He blinked at me with Sad Eyes. “You can do anything.”
Now, I knew he was messing with me, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. “Normally, I’d agree with you, but I can’t help you on this. Even against my better judgement, I ended up liking you. Be rather hypocritical of me to tell other people to stop.”
My teasing seemed to catch him off guard. He stopped mock moping, his breath audibly catching, eyes wide and startled. Then he lit up, beaming from ear to ear, and flopped onto my shoulder, hands wrapping around my arm.
I almost came out of my skin, but the weight of him pressed close, the clean, almost piney scent from his hair, all felt so nice I didn’t want to shove him off. It was awkward as hell, especially with Dame Temperance’s arched brows making all the judgements, but I just couldn’t find it in me to push him away.
Instead, I defaulted to sarcasm, acting put upon. “I just made you very happy, I take it.”
“Very happy.” He didn’t budge an inch.
“You’re not going to move until we get to your cookies, are you?”
“Not one bit.” Prince James somehow managed to snuggle in closer. “After you confessing to me, I don’t want to let go.”
Exactly who confessed?!
I cleared my throat and tried for logic. “I said I liked you against my better judgement, and you take that as a confession?”
Prince James tilted his head back just enough to peek up at me from under his lashes. Those emerald green eyes were bottomless and somehow seemed to suck me in. “I can’t?”
“You are theworsttease,” I grumbled, looking away. I was afraid if I looked into his eyes much longer, he’d convince me to do perfectly ridiculous things. I hadn’t developed an immunity to him yet. It was a work in progress and the progress wasslow.
“I’m not teasing.” Prince James indeed sounded serious. “One day, I’ll convince you.”
One day, I was afraid he would. No, no. Stop, me. I must stay away from royalty. I was smart enough not to fall into that pitfall, no matter how charming the man.
I silently gestured to Dame Temperance for help. She gave me an enigmatic smile and didn’t say one word.
The carriage slowed and Greg called over his shoulder, “We’re here, Your Highness.”
Oh, thank fuck. I pulled free under the excuse of opening the door, all while saying, “All right, Your Highness, let’s go get your cookie.”
Twenty
James
“This meeting is now in session!”
I sat at the very front of the room, on a slightly raised dais, a voice magnification charm engraved into the very long table in front of me. Helena sat at my right, the Speaker—the one actually in control of moderating the meeting—to my left. On the far right, King Patrick attended only as an observer, as he wanted to see my first meeting. Well, and he also wanted to see for himself if Victor showed up. He promised me this meeting was wholly in my hands and he wouldn’t say a word.
Par for the course, we had a half-filled room. The only time I’d seen it filled with every noble was during a dire emergency affecting the entire country.
Like demon kings and their armies.
So, honestly, I felt relieved to see it only half full because it was a sign the country wasn’t on the brink of despair. The room was arranged on tertiary floors, each level one step up, much like a theater, so that everyone could see the front of the room without issue. Aside from carpets in the royal red and a goldphoenix emblem emblazoned into the wall behind me, the room was sparsely decorated. This place was meant for business, not socializing.
Speaker Messalina Stanhope rose to address everyone. She looked quite demure in the fine dark purple dress she wore, spectacles resting on the tip of her nose. Or she would have looked demure if she hadn’t recently dyed her hair bright pink. Personally, I thought it looked good on her.
“We have two items on the agenda today,” Speaker Stanhope declared, her strong voice carrying to every corner of the room. “First, there are three projects Prince James wants to spearhead. One of these projects is rebuilding the seawalls. Crown Prince Victor is currently in charge, so we must shift the responsibilities over to Prince James and Princess Helena before we can discuss it. All in favor of shifting responsibilities?”
Each desk had four charms engraved into the age-darkened wood—yes, no, neutral, and a fourth one that allowed them to speak with voice amplification. Multiple taps played out, everyone touching the charms on their desks. All the results of the voting were immediately channeled into the Speaker’s panel and tallied so she could see the result at a glance.
“Twenty-three voted yes, four no, three neutral. The motion is carried.”
I hadn’t expected any other outcome. In truth, I’d made damn sure I would get the carrying vote. The four naysayers were the ones who were staunchly Victor’s people. Nothing I said or did would make them change. Well, not until he’d completely fallen out of power. I had leverage on them, but it wasn’t something I could use yet. I wasn’t supposed to know any of it. I had to choose my moment with them.
The three neutrals were fence-sitters, willing to give me enough rope to see if I hung myself with it. Fine. I’d win them over eventually.
