Max nodded. “And the others were doctors plus my sister and Lady Kimberly who has helped with her care. Please, this is most irregular.” He was choosing his words, softening them as a good diplomat would. But inside, he wanted to scream at his leader. The man was here to gawk, nothing more, and a royal should know better than to treat a woman like a cripple at a bearbaiting.
Unfortunately, Prinny did not take the admonition well. He stood upright with an angry glare. “I only wished to learn of her Chinese medicines. How can I know if they work if I do not see the damage firsthand?”
“You know,” Max said curtly, “because she is alive. You know because the doctor said she would not last the night and yet here she is, growing stronger every second. You know because myself and my family have been tending her, watching as the fever left her screaming in delirium until her medicine turned the tide.You know, Your Majesty, because I have said so and I have never lied to you.”
Max’s patience was at an end. He had never spoken so harshly to the prince and Prinny’s face reflected the fury of his reaction. Too bad. Max held out his hand and gestured down the hallway.
“Now perhaps, we shall leave Miss Wong to her recovery.”
There was nothing the royal could do now short of throwing a tantrum, and that was something he rarely did unless in his cups. But he wasn’t above getting back at Max. He turned to Yihui with a hard look.
“Max has seen your feet because you are to be married, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Then I look forward to attending the happy event.” He turned back to Max. “Three weeks to call the banns. I shall see that the cathedral is at your disposal.”
And there it was. The royal decree repeated that he and Yihui would wed. Forget that Lady Kimberly stood nearby. Forget that Yihui would never be accepted in society, much less able to fulfill her duties as duchess. Forget that his descendants would be forever tainted by Chinese blood. Prinny had been insulted, and so he forced shame upon Max and his heirs for generations.
It was a cruel punch, and one that Max had to accept simply because he had lost his temper and demanded that the royal behave like a compassionate adult.
“I shall expect an invitation forthwith,” Prinny commanded, and then he swept out of the room leaving Max—as usual—to pick up the pieces.
Chapter Twenty
Like everyone elsein the hallway, Emma heard Prinny’s conversation. She heard the royal command that he marry and saw not only the stiffness in her brother’s back but the dismay on Lady Kimberly’s face.
Unlike everyone else in the hallway, though, she knew exactly who to blame for this disaster. It wasn’t Prinny. The royal was like a force of nature, showing up and wreaking havoc wherever he went. That was the nature of royal pomp and circumstance. But nature only went where the wind blew. And if one knew how to work royal desires, then one could encourage or prevent one’s best friend from being forced to marry a woman he didn’t want.
Someone like Lord Christopher. Indeed, he was wholly to blame for this disaster, and so she intended to tell him in no uncertain terms.
She waited for her moment. Prinny burst past her, headed for the front door. Max waited long enough to see that Yihui was all right, then bustled after the royal. He wouldn’t make any headway now. Prinny was too embarrassed by his own actions to forgive Max for pointing it out, but she supposed her brother had to try. Lady Kimberly looked down at her feet, then trailed behind, no doubt heading for a dog to chase away her tears.
Last came Christopher. He was being polite as he let the ladies go first. She smiled at his wan face, linked her hands around his elbow, and then swung him into the newly papered bedroom.
And shut the door.
“Emma! What are you—”
“How dare you!” she growled. “You and Max have been friends since you were in leading strings! How could you do this to him?”
“Me?” he gasped. “Prinny—”
“Don’t give me that. Prinny wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t dangled some tale about Yihui.”
“I didn’t dangle—”
“What did you get, Chris?”
“I didn’t get anything!”
“Don’t lie to me. I’ve known you my entire life. You are clever, subtle, and always in the thick of things.” He could also be kind and ridiculously honorable when it came to her. He’d never so much as kissed her when she’d thrown herself at him as a teenager, and now…now he’d ruined everything. “What did you get for betraying my brother?”
Chris opened his mouth, but then shut it with a snap. His gaze lifted to the ceiling as he clenched his hands into fists. “Emma, I didn’t mean to…” He gestured toward Yihui’s bedroom. “I didn’t know he’d come here like that.”
“And now Max has to marry a Chinese woman he’s just met. He was being kind! He saved her from dying—”
“I know!”
