“This smacks of trouble either way. I’m not sure if the why even makes a difference. She’s clearly aiming for you.”
A full-body shudder racked him. “And on that note, I’m going to go soak in a hot bath. I have Valentina cooties. I want them off me.”
He was being only slightly ridiculous, but a hot bath would relax him. “Then go. I might join you in a few minutes.”
James aimed an overexaggerated leer at me. “Oh, please do.”
He was upset, but clearly not upset enough to want to be left alone. Good. I’d suck him off and maybe he’d sleep well tonight.
James sauntered into the bathing chamber next door, and I could hear the water gushing into the oversized bathtub.
The outer door abruptly opened. It startled me because there wasn’t even a knock, and very few people had the right tojust waltz into James’s private rooms. To my absolute disbelief, Princess Valentina sauntered in as if she owned the place, a sultry smirk on her lips that died upon seeing me. Really, the smirk was basically the only thing she wore. She had on a wine-red negligee and a sheer matching robe that leftnothingto the imagination. I saw far more than I wanted to, trust me, and kept my eyes firmly up.
This bitch had entered our bedroom to try something? I wasn’t going to be nice.
“Valentina!” I barked, rising quickly from the table. “This is highly inappropriate. Return to your roomnow.”
She didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by me and for some reason, surprise darted across her face. Her expression twisted into a snarl.
“Oh. James’s little boytoy. It’s interesting you’re still here, clinging to him.” She eyed me up and down as if I were some freak spectacle and not at all up to her standards. “People like you are fun to fuck, I suppose, but I’m surprised he’s still letting you linger. You don’t have the right connections to truly be of any value to him.”
The part of me harboring insecurities about being with a prince flinched, but I made sure it didn’t reflect on my face. How dare she home in on the one weak spot I possessed, without even an ounce of hesitation.
“You can’t give him children, you can’t help him politically, and his parents will never accept you as anything other than a fuck toy, so why don’t you just step out gracefully now?”
She was right. I couldn’t give him children or have the parents’ approval—neither of those things were open to me. Part of me wished it were otherwise, but there was no use wishing for what couldn’t be. Mostly because James himself didn’t require or wish for them.
I took a breath and faced her down, along with every insecurity she’d drilled into me. She didn’t know James had sacrificed everything for me. No one did that for just a paramour. I might have doubts from time to time, but I knew James didn’t, nor would he ever choose anyone over me.
It gave me the strength to cut her off, because she was right—one of us belonged with James, and it definitely wasn’t her.
“I’ll say this one more time. Before you embarrass yourself any further, leave. There will be repercussions for barging in here. If you refuse, I will have you dragged out through the most public of hallways so everyone can see your attire and label you as the slut you are.”
Valentina’s jaw dropped and she spluttered out, “You can’t talk to me that way! How dare you!”
“I just did.” I cocked a brow in open challenge. “I assure you, child, it took no daring.”
“I’m a princess!”
“Doesn’t mean you’re not a slut, too. Trying to seduce someone else’s man is the definition of slut. If you don’t want to be dragged like a public spectacle, then you can leave. Otherwise, by all means, try me.”
Her mouth worked a few more times before she snapped it shut and snarled, “You. I’ll have your ass handed to you for this.”
“Let me put this in a different way. You are the interloper here. You are not wanted by anyone except Victor. If you left the country this very second, we’d throw a party, and by we, I mean every single person in this palace.Youare the one who has no power here.”
The bathing chamber door abruptly opened, revealing James with a towel around his waist and confusion on his face that morphed into horror upon seeing Valentina. He must have heard the commotion and come out to see what it was about. Heyelped in panic and slammed the door shut again. “Get her out of here!”
Valentina gaped in disbelief at the closed door. She really thought just showing up in a negligee would be enough to win James over? It probably had worked with Victor, but he was an easy mark.
Enough of this. She was upsetting both me and James, and I was not dealing with this stupid child any longer. I advanced on her, snagged her arm, and dragged her back out of the room. She tried to fight me off, but I was stronger, and while I struggled, she wasn’t able to wrest free.
“I need a guard!” I yelled out.
After a second, Sir Pedan and Sir Alloways came at a run, disbelief writ on their faces. I wanted to know how she had gotten past them to begin with, as they’d been stationed at the head of the hallway. She shouldn’t have been able to get this far without being challenged.
“You are to drag her through the most public hallways possible back to her room,” I instructed them flatly. “And I don’t know how she got in, but plug the hole.”
Red with embarrassment, Sir Pedan saluted me. “We absolutely will. Profound apologies. Come along, Your Highness.”
