Page 25 of Microburst

Fine, the ancients should beat me. Her uncles and Benson—even Onyx, but Thorn and Joris?

Naw, it was time to get my ass moving.

Even fucking Gavriil and a few others beat me and that wasn’t acceptable.

I was glad nothing was wrong, but then I froze when the shop owner said something really nice and color blossomed all around Sagan. Bright,vibrantcolors that almost took my breath away. There was no reason for her to react that sharply for something that nice.

Because vibrant didn’t mean good always. No, a lot of times it meant bad too. It was intense. Always just intense feelings.

And pain was maybe one of the most intense feelings.

She handled it with grace but then tried to excuse herself from the situation and get out of there. She promised to stop by the shop again soon and check on them, hoped sales were going well, and basically had her mask back on.

“Your Majesty, should you be having so many desserts when you’ve finally lost the weight you needed to for your health?” a male reporter called over. “Don’t you think it would be better for the image of Thovudin if you worked on yourhealthas Kyle Elmore keeps pointing out?”

“Hey, watch—” I started to say, not the only one who reacted that way but actually bit my tongue when she held up her hand and focused on the reporter. The others followed what she wanted, and it was honestly a powerful display that at least we would do as we should and let her lead.

“Any day you want to compare howhealthywe are with a healer, you let me know,” she practically purred. “I have more muscle than you and I’m what? A foot shorter? I’m sorry I have breasts, but if we take those out, I promise you the percentage of fat on my body is less than yours. Starting with the fact my brain doesn’thave any.”

“Oh shit,” one of our group snickered.

“And I’m sorry, I turned down Kyle Elmore over a decade ago when he asked me out, but his obsession with me is really unsettling.” She chuckled darkly when all of us froze. “Oh, right, he never mentions that. How funny that the supposed comedian who doesn’t make jokes about me leaves out thejokeof how he propositioned me when I started college.”

“What?” Prince Fraser bit out.

She nodded and shot him a glance. “There are witnesses. Many. He was drunk at a party I attended after a lecture. I can prove we were at the same party that night even. I’m photographed all the time.” She gave a half shrug. “He said it must be embarrassing to still be a virgin at my age and he’d ‘take one for the team’ and ‘show me the ropes.’

“I told him that I hoped he didn’t normally speak to women that way and realized alcohol wasn’t the answer if he was unable to perform with women. Also, that I was barely of age, so hemight want to speak with a healer or maybe a prosecutor if he regularly propositioned women around my age as I found that aspect alone disconcerting.”

Holy.

Fucking.

Shitballs.

She went nuclear in like thirty seconds, and honestly I had to adjust how I stood because I was turned on that she not only put the guy in his place but slammed him down into it.

And I wasn’t sure if I meant the reporter or the late-night comedian.

She looked directly at the camera with the reporter. “But please, go ahead and deny it, Kyle. I will finally laugh at something you’ve said before I drag you in front of a truth dragon in court to admit what really happened under oath.” She snorted at the reporter and looked like she was about to leave.

But then she stopped and gave them a one-two combo.

“And for the record, I’m not lifting the embargo with Khirriln because I’m analcoholic,” she drawled. “That doesn’t even make sense. If I had an addiction, I would drink whatever I could get my hands on, not one type of expensive, imported wine with limited runs every season. If people were smarter, they would focus more on why we everhadan embargo with them.”

“Because they’re not allies of Thovudin,” one of the reporters shot right back. “Everyone knows that.”

“Everyone?” she challenged with a smirk. “Sure, so what did theydo?” She chuckled when no one answered. “Apparently, I really do need to push education reform up on the agenda since the only current standard for journalism is whoever yells the loudest.” She didn’t even flinch when they all stared at her like they were going to beat her.

But her guards did.

“The only thing Khirrilndidwas have three main exports that were the same as certain influential elder families,” she said firmly before ticking off her fingers. “One owns a vineyard, one a massive dairy farm that makes cheese, and one a company that makes luxury cotton items. And guess what we used to buy mostly from Khirriln before the embargo?”

“You can’t prove that,” one of thecameramenargued.

“Oh, but I can,” Sagan purred. “I have all of King Rhys’s communications and records. I’ve always known that was why. He didn’t hide it from me. He used theirthreatsas a lesson in picking your battles and choosing the lesser evils to help Thovudin.” She gave a half shrug. “But do your homework for once. Look into it. Research somethingfor onceand then say I’m a liar.”

Then she listed off the three family names and the companies before turning and walking away, even giving a wave over her shoulder as she did.