She studies my face for a long moment, and I watch her expression shift from annoyed to something more serious. She brushes crumbs off her pajamas.
“Defineeverything.”
“Cover stories. Distractions. Intel. Manipulation. Any of your evil skills that could be useful. You’re the only person I can trust.” I run a hand through my hair and start pacing again because being still feels impossible. “I need a strategy where I won’t be forced to marry one of those brats. I want to be with Addison, and I can’t do this alone. My methods aren’t working, and I’m running out of time.”
“You have two weeks.”
“Less than that now.” I stop at her window and stare out at the sea. “Help me, or I’ll renounce my title.”
I turn to face her.
The words hang in the air between us. Delphine’s nostrils flare, and I see her lose the color in her face.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would. So, you help me, or I will walk away, and you will take the crown. I’ll pass this straight to you, dear sister.”
In her eyes, I can see fear, which is rare.
“You’d actually give it all up for her?” she asks. “It’s this serious?”
“Yes. But I don’t want it to come to that. I want Mother and Father to adore her, to see why she’s fit to lead, to be my wife. I believe I can have both, if I prove to them it’s possible.”
“In twelve days,” she says, blinking up at me. “That isn’t enough time.”
“I’m aware, which is why I need you,” I tell her. “You’re one of the smartest people I know.”
“Yes, I am. The flattery is working.” Delphine swings her legs off the bed and stands, navigating through the clothing minefield on her floor until she’s standing in front of me. She’s shorter than me by almost a foot, but the look she gives me is anything but small. “Now, I’m going to deliver your fucking note. Then I’m going to come up with a way to find you more time.” She wiggles into a pair of jeans, then moves to her bathroom to put on a T-shirt. As she walks past me, she pokes me in the chest. “Know I’m postponing my season finale for you. You owe me big. Huge!”
“I do, and I appreciate it.”
“And be smarter going forward.” She taps the paper against her fingers. “No more wandering around the palace, making heart eyes at Addison, where people can see you. No more skipping dinners. Follow the rules until we can change them. Play the game in public and do whatever they ask. Okay? If you have to see her, do it in private and carefully. Got it?”
“Understood,” I say.
“Good.” She tucks the note into her back pocket and crosses her arms. “Now, tell me about these princesses. Any of them tolerable? Anyone we could use as an ally?”
“Katarina maybe. She seems miserable to be here.”
“Really?”
“I think she has someone back home. She barely looks at me during meals.”
Delphine nods, filing that information away. “Anyone else?”
“Cornelia is a nightmare. Tatiana is calculating. The rest blur together.”
“Tatiana is the front-runner in Mother’s eyes.” Delphine moves to her vanity and pulls her hair into a ponytail. “I’ve heard her talking about their banking connections.”
“If I don’t stop this, that’s who they’ll have me marry and knock up.”
“Be careful with her. She’s manipulative,” Delphine warns me. “Cornelia is a mean girl, but Tatiana is conniving.”
“Noted.”
But then again, she’s not telling me anything I haven’t already learned by watching.
My sister grabs her phone and slides it into her pocket, then turns back to me with an expression I recognize. “Maybe you and your girlfriend should exchange numbers?”
