Before he can finish his sentence or even get another breath out of his lungs, I slam him up against the wall, thrusting my forearm up into his neck to restrict his breathing. I snarl right in his face making his light eyebrows shoot up and his dark eyes go wide.
“You are never to mention that curse again anywhere in my kingdom. The people of Messalina and my children have suffered enough without you perpetuating their fear of more to come. And hear me now because I am not fucking around with you. You do not look at or speak to my childrenortheir nanny again. If you so much as attempt to, I will end you. Not just professionally, though we both know I could likely do that if I so desired. I willendyou, Samil. Quit whatever game you are trying to play and leave them the fuck alone.”
Releasing him, he sags against the wall, his hands hitting his thighs as he coughs and chokes, but he smiles knowingly up at me. He liked that far too much. He wanted my reaction and for me to lose my temper, and he got it.
“Is that fear I see in your eyes?” he half wheezes. “She’salready under your skin, isn’t she? How delightful to see.” He straightens, staring me dead in the eyes. “What’s wrong, Your Majesty? Afraid this time, this one will pick me and not you?”
I glare at him, my features no doubt betraying the rage within me even as I temper it with a silent breath. “Remember what I said,” I tell him coolly, walking away. “It wasn’t a warning. It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise.”
I stride away from him, head high, pulse racing. I need a moment to realign myself and re-form my mask. It’s only been one day, and the new nanny is already wreaking havoc on my life. I have no idea how to stop it or what to do about it. All I know is that I have to do something.
9
BELLAMY
At first glance, you’d think Samil Batorini is nothing more than an arrogant politician with a handsome face, a charming smile, and a way with words. But the moment my eyes met his, even before he spoke to me, a shiver raced up my spine.
Not the good kind either.
Not the kind I got when I first met the king.
This was the foreboding kind. And when he took my hand, my insides froze.
Something isn’t right about him. There’s a darkness that hovers beneath his polished surface. One he works impossibly hard to hide behind that handsome face and charming smile. I’m not the only one who felt it, either. Sabrina told me she was happy we weren’t eating with him because he’s creepy.
Children pick up on things adults sometimes miss or overlook.
When I told her I agreed, she was then worried about her father being with him. I went on to explain that in Urdu, his name means “peacekeeper” and that her papa would be fine. What I didn’t tell her was thatSamilis also a variation ofSamaeland, in ancient Judaism and Christianity, means “poison of God.”
He was the angel of death. A name I hadn’t given much thought to until I met him.
I was grateful when the king stepped in, saving me from Samil.
But since the incident on Monday, I’ve had to duck and weave around him as he’s staying in the palace. Short of coming up to my room, he seems to be everywhere I am. In the gym early in the morning until Althea shooed him away from our yoga sessions. In a random hallway as I ran to fetch a toy for Sabrina and bring it back down to the playroom. On the way to the breakfast room this morning where he tried to corner me with conversation and questions. Questions about myself, and about the king, as if I know anything about him.
King Sebastian is an enigma to me. I had expected him to ream me out after the hide-and-seek disaster, but I’ve hardly seen him since. He goes out of his way to avoid me, and that’s fine. Easier, even.
But Samil isn’t buying it. He thinks we’re keeping all kinds of dirty secrets.
By this morning, my patience had worn thin, and when he accused me of having a secret affair with the king, I started laughing. A lot.
Then he challenged, “If you’re not involved with him, why are you always defending him to me?”
“He’s my boss and the father of the children I care for. Why do you care if I defend him or not?” I replied.
“Because I like you. I’d hate to see something bad happen to you, and it’s my responsibility to keep my people and the country safe.”
“Safe from what?” I asked.
“The curse,” he stated as if that answer should have been obvious.
The curse.
The one I hadn’t given a second thought to, not once, until he mentioned it in front of the children on Monday. I knew it was a thing here. I knew people believed in it. Hell, it tickled the back of my mind when I came here on Saturday and saw the palace for the first time.
I even know the king believes in it since that’s why he’s hidden his family here, keeping them from the world. Althea told me he hasn’t taken the children anywhere in three years for fear that something might happen to one of them. This supposed curse is a living, breathing entity not just in this palace, but throughout the country.
Only I’m American. And we don’t do curses the way Europeans do. So, I told Samil, “I don’t believe in curses. I believe in life and that bad things, unfortunately, happen to all of us.”
