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It didn’t bother him. He didn’t let anything bother him, these days.
Besides, most of the army had been extremely disapproving of his reinstatement as Defender of the Throne and there wasn’t anything to be done about it. He couldn’t hide his past or conceal his reputation and so he’d done neither. What he had done was accept responsibility and let his actions speak for themselves.
It was annoying, but he did need the army on his side, because his role as Defender was important to Adonis, and anything that was important to Adonis was important to him. It was also a position for which his father had thought him unsuitable, which naturally meant he had not only to claim it, but to make it his own. Which he’d done. It hadn’t been easy, but he’d dragged a good proportion of the army over onto his side through a combination of honesty and pragmatism, not to mention healthy doses of charm. Some of the generals weren’t convinced, but he was confident they’d follow eventually. Certainly marriage would help that.
Perhaps it would help him with this particular soldier, though, given the way her gaze followed him, as if she couldn’t help herself, perhaps not. Because he knew that look. It was as familiar to him as breathing, and he frequently saw it on the faces of some of his female staff—and some of the male, too.
It didn’t bother him—he’d never laid a hand on anyone who worked directly with him—but sometimes it caused problems. He hoped it wouldn’t here, since she was the first female royal guard and her presence was a sign that Axios was making small inroads to progress. If there were difficulties with him, it would be a setback. He’d hate to have to dismiss her if it got out of hand. Especially as she was the daughter of Timon Kouros, the captain of the royal guard.
‘Excuse me, Your Highness?’ Her voice was very clear, with a sweet note that he should have found cloying but didn’t. ‘I didn’t quite catch what you said.’
‘No need to catch it.’ He turned towards his bedroom. ‘Follow me.’
The designer had left the gowns there in preparation for Eleni to try on, since everyone assumed he and Eleni were already sleeping together. They weren’t. He hadn’t touched her and he wouldn’t until after the wedding.
Not that he particularly wanted to, since they weren’t at all attracted to each other. A good thing in many ways, since it was less likely they’d get attached to each other.
How ironic that the one lesson of his father’s that he hadn’t rejected, the most painful lesson of all, had been the one on the dangers of caring too much. But he’d learned that lesson and he’d learned it well, so now he didn’t allow himself to care much about anything at all. Anything except his brother.
He strode down the long white hallway that led to his bedroom, not bothering to check if Calista was following him—he knew she would since obedience to authority was the core of every Axian soldier’s belief—and feeling slightly annoyed at said brother.
Adonis was obsessed with securing the succession—and fair enough, he was the king after all—but he could stand to be a little less rigid about it. Yes, he’d lost his queen a few years back, but, since the union had given him a daughter, he had his heir.
The real issue was that Adonis refused to marry again, which meant he wasn’t going to have any more children, thus all the pressure for more heirs fell on Xerxes.
Xerxes had no desire to marry either, but, since Adonis had given him no choice in the matter, he’d acquiesced. Adonis was the only person in the world Xerxes would obey, if not without question, then at least with a limited number of questions.
It would be an arranged marriage and, as Adonis had already had a bride in mind, Xerxes had let him make the match since he didn’t much care who his fiancée ended up being.
Eleni was a princess from a very progressive principality near France with a strong international political influence that Adonis had deemed useful for Axios. In return, Axios would provide access to the world-famous Axian army.
It was an extremely valuable alliance, and one that Xerxes essentially had no problems with, except for the fact that Eleni was turning out to be rather more difficult than he’d hoped. And now he was annoyed, which he did so hate to be.
Striding into the master bedroom, he found the designer fussing around with the gowns hanging on the rail near the bed. The woman kept glancing at him from underneath her lashes, which again was a look he was very familiar with. Sadly for her, he was no longer the playboy he’d once been, otherwise he might have given her a little taste of what she was missing out on.
Not that he had either the time or the inclination tonight. Not only was he irritated at Eleni for conveniently ‘forgetting’ about the dresses and making excuses about council meetings—she wasn’t any happier about this engagement than he was but she was prepared to do it in return for the army—but he was also annoyed at having to fuss around with the choosing of appropriate gowns.
However, as much as he didn’t care about gowns, appearances mattered to Adonis, and a beautiful woman in a charming gown it had to be.
The designer gave him a coy smile that only faltered when her gaze shifted to Calista standing behind him.
‘The Princess Eleni won’t be joining us tonight,’ he said casually. ‘My guard is about her height and build. She can try on the dresses instead and then you can make the adjustments to fit her.’
The designer inclined her head. ‘Yes, Your Highness.’
Xerxes glanced at Calista, just catching the look of shock on her face as she stared at the rail full of dresses, her expression smoothing as she realised he was watching her.
Interesting. Not the reaction most women would have at the prospect of trying on a lot of pretty gowns. At least, not the women he knew.
‘You have an issue, soldier?’ he asked.
The shocked look had gone, her chin lifting, her shoulders squaring. ‘Not at all, Your Highness,’ she said, her tone absolutely neutral.
Too late, though. He’d seen that expression on her face and the way she’d masked it. She didn’t want to put those dresses on, that was clear.
He should have left it alone, gone and finished dressing since Eleni’s call had dragged him out of the shower. But, as he didn’t have anything better to do and he’d always been insufferably curious, he strolled closer to her, watching with interest as her level gaze dipped a moment to his bare chest. She betrayed no emotion this time, her expression fixed, but a flush stained her cheeks.
So he’d been correct in his initial assumption. She found him attractive, which was completely understandable. He was fully aware of his looks and had spent a good few years of his adult life shamelessly using them to get what he wanted.
