He smiled, but it looked more like a sneer. “I’m doing just fine. Why do you ask?”
She immediately felt terrible, because she shouldn’t have even referenced the very real, and horrendous trauma he’d experienced as a child.
“No reason.”
“Somehow, I thought as much.” On wobbly legs, she began to walk up the gangway onto the boat. There was a staff member standing there with a tray of champagne waiting for them. “Oh, thank you,” she said, taking the champagne and turning to look at Andrei. “Take one,” she said.
“I do not follow orders,” he responded. “Do I need to remind you?”
“That is strange, because you are here on mybrother’sorder.”
“I would be here no matter what Onyx advised. On that you can trust me.”
He didn’t take a glass of champagne, and she was certain that it was actually to antagonize her. At least it would be a comfortable crossing. All of her things had already been delivered to the plush cabin at the front of the yacht, where the views of the sea were glorious. The last time she had sailed on the ship Onyx had given her that room, and she had enjoyed it. But, she wouldn’t go down there just yet. Instead, she opted to take her champagne to a lounge chair on the top deck and watch as they sailed away from Basilia.
She hadn’t expected the grief. The tightening of her throat.
She was leaving all of this behind. This country where she had grown up, this jewel-bright treasure in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. The only place that she had ever called home. The only place she had memories of her parents.
But she was doing it for her family. For her legacy. For her people. Onyx could come visit her, and surely she would be able to return home sometime. Surely.
She didn’t have a chance to miss Andrei yet. Since it seemed that he was going to be her shadow this entire time.
Into her new life.
A ghost of everything she could never have.
She took an overly large swallow of champagne as the boat began to drift away from shore.
Conviction burned in her breast. She knew why she was doing this. She just had to hold on to that reasoning. To that conviction.
“Relaxing before your execution?”
She looked up at Andrei, dressed all in black, of course. “You are fun at parties,” she said. “I know because I’ve seen you. Haunting the back walls like a wraith.”
“Is this a party?” he asked.
“It could be. A beautiful yacht, gorgeous views, champagne. The only thing that’s missing is other people.”
“I never miss other people.”
She laughed. “Of course not. Anyway, the more elaborate an event is, the more work goes into the security, I suppose.”
“It is true.”
She frowned. “What is my brother going to do without you?”
“I’m good at my job, Emerald. That means that anyone who has worked under me these past years is well trained in their position, and I leave behind competent people to coordinate the security of the palace. Only narcissists rule with such an iron fist that they cannot accept the assistance from those qualified around them.”
“And you’re not a narcissist,” she said.
He wasn’t. She was simply poking at him.
She did that with him, used humor, gentle and spiky depending on how exposed she felt, to make her footing feel sure with him. In return, he was dry. If you didn’t know him, you’d miss that he was bantering back, because he did everything in the same, serious tone.
She knew him, though.
“No. I’m not. I am aware of my abilities, certainly. I am a realist. Not a narcissist.”
