James laughed and ended the call with a kiss.
Judge Galbraith just stared at me—glowered really, still miffed. “Your Majesty, I realize she’s been an embarrassment ever since her arrival—”
“This woman has tried to not only seduce James but to poison me,” I informed him flatly.
His eyes flared wide, and he barely blinked for a long moment. “I hadn’t heard about the poisoning.”
“We can’t prove it, but we do know it was her.”
“Well, shit,” he muttered.
I darted a look over my shoulder, but the ladies had moved to the other side of the room, requesting things of the runners, which gave me a very narrow moment of semiprivacy. “Judge Galbraith, I have to tell you, we’re having a hard time getting rid of her. We sent Lenville to Ascor to meet with her parents, and he hasn’t been able to meet with them yet. The word I received this morning is they’re not in the capital but at their summer home, so it’s taking longer to reach them. But keeping her here in the palace is clearly not going well.”
He glanced out the window again and rolled his eyes. “That I can see. Now, Your Majesty, I didn’t say this…”
The best advice always followed when he said things like that. “I have no idea what you mean. You’re not saying anything right now.”
“I do like how quickly you catch on. I would suggest creating an excuse to get rid of her. If she hasn’t done anything, make sure she does do something.”
My smile turned evil. “If it’s tacit permission to act, I’ll take it.”
“No, no. I didn’t say anything, remember?”
“Of course. My mistake.”
A glance out the window verified Titan was still chasing her. Oh, wait, he’d cornered her now between two tall hedges. I could see his hindquarters and something of her face. Her black eye makeup streaked down her cheeks from tears and she was screaming at the horse. The stable hands were still either trying to get a rope on him or at least get the halter in hand, but Titan kept tossing his head, thwarting their efforts. He wasn’t letting Valentina past him, either.
Such a good horse. I should feed him apples for being such a good baby.
A bushel of apples should be enough.
Seventy-two
Edwin
James fetched his horse back. Valentina ran the second he had Titan under control, unwilling to stay nearby any longer. James hadn’t tried to make her linger, as the stable hands had told the story well enough. She had apparently come down to the stables with an apple in hand, trying to make friends with Titan. He had taken one look at her, decided he hated her on sight, and let himself out of the stable in order to corner her.
Such excellent instincts from Titan.
James had taken him back to the stables, snuck him two apples for being a good boy, and then returned to me to report the whole matter.
Valentina hadn’t left her rooms since. Praise be.
I had other things to focus on besides a spoiled princess—things of national importance, no less. Like certain spells and figuring out why the ward over the demon portal was in such jeopardy when we were actively trying to fix the situation.
It meant a great deal of communication with the temples, naturally. Priest Edes really, truly loved my notes. Hand to thegods, I’d just written down information to help further things along. I hadn’t thought he’d be using those notes like one would a holy script! But apparently James’s knowledge of the past (future?) was a gold mine of information. My note from Priest Edes promised the translation of the book was coming along very well, which didn’t surprise me. Lila got tunnel vision when she had a new book to play with. But his note also pleaded for more information, anything James had written down.
Although, honestly, aside from his timeline, he hadn’t written down much. And I really didn’t want that timeline in careless hands. Or worse, the wrong hands.
I compromised by sending him a note back saying I’d get James to write down things as we could, but I had nothing else to offer at the moment.
James really should write down his whole epic story, though. A memoir from him would befascinatingto read.
I was still settling into our office, but I had all the basics here now. I had no faith the office would be fully set up by the time I was crowned king, but maybe a miracle would happen?
No, wait, if I was going to use a miracle, I’d use it on something else.
Allen stuck his head in. “You gave orders to be alerted if Victor made a move? He is heading to the docks.”
