Three's A Crown : A Royal MMF Romance (A Twisted Royals Series Book 1), page 1
THREE’S A CROWN
BOOK 1
TWISTED ROYALS SERIES
JA LOW
Copyright © 2023 by JA Low
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CONTENTS
1. Rosalie
2. Rosalie
3. Augustine
4. Rosalie
5. Augustine
6. Rosalie
7. Rosalie
8. Greyson
9. Augustine
10. Augustine
11. Rosalie
12. Augustine
13. Rosalie
14. Greyson
15. Rosalie
16. Augustine
17. Rosalie
18. Greyson
19. Rosalie
20. Rosalie
21. Augustine
22. Greyson
23. Rosalie
24. Greyson
25. Rosalie
26. Rosalie
27. Augustine
28. Rosalie
29. Greyson
30. Augustine
31. Greyson
32. Rosalie
33. Augustine
34. Rosalie
35. Augustine
36. Greyson
37. Rosalie
38. Augustine
39. Rosalie
40. Rosalie
41. Augustine
42. Rosalie
43. Greyson
Chapter 44
Epilogue
Also by JA Low
Also by JA Low
Also by JA Low
Also by JA Low
Also by JA Low
Also by JA Low
Also by JA Low
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Also by JA Low
1
ROSALIE
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Anthony says, standing to greet us in our father’s office. He’s our father’s private solicitor, who we’ve known for many years. He has always been kind to us, compared to some of our father’s staff. “Thank you for meeting with me. I know it’s been a difficult day for you all.”
Not as difficult as I thought it would be. Burying a man you hated, who controlled every aspect of your life, and was a selfish, arrogant, self-indulgent, gambling womanizer. There was a sense of freedom and relief at seeing his coffin slowly lowered into the ground in the palace’s private cemetery. The thought that, that man no longer controls my sisters and me is such a relief. I found it incredibly hard to hide the smile that wanted to form on my face as I stared down at the wooden box and happily indulged in the idea that finally my sisters and I had won against his tyranny.
We all take a seat and hope and pray that the will brings us the freedom we all so desperately are looking for, and that Magnolia can now be the queen she was born to be and turn our country around into the prosperous land it once was.
Anthony clears his throat as he pulls out the parchment paper and scans the document. “His Royal Highness Charles Theodore Maximillian Moore states his children will inherit what they are entitled to under the succession laws.”
I turn and look over at where my oldest sister Magnolia is sitting and give her a small smile. Happy that she will now be Queen.
Anthony clears his throat, his brows pull together tightly as his eyes scan the next section of the will. “Oh.”
“What does that mean?” I ask him.
Anthony looks up slowly from the will and looks at each of us, and I know what he is about to say isn’t good news. “Your father never signed the documents changing the law from primogeniture to matrilineal or even absolute primogeniture.”
What? No. He promised. He’s been dangling that carrot over our heads all our lives, and you’re telling me he didn’t sign the piece of paper.
“I don’t understand what that means?” Skylar asks.
“It means the rule of succession goes to the next male heir, not female or next born person,” Anthony explains.
“Are we going to lose our home?” Skylar questions him.
Anthony shakes his head. “The will states that you must be provided for. That you come with the title, lands, money, and palace.”
“Like we are a prized cow and not his daughters.” I sneer.
“What happens in the event that there is no male heir?” Magnolia asks.
“That I am not sure of, I will have to look into it,” Anthony states.
This is bad.
Magnolia is supposed to be Queen, not some random person from who the hell knows. Who has no link to our country other than he has a dick. He promised us he would change that law. Repeatedly, we asked, and he assured us it was sorted. That he loved and wanted us to be free to live our lives the way we always wanted.
Damn liar.
That’s what we get for believing in a narcissistic gambling addict. He knew changing that law meant he could no longer gamble using us as his leverage to self-serve him. Obviously, that was more important to him than our freedom.
“There’s more,” Anthony adds, and I watch him swallow nervously. Whatever he is about to tell us can’t be good. “This next portion of the will is about Magnolia’s marriage to Dante Carandini.”
We all still at his words.
“The agreement your father had with Valerius regarding Magnolia’s marriage to his son is still binding,” Anthony explains.
“Magnolia is to be Queen. She doesn’t need to marry, Dante,” I question him.
“It’s mentioned here that if Magnolia marries Dante, the debt owed to Valerius will be cleared,” Anthony explains.
“What debt?” Magnolia asks.
Anthony loosens his tie before answering her. “As you know, your father liked to gamble.”
“Among other things,” I grumble.
Anthony nods in understanding. “He has amassed a huge debt to Valerius because of this.”
“What. No!” Standing up angrily, I continue, “You can’t force her to marry someone she doesn’t love. My sister is not a commodity that can be bought or sold. She will be a queen.”
Anthony nods in understanding before continuing with whatever bullshit is written in that will. “Your father owes the Carandini family a lot of money, and their reputation precedes them. They are a dangerous family, girls. I know you grew up with them and may not have seen their other side, but they are ruthless. If Valerius calls in his debt from you all, and he will, and you don’t pay …” Anthony lets his warning hang in the air.
“That’s not right,” Skylar adds.
“How much is the debt?” Magnolia asks.
“It looks to be about ten million dollars,” Anthony states.
That’s a lot of money.
“And we don’t have that amount of money in any trusts or anything like that?” I ask.
Anthony shakes his head. “Not that I know of. I would have to double-check with the king’s treasury, but I do believe it is empty.”
Of course, it is.
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you all this, but unfortunately, the law of this land states that the king’s daughters are his property. And he has control over what happens with you all, even in death,” Anthony explains.
That asshole.
“What can I do to get out of this marriage?” Magnolia asks.
Anthony looks down at the will and shakes his head. “Honestly, even if you can get the money to pay off the debts, I’m not sure if Valerius will accept it. Allowing his son to marry a princess gives him access to so much more power and influence. His son would be close to the throne of Aegina, and he will not give that up for anything. Valerius has the means and power to make your lives and those in your country’s lives hell if you don’t comply.”
We look between each other and know what Anthony is saying is true.
“What happens if Magnolia refuses to marry Dante and marries someone else?” I ask.
“I’m going to assume Valerius will look to you, Rosalie, as the next in line to be his son’s bride.”
I scrunch up my face over that prospect. “Ew, I’m not marrying Dante Carandini,” I moan. “Sorry, Mags,” I add, looking over at my sister.
Magnolia shakes her head, letting me know she isn’t offended.
Either way, these men have fucked us over.
“I’m sorry that the news isn’t what you hoped for. I’ll have a look to see if there are any loopholes that I could try to get you out of the predicament you find yourselves in, but this will seems ironclad. Your father never consulted me regarding this amendment of his will.”
“So, we could contest it?” I ask, hope lighting inside me.
Anthony shakes his head. “It’s legitimate. He just didn’t consult me with these changes, probably knowing I would have pushed back on them for you girls. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Anthony. We appreciate everything you have done for us today. We’re surprised by the will’s contents. It wasn’t at all what we were expecting,” Magnolia explains.
“I promise, girls, I will try everything I can to find something in the constitution that could possibly help you out of these amendments. The people will not want an unknown person on the throne,” he states.
“Do you think we can get the senators to help us change the law?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. “Highly doubtful, especially as Valerius is in their pockets.”
“Can’t imagine Valerius will be happy about this news unless he’s already found the long-lost heir and is already manipulating the situation,” I hiss.
“I think Valerius would rather see his son on the throne than someone else,” Anthony adds.
I think he might be right there, but I don’t think we are that desperate to ask for Valerius’s help.
“Thank you for trying, Anthony,” Magnolia says as she stands and shakes his hand. We all follow suit before walking out of our father’s office and into the hall, where we wave Anthony goodbye and watch him disappear down the castle’s corridors.
“This isn’t fair,” I moan as we walk hastily down the hall back to our bedrooms. I can’t wait to scream and shout in private. “How dare he sell you like that?”
“I don’t want to hear it, Rose,” Magnolia snips angrily at me as she storms on up ahead of us toward her room.
I’m surprised at her reaction.
Magnolia opens her door to her bedroom and gives us a look before slamming it shut behind her, effectively blocking us out of whatever turmoil is going on inside her.
Skylar and I stand there in shock, staring at one another, then at the door, wondering what just happened.
“Today has been a shock for her. She’s processing the information,” Skylar adds as she turns the handle to her bedroom, and we stroll in.
I wait until she shuts the door behind me before speaking again. “You don’t think she wants to marry Dante?” I ask, knowing that at one time she and Dante were in love until they weren’t, which neither one of us knows why.
“Want is probably a strong word. Father had high hopes of linking our family with the Carandinis for some reason. He and Valerius always had the plan that Magnolia and Dante were to rule Aegina. Then something happened, and he never signed the change in succession. Bet Valerius is upset over all this. His master plan didn’t work because of our father’s incompetence,” Skylar explains as she sits back on her bed and stares up at the ceiling.
“What happens if he doesn’t know that Magnolia isn’t going to be Queen?”
Skylar’s eyes widen with surprise as she sits up in bed. “Shit,” she hisses before her brows pull together. “But their wedding is in the will?”
That’s what I don’t understand. He made sure that clause was in but not the succession plan.
“You think he forgot to amend the succession plan?” she asks.
“Why would he have gone to such trouble to change one thing and not another?”
Skylar shrugs. “Who knows half the things our father does?”
“You don’t think Valerius had a hand in his death because he found out that our father didn’t change the succession plan in the will?”
“No, they were best friends,” Skylar states.
“Valerius is a bad guy.”
“So was our father.” My sister sighs.
Very true. “There must be a way around this. Magnolia was meant to be Queen.”
“Where the hell would we start looking for that kind of thing?” Skylar asks, flopping back against the bed again.
“I have no idea.”
“You might need to leave this to Anthony, Rose. He knows what he’s looking for.”
Maybe my sister is right. I feel so helpless. I hate feeling like that. It’s the emotion our father made us feel our entire life, and I thought it would vanish when he did.
2
ROSALIE
“What are you doing out here?” Magnolia asks, walking over to where I’m standing in front of our father’s grave, kicking some loose dirt.
“I can’t believe he did this to us,” I say to her as tears fall down my cheeks. “I hate him, Maggie.”
She reaches out and wraps her arm around my shoulder to console me, but I shrug her off as my rage takes over. I keep kicking the dirt angrily, again and again.
“Even in death, he’s continuing to mess us over. I hate him for the stinking pile of shit he has left us with. I hate that you must marry a man you don’t love.”
I turn and look at my older sister; she’s gorgeous, completely different from me, with her dark, almost-black hair, porcelain skin, piercing blue eyes, and plump red lips. Like one of those Hollywood pinup girls from the fifties, all curves and voluptuousness. Same with Skylar; she’s the blonde version of Magnolia. Then there’s me, with my chestnut-brown hair, thin body that is straight up and down, and no boobs or butt.
“You’re not going to marry Dante, are you?” I ask.
The Carandini and Moore families have always been close through the generations. They were the family that our family relied on to get them what they needed to stay in power all these generations. They were used to snuff out any scent of rebellion from the people, always there to help get rid of our family’s enemies. We grew up knowing nothing of who the Carandini family truly were. We knew that our families had been entwined over the generations together, but assumed it was as friends or confidantes.
We were wrong.
The Carandini family is one of the most notorious, feared, and dangerous families in our lands, especially since Valerius has taken over as head of the family. Our two families were always linked through business or sexual favors. Unfortunately, we were the first generation with no male heir, so they couldn’t use a Carandini to be the king’s mistress. Hence, Magnolia’s betrothal to Dante as she was to be Queen.
“I’m not sure I will be able to get out of marrying Dante. You heard what Anthony said, they will wipe father’s debt if I do. And that means that you and Sky will be safe,” my sister explains to me.
“He’s a stranger and a Carandini,” I argue.
“Dante Carandini is hardly a stranger, Rose,” Magnolia says, shaking her head at me.
We’ve known Dante and his family since we were born. We’ve spent summers together every year since I can remember. Our childhood was idyllic, sailing the azure waters of the Mediterranean on my father’s yacht, and sunning ourselves on our private beach that backed onto our home. All the summer parties where our families entertained the rich, royal, and elites of the lands, where we were dressed up and paraded around balls for our father’s pleasure, showing off to his friends how beautiful his daughters had become. I never thought anything about it because our father would spoil us with the most gorgeous dresses to wear at these events. I looked forward to them as we would hang out with the guests’ children and have our own party away from the adults. The older I got during these parties, the more fun I had with the guests’ sons, a private party on the beach for two, sometimes.
