Royally Bounded

Chapter 29

Warning: The following chapter contains 18+ content.

Hayden

We had an Italian themed dinner tonight because Clara said it was a sense of respect for the Romanos. I tried to reject the idea, but she had the power to make me change my mind easily. We spent thirty minutes debating about it, and all she did was plead me with her blue eyes. The crystal blue eyes that killed me just by one damn look.

I swirled the wine in the glass, ignoring what King Marco and my father was speaking about. My eyes sharpened over at Arnaldo, and he threw back a challenging smirk, lifting the glass to my direction. He slowly stood to as feet and started speaking.

"We must make a toast to the newly crowded king," Arnaldo silenced the room. All eyes were on him, hearing his pathetic words. "I would like to congratulate Hayden for his success. Our family didn't have a chance to attend the coronation, but I am happy that Nascadia will be in safe hands. Clara and Hayden will do a great job for the country."

I shook my head and scoffed at the hindering sarcasm. The chair slid back when I stood, raising my glass to challenge him. "I'm the one who should be glad to have a decent competitor like you. I would never have the chance to be a king without your failures."

His face darkened, and he slowly sat back down, nearly slamming the glass down onto the table. I sat back down, sipping my wine glass as I could feel Clara's eyes on me. My focus remained right at Arnaldo who kept glaring at me.

"I'm actually more curious to know when Clara will be pregnant soon," Maisie spoke, her high-pitched voice irritating my ears. "You know how important a heir is to the royal families. It would be terrible if Clara didn't complete her duties."

Clara swallowed hard, and I snapped my eyes over at Maisie. Her lips curled into a snicker, a hint of provocation, but it only added to my annoyance when I knew how fucking obsessed she was with me. She always wanted to marry me, and I hated being linked with the Romanos.

"No one asked for your fucking opinion," I snarled, making Maisie shut her mouth. Her lips thinned, and her face grew distraught by my comment.

"You don't have to say that to me, Hayden," she fired back.

"You're the one being rude to Clara."

"Calm down, Hayden," Arnaldo interrupted, the dark expression on his face. "Maisie is only concerned for your family. It was clear that you always hated the idea of children. You had flings with many women for the idea of not being attached to responsibilities. We wanted to see if Clara was informed about the situation."

My jaw clenched, and I glanced over at Clara, seeing that her smile instantly faded. The argument we had about kids clearly divided our thoughts, and it was the only thing that I would never change for anyone. I had enough of responsibilities. There was no fucking way that I wanted kids when Clara and I were fine without them.

"Arnaldo, that's enough," King Marco scolded his son. "This is Clara and Hayden's personal business that we have no rights to interfere."

"I apologize," Arnaldo snickered. "It is very disrespectful for me to nose into your business."

"Arnaldo is only being thoughtful," my mother smiled, not wanting to be rude to our guests. I clenched onto the wine glass as hard as I could, on the verge to break it.

Arnaldo had a victory grin. He didn't continue to speak again as dinner went on. My mother looked over at me, her eyes with a disapproving gaze. I told her over a hundred fucking times about not wanting kids. She forced me to satisfy the stupid heir tradition, and Clara was sucked into the idea of family.