I frown. The girls do obviously like her, and listening to them now, Marcella is being sweet and patient. It’s her break time, and she’s spending it with the children instead of on one of her walks. And yes, I know her schedule. I know her routine.
She’s easy to follow on the cameras, and I won’t lie and say I don’t spend way too much time doing it.
I should discourage Bellamy’s idea for no other reason than it’s not smart for me to spend more time with Marcella. But the reality is, I have no reason not to trust her.
My fixation is my own. My wariness too.
That said, I want the children to be able to go to the festival and enjoy themselves. I have no intention of letting my guard down with her, but I can’t deny that it would be easier to have her there with us tomorrow. Plus, we’ll have royal attendants watching our every move. They’ll be safe.
“I suppose we could ask her.”
Bellamy smirks knowingly at me. “You like her.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t trust her.”
“Yeah, but you also like her. I’m not blind, Rowan. You look at her the same way Sebastian used to look at me when he thought I was a hot pain in the ass.”
I grunt. “Different. Very different, and I don’t look at her that way.”
She snorts. “Okay, sure. Since women don’t know these things about men or anything.”
“You’re a brat.”
She wiggles her hips, doing a little dance. “I’m also right. Even now, you can’t take your eyes off her. You think she’s pretty. You want to kiss her,” she sings.
I flip her off. “You sound like a dying cat.”
“Rude!” she exclaims in English, but she’s also laughing at my expense, which draws their attention over to us.
“Mommy!” the girls cry in delight.
“Look, we’re playing chess,” Sabrina continues.
We walk into the room and sit on the sofas. Bellamy is all smiles. “I see. Looks like fun! Oncle Rowan and I were talking about the summer festival.”
The girls light up like Christmas trees. “Are we going? Did Papa agree?” Phaedra climbs up onto her knees, hope gleaming in her eyes.
"That’s something we need to speak to Marcella about,” Bellamy tells them. “Do you girls want to go find Tante Althea and Zayer? I think Zayer went straight from his snack to lunch.”
Both girls rise. “Thank you for teaching us,” Phaedra, ever the queen-to-be, says to Marcella.
“It was fun. We’ll have to do it again.”
The girls take off, and Marcella stands, adjusts her black pants, no longer wearing her ugly gray uniform, and starts to put away the chess set. I scooch to the edge of the sofa and help her, which surprises her. Probably because it’s not something a prince would typically do.
“Thank you, Your Highness. That’s very kind and unnecessary of you.”
Our fingers brush as I pass her the rook, and tingles shoot through my hand that has me drawing back. What the fuck is that?
She must feel it too because her eyes round and she murmurs out an apology.
“Well, I’m glad we found you,” Bellamy starts. “Tomorrow, as you know, is the summer festival in Torin. Unfortunately, Sebastian and Althea have meetings with the prime minister and members of parliament thrown on their schedules. Rowan had the idea of you joining us to help with the children since that’s what Emily would have done if she were here.”
I throw Bellamy a look, but she simply beams a smile at me. Such a meddling little thing. No wonder Sebastian is so fond of spanking her. The woman is playing with fire, and she doesn’t even know it. Or perhaps she does, and that’s her intent.
“Unless, of course you don’t want to come with us,” I challenge when she stiffens and a look of unease crosses her face.
She licks her lips and finishes cleaning up the set, putting the lid back on the box. “It’s not that, sir.”
