Chapter 48
Forty-eight
James
I’d had a splendid time with Edwin the night before and woken up refreshed and raring to go this morning.
I slipped out of bed early, trained for a few hours, then came back to find Edwin dressed and eating breakfast. After a quick wash, I joined him, feeling all was right in the world. For the moment.
We walked to our office hand in hand, Edwin not at all shy about it. I knew he had been in the beginning, but then, it had to be hard in some ways to date your boss. I didn’t begrudge him the adjustment time.
I greeted people as we came in, and they didn’t even tease us much about our obvious affection.
See? Everyone had adapted nicely. I didn’t know what Edwin was worried about.
The only people who would care were Patrick and Beatrice and they were so used to Victor having nonstop dalliances, they’d likely turn a blind eye to Edwin.
At least until I made it absolutely clear he was not just a dalliance.
That was when trouble would actually start.
Well hmm, I’d already made my stance clear, so trouble from their quarter might start soon… I hoped not, but I didn’t know how to plan accordingly other than basic precautions. I’d have to handle the objections as they came.
Edwin released his hand from mine so he could continue to his own desk, which made my hand sad. It gave a little twinge as if in protest and I tried not to pout. Even I knew when I was being ridiculous.
Well, most of the time.
I pulled my chair out, trying to get my brain into work mode. Come on, switch from adoring Edwin to actual paperwork. Damn, the shift was harder this morning than usual.
Edwin called from his desk, “James?”
Alarm bells sounded in my head, and I rose out of my chair quickly.
Edwin sounded as if someone had tilted the world on him without notice, and he wasn’t sure whether to panic or not.
His eyes never left the two pages in his hand, his entire body unnaturally still.
The last time I’d seen that expression on his face was in our first lives, when he’d told me the epidemic had taken hold in our southern cities.
I came around the desk in a flash to read over his shoulder, pulling him against me in the process because I didn’t trust his knees to support him. He looked stunned enough to collapse right on the spot.
It took nothing more than the first three sentences to fully comprehend what had spooked him.
Edwin Grantham,
By Royal Order, you are being transferred from your current station as Prince James’s secretary. Your new duty station will be at Lounde. Hand over any work or correspondence immediately, as you are expected at Lounde by the end of next week.
My eyes skipped over the rest of it and went straight to the bottom of the page, where the order’s origin seal and signature would be.
Beatrice Elouise Kronenscheld
So, my queenly mother thought she was being smart by taking Edwin away from me?
Rage flooded my body so quickly it made a roar of white noise, and I felt jittery, shaky, like I’d shifted into battle mode.
If she’d been standing in front of me, I’d have broken her neck without hesitation.
My embrace turned near punishing for a moment before I managed to ease it, but Edwin sank into my grip rather than protesting.
Jo Ann came in close, popping up on tiptoes and peering over Edwin’s arm. She let out a shocked hiss. “They can’t transfer you like this!”
An uproar spread across the room as people demanded details, and Jo Ann snatched the papers free of his hand to show the rest. I let her go.
For my Edwin, who was worried and scared, I wrangled my temper enough to offer reassurance. I pressed a kiss to his temple and promised him, “I have a plan B, if it comes to that. Breathe, Edwin. I will correct her.” If the words came out a little murderous sounding, well…
He tilted his head so he could see my eyes, searching them for…something. “I know you can overturn this. But can you change her mind so she doesn’t try again?”
“The latter option is harder, but I think I can. I’m certainly going to try. You stay right here. Read, if it takes your mind off things. I’ll be back.”
I kissed his temple again and then took the order back from Jo Ann. Before I had even fully reached the hallway, Captain Rowan appeared at my heels.
The paper crumpled in my hand, my whole extremity shaking as I tried to keep my temper reined in. I tried not to snap as I warned my knight off.
“I do not need an escort.”
“I’m here for moral support and to keep you from strangling the queen,” he riposted neatly. “Ignore me until you need me.”
Even through my anger, the thought came to me that I really didn’t deserve my knights. Every single one of them was the most stalwart, loyal companion a man could beg for. I’d buy him dinner and drinks after this. He’d have earned it by the time I was done with Beatrice.
Most of me, though, was focused on this insanity. I’d known once Beatrice realized Edwin wasn’t just a fling for me, she would do something. I’d been waiting for the shoe to drop, but I hadn’t expected this reaction. This was a new play in her book.
Frustration was the number two emotion nipping at my heels.
I knew, intellectually, that of course Beatrice was going to repeat the same type of mistakes.
She had no memory of the past life; of course she’d act similarly to how she had before.
She didn’t have the experience to know better.
But emotionally, it felt like she just couldn’t learn from her mistakes, or she chose not to.
Emotionally, it felt like I had to deal with an idiot who never seemed to wise up, which grated my nerves like nothing else could. I detested incompetent people.
As I traversed the halls, people more or less leapt out of my way. I’d feel bad about scaring them later. Right now, I couldn’t see through this red haze clouding my vision enough to care.
The very second I reached the queen’s rooms, I threw the doors wide open.
Her knights stationed outside the door didn’t even try to stop me, just gulped and let me through.
There she sat, ensconced in her favorite chair while her maid stood behind her, doing her hair in some ridiculous updo requiring several peacock feathers.
Beatrice startled, physically jumping when I stormed in, then her expression settled into one of resigned annoyance. Like she’d known I’d throw a tantrum and here I was. I resented, heavily, being treated like Victor.
My tone was hardly level, but I strove not to shout as I approached her.
“I am not the problem child here, Beatrice. You can put that expression away. This?” I waved the order before ripping it right down the middle.
“This didn’t happen. What you’re attempting is so amateurish and stupid that even a scullery maid can see the truth. Sending Edwin away will not help you.”
“James, really, if you’d just calm down—”
I kept talking, because I doubted she had anything worthwhile to say. She rarely did. “I will not become king.”
She froze, blue eyes widening, horror taking over her face.
Ha, had her attention now. My smile was a parody of joy, reflecting no mirth or delight.
“I will not become crown prince, or consort, or in any way, shape, or form take the throne. Frankly, you can’t make me.
There’s not a single thing you can offer me to make it worth it.
Also, whatever matchmaking scheme you have won’t work either, as your judgement is for shit, and I don’t trust you to make such an important decision for me. ”
Beatrice flinched, eyes anywhere but up. “I realize I made an error with Helena’s match, but—”
“It’s not just Helena’s match you bumbled.
You did the same for Royce. Victor went through three engagements, two of them only a month apart, and two of those three were canceled because of something the brides did.
You made matches for some of your ladies-in-waiting and every single one of those matches ended in a divorce.
Out of the fourteen matches you’ve had your hand in, fourteen of them have failed.
You’re literally zero on the tally. Why you keep trying at something you clearly have no talent for is insanity.
Either way, you will not take on the role, and I do not give you the power over me.
I have it in writing that you cannot even suggest a spouse to me. ”
“Not even Helena?” Beatrice all of a sudden looked cocky, like she had me.
I stared at her, my mind suddenly detached from the circus I’d been pulled into. Did she not remember the clause I’d put into my adoption contract was partly to avoid marrying Helena?
Beatrice seemed to think she’d perfectly executed a gotcha moment because she beamed.
“If you could marry Helena, then it would be a different matter, am I right? I know you were worried about that when you first came in, but you’ve gotten to know her now, and you’re quite close with her.
You’ve taken her under your wing for a reason, training her to be a good wife for you, so I know I’m right. ”
All I had done to help my sister was because of that foolhardy reason? The disgust that swamped me made me so nauseous I regretted ever eating this morning. How could anyone look at Helena and not see her true worth? How dare Beatrice even think I looked at Helena with such lecherous intentions?!
I leaned farther in, my face a foot from hers, and in the foulest language I could dredge up against a woman, I let my feelings bare. “Listen, you beslubbering, beetle-headed moldwrap, I do not have incestuous feelings for my own godsdamn sister.”
She pressed her back into the chair, shaking, eyes wide with terror.
Good.
“I realize you’re insatiable when it comes to stupidity—you certainly eat enough shit and wallow in it—but I draw the line here. You will not mess with my personal life. Not in any way. You will not touch Edwin or Helena or Royce. Why? Because they are mine to protect.”
Her breath shook, hands twisting into her dressing gown, and I could feel everyone else in the room stir, not sure if they should intervene and pull me out of here.
“I-I was just—”
“You can fucking stop.” I cut through her excuse without remorse.
“Beatrice, your plans are always all ass and no forehead. You don’t ever think things through.
It’s why the rest of us don’t trust your judgement.
Helena? You want me to marry my own fucking sister? Did you completely forget I’m gay?”
“That’s enough!” Beatrice pushed herself back upright, color high in her cheeks. “I am still your queen! If you want to remain prince, then you’ll show me respect and allow my order to go through!”
“No, Beatrice. That’s not how this works. If you want me to remain prince, you’ll respect the boundary I’ve set.”
Her jaw dropped, the disbelief clear in her expression.
“Remember this: I didn’t want to be prince to begin with. I was talked into it. My plan B is walking out of here completely, putting myself into exile, and never having to deal with you or politics again. Right now, you’re making plan B very, very alluring. Is that what you want?”
“You’d really walk out of here?” Her disbelief hung in the air, palpable. “You’d give up being prince?”
“Right now? In a heartbeat. Only the weight of the many people counting upon me is staying my hand. Remember that the next time you get another one of your so-called bright ideas. It isn’t wanted, and you’re already dancing on thin ice.
I don’t have much patience for anything else you try, because I’m tired of cleaning up your messes.
” I finally straightened and found some equilibrium.
“Do not try this again. Zinos help you, you won’t like my response if you do. ”
Turning sharply on a heel, I took myself out. Captain Rowan was again on my heels and seemed relieved the altercation hadn’t come to blows.
I’d never struck a woman, but Vuheia strengthen me, Beatrice tried my patience sometimes.
“It’s clear where Victor gets it from,” I growled under my breath as I moved.
“In terms of what? Entitlement, stupidity…?”
“All of the above.”
Captain Rowan was silent for a time before asking, “Do you really have a plan B?”
“When do I not have one?”
“Fair point. It’s just…the idea of you leaving rather terrifies me. So many of the projects bettering this country are under your control. If you left, who would take them up again?”
No one. That was the problem. No one would be willing. Helena would honor them, but no one would allow her to do so. She didn’t have any political weight in the court. That stayed my hand more than anything.
But it might come down to me selfishly putting myself first.