I’d say it for her. Er, no, probably shouldn’t volunteer to do that. It would get me beheaded for sure.
“If you, as a woman, are capable of ruling this country, why are you so dismissive of your daughter?”
“Yes, but I’m married.” Queen Beatrice looked to her husband for support.
King Patrick didn’t look back at her, but he did argue the point. “Exactly. It’s because I’m here that she can do her job.”
“Helena will also marry,” James pointed out, his tone even. “She’ll need to do so regardless, for heirs, so why can’t she inherit the throne?”
I stood there and watched him argue with both of them. Prince James had solid facts and logic on his side. His adoptive parents weren’t even sure how to counter them, but they clearly didn’t want to see his side. That was all it came down to, in the end. They didn’t want to agree with him. They didn’t want Princess Helena to have the throne.
All while he spoke, Prince James never lost his temper, never raised his voice, even when his impatience with them started toshow. I briefly made eye contact with Ramsey, who only shook his head sadly. I was sure he’d said similar things over the years, also to no avail.
Despite what Prince James wanted, I didn’t think anyone would agree to let Princess Helena have the throne. Not unless something very drastic happened to both Prince Royce and Prince Victor. I liked Prince Royce. I didn’t wish anything bad upon him. I liked Helena, too, and felt bad that no one but Prince James seemed to take her seriously.
Prince Victor, on the other hand…perhaps we could arrange an accident there.
Something nagged me as I took a closer look at Prince James’s profile. He appeared tired, which wasn’t surprising, since I knew he battled with nightmares. Did those dreams of his previous life still plague him so much he couldn’t sleep even with a potion aid? I knew he’d been given several. I must find a way to follow up with him.
What also bothered me, now that I truly paid attention, was that his face looked slimmer. Almost as if he’d lost weight?
Surely not. The palace kitchens were excellent and ran almost nonstop, even at night. There was always food available. Of all places, this was not one in which you could go hungry.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling. People say you lose weight in the face first, and the more I looked at him, the more sure I became. He had lost weight, and he’d been at a healthy weight coming into the palace, not someone who’d needed to lose a few pounds.
I didn’t track his meals—that wasn’t under my purview—but I had noticed he often worked through lunch these days. Was he even pausing long enough to eat?
Reminded of lunch, I thought back to three days ago when he’d found me at my favorite lunch spot and brought me a book. I still puzzled over how he’d evenknownI liked to read,much less known one of my favorite authors. I’d never really chitchatted with him about hobbies.
I still felt bad that I’d so clearly disappointed him by not taking the book. Part of me had dearly wanted to, but I just couldn’t justify getting closer to him. The man flirted with me, and I wasn’t sure why. He was surrounded by beautiful, influential people. Why me? It didn’t make any sense.
I did believe him to be sincere, on some level. I’d seen enough of him in the past month to believe he treated everyone with sincerity. It was part of why I wanted to read him to sleep, even though I knew getting close to him would not end well. Prince James had been very frank about being gay, so any single man near him would get swept up in the rumors, even me. I’d already heard more than a few people whispering about how he favored me. Taking a gift from him would have directly fueled the rumor mill. I’d fallen back on protocol in sheer panic when he’d offered the book.
It wasn’t wise to mix with royalty. There was no future there, and I’d only get my heart broken in the process. I wasn’t made for light, short-term dalliances or being an affair partner. If I gave my heart to someone, they had it completely. For better and for worse.
My feet started to ache and I shifted, wishing I could go home, as the evening had rather dragged on. Prince James hadn’t needed me for this after all, which didn’t surprise me. He’d only touched on some of what he’d wanted to discuss, too, which also didn’t surprise me. Queen Beatrice had a habit of sidetracking every conversation she participated in.
Finally, they had to stop because the monarchs had a royal dinner to attend, something Prince James was thankfully excused from. He took his leave, gathering me up, and we both fled the study at a dignified walking pace.
Only when we were safely at the end of the hallway did he blow out an explosive breath and let his shoulders sink. “That went about as well as I expected. Why? Why can’t they accept Helena as a viable choice?”
“Because they do not want to.” I shrugged. “They likely never will.”
“It makes me mad and also sad for my sister.” Then he made a face, grimacing like he’d bitten into something sour. “I just realized we didn’t even get to the seawalls. Dammit. I wanted to give them a proper heads-up about taking the project over, since no one else seems the least bit interested in doing so.”
It had been Prince Victor’s project—on paper, anyway—for nearly five years. No one would arm wrestle Prince James for it.
Actually, come to think of it, why hadn’t King Patrick taken that project back from his son? Prince Victor obviously wouldn’t do any work unless spoon-fed it, with plenty of bribes as well. Why was it only obvious to me now what should have been done?
Or had I served people who did the bare minimum for so long that I accepted laziness as the norm and it had taken Prince James coming in to show me what a monarchshouldbe doing?
Huh. Food for thought.
Perhaps King Patrick had adopted Prince James now because he himself wanted to retire? He was tired of doing the work, couldn’t—or wouldn’t—depend on his children for various reasons, so he’d brought Prince James in to make his retirement viable. This theory made a lot of sense to me. It would explain the man’s hands-off approach to ruling, to start with.
Prince James looked about and gave his stomach a pat. “I think it’s dinnertime. Will you join me, Edwin?”
Again, this offer I had to refuse. I didn’t dare get close to him. “It’s past working hours for me, so I think I’ll head home. But enjoy your dinner, Your Highness.”
