Thirty-six years before, Edward had married the Princess of Avesterra in an arranged marriage to further his country's diplomatic aims, but the day of his wedding was also the first time he laid eyes on Aloysius Earton's daughter, the sister of Jyce Earton. Jessamine was her brother's younger twin, born half an hour after him. She was charming, beautiful and intelligent and had everything the Princess of Avesterra lacked, but Edward knew he would have fallen in love with her regardless. Love at first sight really happens, he knew. You see a person and realize that you're looking at your other half. Nothing else matters. That's true love.

Jessamine had fallen in love with the young prince, too. She was crazy with love, and Edward's new wife never stood a chance. Her husband was calm and indifferent to her both day and night. His eyes often wandered to the dark-haired figure of Jessie. His gray eyes would find her blue eyes, and their hands would meet when they danced.

"Why are you a prince?" the blue eyes whispered.

"Why aren't you a princess? I would make you my queen, my goddess," the gray eyes answered.

The storm broke during a royal hunt. Jessamine's horse threw her and trotted back to rejoin the others. Several of the men spread out to look for her, but it was Edward who found her. They spent the night together in a woodsman's cabin. By morning, the prince had an official mistress.

It was an awful scandal. Princess Imogene of Avesterra screamed and cried. She threw dishes. She fainted. The old king shook his head in disappointment. Members of his court gossiped with the outraged members of the clergy.

Edward never hid his relationship with Jessie. The old earl and the old king disapproved but said nothing in public. The lovers did, however, have the support of Jessamine's brother.

Jyce, Viscount of Earton, adored his twin sister. If she needed the prince in order to be happy, then he figured she should have the prince. Edward knew that, in Jyce, he had gained a true friend. After all, they both loved Jessie.

♦

Two years into their marriage, the Princess of Avesterra gave birth to her first child. The following year, Jessie had a daughter. When Jessie was pregnant for the first time, it was Jyce who helped them decide what to do. He knew that he was impotent, a consequence of the edematous fever he had suffered as a young man. He would have no children of his own, but that was no reason to let the line of the Earls of Earton die out. It would be easy enough to marry some girl and send her away, supposedly to give birth, so that he could claim Jessie's daughter as his own. And when she bore the king a son, Jyce would announce the birth of his heir.

On the surface, everything was fine, but things were not quite so simple behind the doors of the family home. Jessie's mother decided that she could not live down the shame of her daughter's illicit affair and left to live in Earton, the ancestral estate. The earl, on the other hand, loved his daughter and, seeing that she couldn't live without Edward, found no reason to go against his son's plan. There was also the future to think of. By providing assistance now, he would gain the good graces of the future king, who would be sure to provide for all of his children, both legitimate and illegitimate. The Earton family would do well in the end.

♦

Jyce's bride was chosen by a secret council. Alicia Weeks was no longer young, she wasn't much to look at, and she had little property, but she had a long list of illustrious ancestors and family pride to help her keep her head up. Jyce's offer of his hand was like a gift from heaven to her. She listened to the unique terms of the arrangement without batting an eyelash and put forward a term of her own: that she wouldn't actually have to give birth. Doctors had told her that her hips were too narrow. If Jyce could be satisfied by a life where they only saw each other on occasion, it was all right by her. They would each lead their own private lives without interference from the other. She was happy to claim Jessie's offspring as her own, and Jyce was welcome to take lovers as long as he did nothing to shame her publicly.

Jyce agreed to the bargain and never looked back. Over twenty years of married life, he "fathered" two children: first Amalia and then Jerrison, called Jess, five years later. Alicia had no interest in the children, but for propriety's sake, she appeared in public with them once a year so that she could be seen petting them, after which she went back to her own affairs.

Edematous fever was an old name for mumps.

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