Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
RANA
Rana scanned the top sheet of the bundle in her hands. She had helped Dan enough with the shop’s bookkeeping to know a budget when she saw one, though this was far more diverse than what she was accustomed to working with. “Are you planning a party?”
Kamaran snorted. “Something like that. These are the other proposed wedding budgets.”
“Oh.” Her heart, which had only just returned to normal, stuttered. She blinked.
I shouldn’t be surprised. The end goal of this whole contest is for him to find a wife. Of course there would be wedding planning at some point. He might be my friend now—something I never could have guessed—but he was never mine to keep.
“I know you’re already done with your part, but I was hoping you would be willing to read just the final budgets for me. There was so much back and forth that I’m not entirely sure what’s in each of them. I finished meeting with Aliyah just before coming here, so hers should be first.”
Rana tapped the side of her thumb against the papers. “Am I even allowed to see this?”
“Unless you’re planning on using this information for sabotage, I don’t see why not. The judges will be the ones making the final decision, but they will take my opinion into account—an opinion I can’t give them if I don’t know what’s in there.”
She rolled her head on the cushion so she could look him in the eyes. “How do you know I won’t make something up to unfairly influence your decision?”
He lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t. I suppose I’m trusting that you’re too honorable to take advantage of my weakness.”
Rana sighed dramatically. “Well, when you say it like that, now I have to behave.” She returned her attention to the papers and cleared her throat. “So, this is Aliyah’s. I’ll just read down the page, but let me know if I’m going too fast or you want me to stop.”
“Well, of the three of these, Nour’s is the most reasonable.
” Rana set the papers on the floor beside her and laced her fingers together, stretching out her arms and upper back.
“Sorry,” she added quickly, realizing her mistake.
“I probably should let you come to your own conclusions. Actually, scratch that. There’s no way I’m letting you think that paying 10 gold for a dress is in any way reasonable, much less the 20 that Yasmin proposes. ”
“It’s not?”
She turned, propping her elbow on the divan cushion and leaning her cheek on her hand.
“Absolutely not. You can get morgina silk imported all the way from Helyos for less than half that, and it’s far more labor-intensive to produce.
My guess is that Yasmin has a certain silk merchant she’s trying to placate. ”
Kamaran leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “You’re probably right. Any other words of wisdom?”
Rana shrugged. “Not any that should sway your decision. Like I said: Nour’s is the most reasonable one of the bunch, which is likely because she has connections in the Merchant’s Guild.
All of them could be trimmed by either simplifying or choosing different vendors, but it all comes down to a matter of taste.
Speaking of.” She lifted her eyebrows teasingly.
“Did you really consent to wearing peridot?”
He cracked open one eye. “I don’t know. Did I?”
“According to one of the plans.”
“I’m guessing by your face that it’s not a good thing?”
“Again, it’s up to your taste.” She studied him for a moment, her eyes running over the lines of his face that were becoming so familiar and dear. “But light green really isn’t your color.”
“Oh?” Both eyes were open now, and his lips twitched with amusement. “What is my color, then?”
“Jewel tones,” she answered without hesitation. “Or warmer colors. For your wedding, I would say either a cream or dark blue.”
“You’ve given this a lot of thought.”
“Don’t read too much into it, Your Majesty. I spend a lot of time thinking about fabric.”
“So I’ve noticed.” His face softened, and the warm glow of unguarded admiration in his eyes made Rana’s breath catch.
She was frozen in place, trapped by the impossible idea of something more between them that was held just out of reach, kept at bay by the heartbreaking reality that his future wife’s name was somewhere in the stack of papers in her hand.
He’s never offered anything more than friendship, and I can’t ask for more. I had the opportunity to enter the contest and I didn’t. I was so sure that I already knew what he was like that I gave up the chance of getting to know who he truly is.
Regret left a bitter taste in her mouth, and she cleared her throat, pulling away and breaking the spell.
“Speaking of fabric.” She reached for her work basket. “I’m nearly done with this dress, and the night is still fairly young. Story time?”
Even if I’ve apparently gone and fallen for him, I don’t need to make things any more difficult or awkward for him. I can still be his friend—Abba knows he needs one.
“You’re not going to put me to work? What about rule number two?” Kamaran grinned, holding up his empty hands.
She dug through her basket and tossed him a tangled skein of yarn before dragging over the table that held the plate of Adhavian Delight and positioning it within reach of both of them.
“Ready?” she asked.
He nodded. “Please. I’m eager to hear how else lizards might be useful, contributing members of society.”
“Rule number one,” she quickly chided. “If you don’t like it, how about you tell the story?”
“Gladly.” Kamaran laughed at the surprised expression on her face. “You didn’t think I would?”
“I’ll admit, I was not quite prepared to have my authority so easily usurped.”
“That’s where you went wrong. You should always be on guard.” He said the words with such nonchalance that Rana wasn’t entirely sure whether he was joking or not. “Now. Where were we?”
“Prince Kamden had been accidentally carried off to a nearby village, where he crawled under a widow’s floorboards to help her find a lost necklace, scaled a thorny bush to dislodge a child’s kite string, and helped rid a farmer of a locust infestation.”
His upper lip curled in distaste as he eyed the remnants of the scorpion left on the floor. “Ah, yes. You had the poor prince eating insects.”
“He’s a lizard. Lizards eat bugs.”
“With the mind of a prince, which means he knows he shouldn’t.”
Rana gave him a look. “Are you going to tell the story, or are you just going to criticize mine?”
Kamaran cleared his throat, adopting a deeper, more dramatic tone than his normal speaking voice.
“The farmer was so grateful to the prince that he invited him to live with his family. They gave him his own room and a seat at the table for dinner every night. After three days, the curse was broken, and Prince Kamden never had to eat a bug again.”
She clicked her tongue, shaking her head slowly. “A nice thought, but the stipulations clearly stated the bed needed to be shared.”
“Scandalous,” he gasped. “What kind of a prince do you think he is?”
“The lizard kind,” she deadpanned back,
He reached for a square of Adhavian Delight, prompting her to do the same. “What happened to rule number one?”
“I’m not criticizing, I’m critiquing.” She held the orange-flavored candy in front of her lips as she spoke. “This is a teaching moment. I’m giving you something to consider.”
His eyes dropped to the candy for a moment and he swallowed.
“Yes, you are.” His voice was strangely husky, but before Rana could think about it any further, he forged ahead.
“How about this? The farmer, having loudly praised Prince Kamden’s impressive locust-hunting abilities, attracted the attention of a visiting princess, who happened to be traveling the countryside.
She stopped for a visit, and while speaking with the prince was charmed by his effortless wit and impeccable manners.
Not wanting to cut her visit short, she stayed for dinner, but a sudden thunderstorm prevented her from being able to continue on her way.
The only spare room the farmer had was the one he had given to Prince Kamden.
The princess assured him that she didn’t mind sharing.
As they conversed through the night, the princess fell more and more in love with him, and, just as the sun was rising, she kissed the top of his lizard head. In that moment, the curse was broken.”
Rana set her needle down and crossed her arms. “True Love’s Kiss was never a part of it.”
“I never said it was. They shared a bed, didn’t they?”
“What would possibly compel her to kiss a lizard?”
He crossed his own arms, mirroring both her posture and the look of challenge on her face. “You kiss Zade all the time.”
“That’s different!”
“He’s an animal.”
She wrinkled her nose. “A cute one. He’s not a scaly lizard.”
“To be fair, the prince wasn’t actually a lizard, either.” Kamaran pointed out.
“But he looked like one.”
He smirked, and the mischief twinkling in his eyes made her heart race. “Are you saying that if I looked like a lizard, you wouldn’t kiss me?”
Every thought in Rana’s brain screeched to a sudden halt and alarm bells rang out.
No! That’s not fair. He can’t ask me questions like that and expect to keep things friendly. Well, maybe he can—but I can’t!
“I can safely say that is a thought that has never even crossed my mind,” she managed to say.
He quirked an eyebrow. “But now that it has?”
“I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.”
Because a response would require thinking about kissing you—something I am now trying very hard not to do.
“Because you don’t want to admit that you would?”
She blinked at him, long and slow, channeling every ounce of effort she possessed into not letting her wayward emotions show on her face.
“I’m sorry to break it to you, Your Majesty, but no.
If you looked like a lizard, not even your undeniable charm would convince me to kiss you. I draw the line at scales.”