."
"And who says I cannot?" I challenged. I knew I was threading dangerous territories but I couldn't back out now, even if I wanted to.
"You?"
"I never said that, you proposed."
"And you never declined." He smirked.
"So are you saying, that if I allow you to have your way with me, you will let her go?"
"No." He said quietly.
"Why?" I ask in surprise.
He stood up and went to the window. He looked out for a few minutes, and turned to face me, his hands in his pockets. "Tania, our arrangement is complicated and I know you will be feeling disrespected and all that, as much as I would love to have you and your body, I am sorry I cannot let Alexandria go. We have an understanding. When we were children during our second time together, I decided that even after I'm married, she will still be with me and possibly have children by me. I owe her that. That's the benefits mistresses of kings enjoy. If I let her go, no man will want or marry her and I can't leave her like that without a man."
I sighed. "But you are not a king." I protest.
He shook his head. "But I can promise that, she will not live in the city with us and I will not parade her for all to see."
"That's comforting." I said and finished my drink and stand up. "I think I will take a nap, I have a headache."
"Tania."
I roll my eyes. "What?" I asked impatiently.
"It is important that you understand all that I've said. Because, there are people who will use this to insult you behind your back. I need to know that you understand and accept it."
I closed my eyes, there was so much brimming on the precipice of my mind and if I didn't say them, I felt I would burst.
"What choice do I have? Whether I accept or not, doesn't make a difference. But I for the record, I understand but I do not accept." I said bitterly. "I don't know how long I will have to pretend to be your wife as if that is not a great task in itself, I also have to endure the humiliation of you having a mistress. There's no solace because even if I allow you in my bed, you will still see her and she can decide to give you children-"
Suddenly, he closed the distance between us. "Do you want us to have children?" He asks.
"That's not the point dammit!" I retorted. "How can you even ask me that? How do you explain to the children that their parents never loved each other and they were-"
"Any children we both have, will be legitimate children. They will be princes and princesses-"
I groaned. "I don't want children with you, Ovian!" I raised my voice.
"Then what do you want? Tell me!" He said raising his voice too. "Because I don't understand you one bit. One minute you are about us like there's an 'us' and the next you are pushing me away. What do you want Tania?"
I want to be your real wife. I want to be Tania Gregory marrying the prince. I don't want to pretend and I don't want your mistress in our lives. But that will never happen. They are sacrifices that I have to make. I raised my chin to look up into his beautiful blue eyes. "I don't want to see her anywhere near my wedding." With that I left him in the room.