Hey, sweeties. I started writing The Tainted Prince. You know I'm such a tease and I have to share a teaser. 😂
This is from the opening scene. It's unedited. Enjoy. ❤️
Crown Prince Zawadi Saene’s life seemed to be ruled by meetings.
Since his father, King Ibrahim Aziz Saene, ruler of the Bagumi Kingdom, had a coronary seizure a year ago, Zawadi as first-in-line to the throne had taken on more responsibilities.
And it seemed more responsibilities equated with more meetings. Meetings with national ministers. Meetings with foreign dignitaries and diplomats. Meetings with lawmakers. Meetings with family. And on and on it went.
Like the family conference he’d been invited to attend this afternoon in his father’s private reception room.
The active senior members of the Royal House of Saene met every quarter to discuss policy and governance issues concerning the kingdom.
Private family get-togethers were infrequent and seemed to be limited to special occasions, these days. His siblings were all adults, living their lives even while committed to duties as serving members of the Royal House.
Zawadi saw his father weekly for briefings. Although the king was semi-retired, he liked to stay up to date on matters of state. That had been one of the caveats to his semi-retirement.
This wasn’t one of those meetings he shared with his father on a Friday morning before their trip to the mosque located in the expansive palace grounds. His assistant had informed him of the impromptu insertion into his schedule earlier.
He walked along the endless vaulted corridors of Darusa Palace lit by sunlight through French windows or domed multihued skylights, past stationary uniformed guards and scampering liveried servants. DP as they fondly referred to the king’s formal residence was made up of sprawling building connected by corridors and hidden passages.
He took a shortcut through a sun-drenched interior courtyard, a warm breeze flicking his jacket lapel. Pink bougainvillea covered a wall, the air scented by roses bushes. That was another noteworthy feature—the magnificent gardens surrounding the buildings.
As he walked through another set of double doors, he spotted his immediate younger brother, Prince Azikiwe, otherwise known as Zik to his siblings, in the corridor heading towards their father’s private quarters.
“What’s going on?” Zawadi asked as he levelled up with Zik.
Zik grimaced. “Something came up and I called an emergency meeting.”
So, his brother was the reason for the conference.
“Are Zareb and Zediah joining us?” he asked, stopping briefly outside the doors to the king’s private reception room.
“No. This is a sensitive diplomatic issue,” Zik replied.
Well, that ruled out the twins, who would rather gouge their eyes out than discuss diplomacy, for different reasons. Zareb was on the ‘bludgeon them into submission’ end of the spectrum while Zediah would rather sit and drink tea with the opponents. As if drinking tea solved the world’s problems. Then again, neither was ‘hitting the enemy where it hurts’ always a viable solution.
Title: The Tainted Prince
Author: Kiru Taye
Series: Royal House of Saene #6
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes: royalty, celebrity/commoner, female bodyguard
Release date: Sept 30, 2021
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BLURB
Crown Prince Zawadi has prepared for one thing all his life—to become the next king of Bagumi Kingdom. Driven by the need to uphold the traditions and the prestigious name of the Royal House of Saene, he strives to balance culture and technology in building a better nation. Until his perfect world becomes tainted by an assassination attempt and a woman who goes against everything he believes.
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