“You don’t need to throw that in my face!”
“I certainly will when your negligence damn near got us and thousands of other people killed! Not to mention the loss in property damage.”
Valentina appeared annoyed by the sibling argument and refocused on me, upping her eye action in a coy manner. She peeked up through her lashes, the look triggering so many memories in return, I almost snatched up the knife. She’d always looked at me like that when she was about to do something incredibly stupid and troublesome. A shudder of horror went through me.
My balls shriveled up into my body in pure self-defense.
“James, however did you get it through the council so quickly? You must be very commanding when speaking.”
I’d finally had enough of this double-talk and put my spoon down. “Listen. I’ll be blunt. I’m gay. You’re fifteen. Stop it. Ifind your flirtations utterly revolting and will always find the flirtations of a child to be so.”
She gaped at me, her mask of interest falling off in shock. Victor, at least, looked pleased I was putting her in her place.
I directed my next words to both parents. “There’s a rumor you’re thinking of transferring the engagement from Victor to me. The staff has been abuzz with it. Do something about it before it spreads any further.”
Victor slammed both hands against the table, almost half out of his seat as his temper abruptly snapped. “Why are they saying that? Valentina is my fiancée, not anyone else’s! I’m the one who went and courted her!”
I loved how he spoke like he should be applauded for his achievement in seducing an underage child. Victor didn’t seem to realize he had climbed to the very top of the Shitty Life Decisions Tree and was hitting every branch on the way down. Really, these two were a match made in hell.
Patrick winced, a weather eye on his son as he admitted, “It’s not a rumor.”
Victor exploded.
No other word for it. He started ranting at the top of his lungs about how no one in this family took him seriously, how he’d never met their expectations and clearly he never would because here he wasengagedto aprincessand they were still trying to take his achievement from him. How he was trying to turn his life around with this engagement and no one was supporting him.
The disconnect from reality was alarming. He really hadn’t thought of the ramifications of almost eloping with a teenage princess, without parental approval. People had gone to war over less. The more I listened to him, the more appalled I became. I’d known he was stupid and had the same politicalsense as a wrung-out kitchen sponge, but…I might have to apologize to kitchen sponges everywhere.
Even Valentina looked annoyed, rolling her eyes off to the side. She really had chosen the wrong horse to back in this race. I had no sympathy for her.
Patrick got tired of this and slammed his hand on the table, cutting off Victor’s tirade. “Enough! Victor, sit down and shut your mouth. You didnotdo anything praiseworthy. You didn’t achieve anything. You put us on dangerously thin ice with our allies and risked a friendship with Ascor that has been in place for almost three hundred years!”
“How did I do that?Huh? How!”
Beatrice cut in, her tone icy as she stared her eldest child down. “You disregarded protocol on approaching a foreign family, you ignored international laws by engaging yourself to a minor,andyou brought her here without prior notice or consent. Royal engagements are a process, you blithering idiot. It’s not like you can just swing by, pick a girl up, and take her home. You especially can’t do so as you’re no longer a prince! Or have you forgotten even that?”
Victor stared at his mother, aghast. “Did you just call me an idiot?”
“I’ve called you worse, Victor. Honestly, I regret giving birth to you. If I had known you were going to be like this, I would have tossed you into the sea.”
Why couldn’t we just do that now…?
I knew he was supposed to get himself killed next year anyway, but so many other things had happened early or out of order. Couldn’t this be one more? I didn’t see an issue with it. I was sure Edwin had a budget for an assassin. He was thorough that way.
Actually, why couldn’t we just send them back to Ascor? I opened my mouth to ask the question but missed the timing.
Patrick cut in. “Also, you’re mistaken on another point. Getting engaged to a princess isn’t going to save you. You will never take the throne.”
Victor stared at his father, and he actually looked hurt. He really thought he was achieving something. That for once, he could get what he wanted without a parent screaming at him. The problem was, Victor was too dumb to learn from his mistakes. He was also a genius at making new mistakes. It was a really bad mix.
“I am your eldest,” he gritted out between clenched teeth. “Iwillbe king—”
“You’re supposed to be in exile!” Patrick roared back at him.
Yes, why hadn’t he been thrown out already? Their inconsistency with punishments like this ensured Victor never actually faced consequences. Also why he thought he could somehow spin this situation back into his favor, since he’d done it before.
Only this wasn’t like before and Victor was the only one who couldn’t see it.
Victor usually would start screaming back, but unexpectedly, he turned very cold, his tone harsh as he stared his sire down. “You will honor my engagement. Valentina’s parents expect her to be queen, and you cannot upset them or you risk war. I also will not agree to let her marry James. That is the end of this.”
