“You’re my wife and the queen.”
“You don’t even need me to answer. There is no tiebreaker required. She’s your mother and your sister,” she points to Althea. “The decision rests with you.”
“Then since the rest of us are in agreement, I’ll speak with him when we get home.”
“It stays between us for now though. I don’t know what we’ll find or the implications of it, but it stays with us until further action is required. If we get to that point.”
I nod at Rowan. “I agree.”
“Same,” Althea chimes in, looking miserable. She may not be close with her sister, but this is our mother we’re discussing, and surveillance is no small matter.
“Now,” Bellamy starts, changing the subject. “How on earth do we go about hiring a nanny? I mean, I literally fell in your lap, but how did you do it before I came along?”
Althea and I exchange glances. “Not well,” I admit. “The children hated everyone we hired.”
“You’re not helping with my confidence on this,” Bellamy deadpans, sitting up and looking at me. “I want someone who genuinely cares for the children, respects your authority, and understands the unique challenges of raising royalty.”
I roll my eyes at my wife. “You mean the way you did?”
“Hey! I got two out of three.” She smirks at me. “I just enjoyed playing with your authority a little too much. But sincethatwon’tbe happening with anyone we hire, we need someone…amazing.”
I nod, my gaze briefly flickering toward the back of the plane where the children are playing on their iPads, headphones covering their ears. “What do you propose we do?” I ask, genuinely interested in her insight. “Emily used to have us go through an agency. Oftentimes we got women with incredible résumés who ended up wanting to work for us to either find their way to my bed—don’t give me that look, that’s how it went—or they thought it was cool working for a cursed family and were looking to exploit us.”
“Fabulous. Are you telling me I’m going to have to beat women away who are trying to nail my husband?”
My brows furrow. “Nail me?”
She puffs out a breath. “American term.”
“Clearly. And for the record, you were the first of them who I…nailed.”
She giggles lightly. “As much as I trust you, you’re seriously hot and sexy and that worries me. I don’t want to have to deal with the sexual dynamic of nannies.”
“Might I suggest you begin by conducting interviews?” Althea offers, folding her hands together. “Meet with candidates personally to gauge their personalities and qualifications. See if they make any suggestive remarks or linger too long when looking at Sebastian. But more than that, it’s important to trust your instincts when making this decision.”
“Interviews…right,” I murmur, already hating the idea. It’s part of what I hated most before Bellamy came along.
“Actually, I’d like to interview them,” Bellamy states. “I feel as the new queen, theyoung,pregnant,former nannynew queen at that, if ever there was going to be disrespect and cattiness, it would come at me. So let me be the first round and then we’ll go from there?”
“You don’t have to ask,” I tell her. “I trust you. I trust you with the children. I trust you with all of it.”
And I do. It’s not something I ever thought I’d say about anyone outside of Rowan, Althea, Javier, or Emily, but I trust Bellamy with my children and my life.
Bellamy stares up into my eyes and kisses me softly. A kiss that, no matter what, always manages to steal my breath. Her. She does that. She’ll always do that to me.
With renewed resolve, I gaze out the airplane windows as Messalina stretches out before me, vast and beautiful. Home. It’s my home. And I’ll do whatever it takes to protect it. And the people I love. Even if it means opening our lives to someone new. Again.
22
SEBASTIAN
“Iguess the holiday is over,” I muse with a sigh as we pull into the palace to find Emily and Javier standing outside to greet us. “Why does this seem to be our new way of ending our holidays?”
“Cursed,” is all Bellamy says, and I can’t help the bark of a laugh that climbs up the back of my throat. Rowan, too, practically chokes on his tongue.
“Oh yeah? Now you’re a believer?” I challenge, my eyebrows at my hairline.
She gives me a cheeky grin and a wink. “Nope. It’s just another day in the life of being the king of Messalina.”
